Hamilton College - Annual Giving

The College's educational mission is intimately connected with the world at large, and your contributions to Hamilton positively impact our society for generations to come. Your annual support for Hamilton advances the College's ability to transform lives and make a more substanitive impact on humanity.

Unrestricted Annual Fund gifts are especially valuable because they allow Hamilton to address immediate priorities and enhance programs not covered by the endowment or other sources of income. Your gifts have a profound impact on student scholarships, attracting and retaining outstanding faculty, maintaining our facilities and sustaining the enrichment provided by co-curricular activities. Without your generosity the lives of Hamilton students are diminished. With them almost anything is possible.

Your Annual Fund Gift Sustains the College and its Students

We invite you to learn more about the Hamilton College Annual Fund by reviewing some of the questions asked most frequently by our alumni, parents, friends and volunteers. Annual giving is a way in which the largest number of college constituents are able to support Hamilton.

The Annual Fund includes unrestricted gifts and gifts restricted for current operations. Gifts to the Fund are expended in the fiscal year in which they are received. Hamilton's tradition of alumni generosity — this desire to give back in gratitude for all the College has made possible in our own lives — is a central and defining characteristic of who we are as alumni of Hamilton.

Did you know that each contribution to the Annual Fund is the equivalent of an endowment 20 times greater than that amount?

A $100 Annual Fund gift provides the equivalent income of $20,000 in endowed funds. Hamilton draws from its endowment at a rate that approximates 5%. A $100 donation to the Annual Fund puts your contribution to work immediately in support of students since it is applied where the need is most urgent. For instance, the Annual Fund provides the equivalent of just over one dollar out four used to support student financial aid.

How will my gift make a difference?

Annual gifts support the operating budget of the College. Nearly 5% of annual operating expenses are provided by alumni, parents and friends of the College. These gifts provide critical resources for scholarships, faculty salaries, academic programs, student services, athletic programs as well as co-curricular programming … and much more. An additional $115 million in endowment would be needed to generate what Hamilton receives through Annual Fund gifts!

By making a gift, the donor is choosing to take an active role in the life of the College. Every gift counts toward increasing our participation rate. Each gift has immediate impact. Every $1 given to the Annual Fund equals $5 of spendable income from the endowment. Alumni giving serves as an important measure by which foundations and those who rank colleges and universities gauge alumni involvement and satisfaction. The line item impact of your Annual Fund gift magnifies its importance since the Annual Fund contributes the equivalent of:

35% of the faculty portion of employee salary and benefits
27% of the physical plant cost
26% of all student scholarship aid Hamilton's financial strength is critically important to support current and future students and faculty – the heart of the institution.

A healthy balance sheet allows the College to attract the best students and faculty and maintain our superb facilities. Hamilton takes great care to preserve our endowment for the future by prudently drawing down on the returns generated. Many elements of the endowment are restricted for specific, non-budgetary uses.

Why does the College with its large endowment need more money?
The College spends approximately 5% of endowment income for current needs which covers approximately 22% of Hamilton's operating costs. Income from tuition and room and board does not entirely cover the remaining costs to operate the College. The financial support of Hamilton's alumni, parents and friends are essential to make up the shortfall. Hamilton has an obligation to preserve its future and honor its 198 year past by maintaining and growing its endowment.

What is the Annual Fund?

The Annual Fund is the most important source of discretionary revenue for Hamilton College. Gifts that are unrestricted enable the college to provide resources to those areas where the need is greatest. The Hamilton College Annual Fund turns individual gifts of all sizes into a collective pool of support for the College's highest priorities and most important initiatives.

How is The Annual Fund used?

