Andrew Klein, class of ’71, sits at his desk, leafing through letters written by members of the senior class. A smile passes over his face as he reads testimony from the students profoundly affected by the exhibits and experiences at the Holocaust Museum, a trip that he funds annually.
Klein, who also led the capital campaign to finance the construction of the Fine Arts wing while on the Board of Trustees, has been consistently donating money to the school since 1976. He cites key reasons for donating back. “I had a really good experience at John Carroll. I always had the responsibility to give back to the school and the community,” he said. “It’s kind of what we do to always try to make the school and the community a better place.”
Donations like Klein’s form the “backbone of the school’s development program,” with the biggest fundraiser of the year as the annual fund, according to Director of Development Laura Lang.
“We solicit everyone: alumni, parents, past parents. The annual fund is done every year and it goes directly into the operating budget of the school to make up the difference between tuition income and what it actually costs to run the school,” said Lang.
The majority of donations are unrestricted, with “no designation to them. [They] just come in as flat out gifts.”
Restricted gifts are “are designated for particular projects, [such as] athletic uniforms [and] band instruments. They’re considered annual, but they have definite designation to them,” said Lang.
However, said President Richard O’Hara, “[There’s] really not a pattern [for the types of donations],” although “tuition assistance is one that gets a good bit of attention [from donors].”
“Athletics, tuition assistance, and arts in that order [receive the most donations],” added Lang.
Each year, The Board of Trustees sets yearly goals for the amount of money to raise, with input from the Development Office.
“We’ve been fortunate over the past two years because on average, schools have decreased annual giving. We are one of a few schools that have shown an increase, raising 18 percent over the previous year,” said Lang.
The goal for the 2009-2010 fiscal year is to raise $800,000 for the annual fund. Lang hopes for $350,000 of that to be unrestricted annual gifts. Thus far, $250,000 in unrestricted gifts has been donated this year, “way ahead of where we were last year at this time,” said Lang.
The goal for restricted gifts is $450,000. Because of Father Charles K. Riepe’s gift, this number has been surpassed, but “we don’t want to stop there,” said Lang.
Thus far, the school has raised close to one million dollars. However, this includes Fr. Riepe’s bequest, which is, said Lang, “a onetime gift and screws with the numbers.”
Trustee emeritus Gus Brown, who has been regularly donating to school since 1991, his son’s freshman year, donates because “I consider John Carroll to be my number one target of support.”
He added, “I think that the school itself is so important to Harford County and Catholic education and young people. It’s when young people are 15 to 18 years of age that they develop their core moral values. Because I’m a trial attorney, the development of morals are important for the jury decision process, for the civil and criminal justice system, and for the overall human health in our community.”
Members of the community work actively to court donors. “There is a science to it,” said Lang. “We start planning in early summer with the annual report, which is really the key stone [and] kicks off the annual fund. We used to send to everybody but in spirit of going green we decided to only print enough for people that donated in the last five years. The online annual report is emailed to everybody else.”
In addition, “cultivation throughout the year is based on the level of donor,” said Lang. “[Vice President of Institutional Advancement Kurt] Sudbrink and Mr. O’Hara do one-on-one cultivation with major donors [those that give at least a thousand dollars].”
According to Lang, her job is “to work with everyone else, through events, through emails, and a lot of one-on-one personal contact.”
Also, secure online giving on the JC website is now an option, which, Lang said, is becoming increasingly popular among alumni. The usage of it has “doubled since last year and we’re hoping the trend continues,” Lang said.
Lang cites donations as crucial to the running of the school because tuition only covers 92 percent of the total cost of operating JC.
However, said Lang, any donations are “appreciated.” She added, “I think sometimes people think I can’t give $500 and that’s not what we’re asking for. The participation percentage is so important because that’s the numbers that we tell corporations and foundations when we go to them for donations.”
Kate Froehlich can be reached for comment at [email protected].