Alumni License Plate Given to Contributors
of $25 or More
Erskine College
Living Endowment Campaign Sets Record for Second Consecutive Year
Erskine College's Living Endowment
Campaign, the institution's annual funds campaign, reached $746,350
in 1999-2000, the highest total in school history, school officials
announced.
The campaign surpassed its $725,000
goal, and topped last year's record setting campaign of $713,100 by
more than $33,000.
Erskine Alumni Director David
Moore said the campaign's record success was a group effort among
all Erskine alumni and friends, with outstanding leadership coming
from campaign co-chairs Andy Byrd of Spartanburg, class of 1988, and
Laura Jones Mitchell of Rock Hill, class of 1994.
"Both of them worked very hard
this year, and had to be more involved than usual," Moore said. "Through
it all, you could see in their leadership a great desire to serve
Erskine."
The campaign began in the fall
with alumni meetings throughout the Southeast, and continued through
a transition period when former Alumni Director Aldon Knight, class
of 1990, left Erskine to accept a position at another college. During
that time Ann Hawthorne, alumni office administrative assistant, worked
with the co-chairs until Moore was hired in the spring.
"I'm amazed we did this well with
Aldon leaving," Mitchell said. "He had really energized the younger
alumni in the last few years, and I think Andy would agree with me,
without Ann in the alumni office, none of this would have been possible.
"I think you can trace any success
we may have had back to the alumni office," she said. "Sometimes the
work they do is taken for granted. I know when I was a student I never
realized how responsible they were for the funding I enjoyed."
Both Mitchell and Byrd say recent
marketing efforts by the college have contributed to increased annual
giving at Erskine.
"The media attention recently has
been phenomenal," Byrd said. "We had Elizabeth Dole visit our campus,
you can see the Erskine billboards all over South Carolina, and see
the Erskine ads in national magazines.
"Of course, there have also been some
great things going on on campus, and Erskine has enjoyed some strong
years," Byrd said. "Our enrollment is up and so is annual giving,
and that is an indication that the Erskine story has gotten out.
"It's just a combination of everybody's
efforts that has resulted in an increase of bringing Erskine into
the public eye."
Mitchell said, "We've always had a
loyal family, but people are seeing the college name more often now
and they are proud of it. That's a direct result of our heavy marketing
campaign. You can see Erskine in a lot of places today."
"The word is out," Byrd said, "as
the result of a lot of people working to promote what Erskine offers
and what we as alumni gained through our college experience.
"I can contribute the success of this
year's campaign to Erskine itself."
Moore also credited the leadership
of the Erskine Alumni Association Board of Directors, and its president,
Sarah Brice of Greenville, class of 1971, for this year's campaign
success.
Brice and the alumni board, at
its February meeting, developed a plan to distribute Erskine alumni
front automobile tags to members of the Class of 2000 as they entered
the Alumni Association and as a final push for the Living Endowment
Campaign to contributors of $25 or more.
"The license plate program pushed
us over the top," Moore said, adding that the campaign raised more
than twice as much in the final two months as in the previous year.
With back-to-back record setting
campaigns, Moore said he hopes to continue the momentum into next
year.
"We are looking at changing a
few of the things that we do in an effort to help us even more," he
said.
Mitchell said she and Byrd had
"big shoes to fill" when they accepted the co-chair roles, and the
same will go for next year's co-chairs.
"They have a lot to live up to,
as we did, but I think all of this shows that the college is on strong
financial footing and has a good base for the future," she said.
The Rev. Bobby Elliott, class
of 1989, of Flat Rock, N.C., and Sharon Huffstetler, class of 1995,
of Gastonia, N.C., have been selected co-chairs for the next campaign.
Moore said a goal for next year's campaign has not been announced
yet, and that more detailed statistics from last year's record setting
campaign will be available in the fall.