The Annual Fund provides operating resources and supports all aspects of College life. Some areas supported by your annual giving dollars include:

Scholarships
The College seeks to attract innovative and engaged students who are critical thinkers and future community leaders. Gifts of scholarship will allow the College to attract the best students regardless of need.
GOLD Scholars Program. For each $15,000 contributed by the GOLD Group – Graduates Of the Last Decade – Hamilton names a GOLD Scholar based on financial need and student performance. To date, 22 GOLD Scholars have been chosen.
Academic Programming
Annual Fund gifts support academic programming, academic initiatives and priorities across the curriculum. You support for Hamilton's academic programming ensures equitable benefits for all disciplines and supports student success in every field of endeavor. Summer research on campus. Each year more than 100 students stay on campus to do research in the sciences, social sciences and humanities, working in close collaboration with faculty members and with one another. The Annual Fund supports their efforts, providing Hamilton students with the kind of hands-on learning experience usually available only to graduate students
Faculty Support
The heart of a Hamilton education is its faculty. Annual Fund gifts support their work, enhance compensation levels allowing the hiring and retention of superb teachers and create opportunities for their professional development and research initiatives. Unrestricted gifts are used to enhance faculty compensation to ensure that Hamilton is able to hire and retain the best teachers, and then to support their scholarship, research and professional development. The Annual Fund contributes the equivalent of 35 percent of the faculty portion of employee salary and benefits at Hamilton.
Student Life
Hamilton recognizes that student participation in co-curricular activities creates a rich and more dynamic community on the Hill and in our Oneida County community as well. Annual Fund gifts support student run unities and activities that enhance the overall Hamilton experience.
- Wellness and fitness. The continually growing number of fitness and health programs and participants on campus speaks to the importance of physical education to the liberal arts. More than 300 people use the Charlean and Wayland Blood Fitness and Dance Center on a typical weekday; more than 200 sign up for classes each season.
- Student-life initiatives. Outside the classroom, unrestricted gifts support a wide range of student groups, events and activities – such as Adirondack Adventure and the Urban Service Experience – that enrich the social and intellectual dimensions of life at Hamilton as well as the College's relationship with the surrounding region.
Sustainability
Hamilton's abiding commitment to sound environmental practices is supported in part by the Annual Fund, which provides support for a variety of initiatives and operations and contributes the equivalent of 27 percent of the physical plant cost in a given year. Hamilton is committed to environmental sustainability and accountability in every facet of campus life. Gifts to sustainability will support on-campus initiatives to preserve our natural resources for the 21st century and beyond.

What is the average size gift made to The Annual Fund?

Gifts of all sizes are deeply valued and critically important. so far during the 2008 - 2009 fund year, the average alumni gift made to the Annual Fund was $558 – a tribute to the generosity and loyalty of the Hamilton family. GOLD alumni gifts, which are vital to the health of our participation percentage, are generally smaller but the multiplying effect of many gifts is considerable and appreciated.

How many alumni give to Hamilton College?
How does this compare to the giving rates at peer institutions?

During the 2008 - 2009 campaign, 8,615 alumni made annual gifts to the College. This resulted in a 52.4% participation rate. The participation rate of a college's alumni is often used to indicate alumni satisfaction. Below are 2008 - 2009 comparative fund raising figures. You can see for yourself how Hamilton stacked up.

	Alumni Participation	Annual Fund Dollars	Total Alumni
Williams	59.3%	$9.8 million	24.000
Amherst	60.1%	$9.8 million	19,000
Carleton	53.4%	$7.4 million	24,000
Bowdoin	54.0%	$7.9 million	14,000
Hamilton	52.4%	$6.0 million	16,456

What are matching gifts and will my employer match my gift?

Matching gifts are dollars matched by employers in response to charitable contributions made by employees. Retirees, as well as spouses and domestic partners of employees often are also eligible for corporate matching gifts. To find out if your employer is a matching gift company, please contact your personnel or human resources office. To have your gift matched, complete a matching gift form and return it, along with your contribution, to the Office of Annual Giving. Matching gifts can help you qualify for giving clubs recognition.

If you are not sure if your company will match your gift, click here to access the CASE (Council for Advancement and Support of Education) Matching Gifts On-Line Search to find out.

Reasons to Give and Frequently Asked Questions

Why is my annual fund gift important?