In a unique approach to soliciting college gifts, Hamilton’s Associate Director of Annual Giving Paul Ryan ’02 will host a 24-hour fund-raising radio broadcast marathon beginning at midnight on Friday, March 1.  The Power of Many will be broadcast on Hamilton FM station WHCL 88.7, as Ryan interviews alumni around the country with the goal of generating a minimum of 500 gifts for the college.

In its bicentennial year, Hamilton has broken all previous philanthropic records, raising $42.5 million in 2011-12 versus the past record total, $30.8 million in 2006-07. This year’s success pushed the three-year Bicentennial Initiatives campaign beyond its original goal of $117 million 16 months ahead of its scheduled conclusion. In response, the Board of Trustees in June raised the goal to $133 million.

Starting at midnight, June 15, Hamilton College’s Associate Director of Annual Giving Paul Ryan began a 24-hour live broadcast on WHCL, Hamilton College’s radio station, as part of the college’s 24-hour 615 on 6/15 Challenge (www.hamilton.edu/615). Ryan’s motivation: to encourage 615 alumni to make a gift to the college, thereby generating an additional $30,000 challenge gift, the average Hamilton student aid package.

Charter Trustee and Chair of the Committee on Development Jack Withiam ’71 has challenged Hamilton alumni to make their year-end contributions today. Jack, who has been called the “father of the Annual Fund in the new millennium,” promised to contribute $30,000 if 615 alumni make a contribution. 

Hamilton College’s Bicentennial Initiatives campaign exceeded its $117 million goal 16 months ahead of its scheduled conclusion on June 30, 2013. The funds raised in the first two years of this brief three-year effort now surpass $119 million.

Hamilton’s STOP Day, celebrated recently on Feb. 23, was the subject of a Chronicle of Higher Education feature article, “Hey, Students, Your Education Costs More Than You Might Think,” published on March 18. Writer Beckie Supiano reported on the day’s purpose, “to raise students' awareness that they all benefit from donations to the college, to ask their help in thanking benefactors, and to prepare them to give back as alumni.”

Starting Feb. 23, all Hamilton students are recipients of a $10,000 “scholarship.” Is this implausible? Feb. 23, declared Starting Today Others Pay or S.T.O.P. Day, marks the turning point on the academic calendar when tuition stops covering expenses and the philanthropy of others takes over. Many, if not most, students are unaware that income from tuition, room and board provides only 65 percent of the cost of a Hamilton education.

In the first half of the 2011-12 academic year, Hamilton College broke all fund-raising records for a six-month period, said Vice President for Communications and Development Richard Tantillo, and the college is on pace to have its best philanthropic year ever when the fiscal year closes on June 30.

The Honor Roll of Donors reflects individual and collective alumni generosity in "real time" as gifts build toward in 2010-11 Annual Fund, which closes on June 30. Take a minute to see who among your classmates has already made a gift and act now to be sure your name is among them.

Income from tuition, room and board provides 65 percent of the cost of a Hamilton education. The difference — a full 35 percent — is made up by gifts from alumni, parents and friends, both contributions made this year and income from the endowment.