Every year, universities across the country (and globe) rely on donations from alumni, current and former parents, faculty, staff, students, and friends to supplement tuition dollars and help to relieve and enhance budgets across campus. Participation numbers and dollars raised affect national rankings, potential grant awards, and even enrollment numbers — but more importantly, each gift to Clark has a direct and immediate impact on our current students and faculty.

Last year, contributions to The Clark Fund totaled more than $2.8 million — and alumni donors gave nearly 70 percent of that total. Graduates of the Last Decade made up 12.5 percent of our alumni donors and contributed more than $168,000 in restricted and unrestricted gifts to Clark, with contributions ranging from $5 to more than $10,000. Donations were spread across many areas of the University,  including scholarships, Friends of Clark Athletics (and specific teams),  Goddard Library, Friends of Clark Hillel, the D’Army Bailey ’65 Diversity Fund, ClarkCONNECT, and specific schools or academic departments. Many gifts also remained unrestricted to support the University’s most urgent needs.

Support from alumni helped to provide 91 percent of our students with financial aid and scholarships (a 5 percent increase over the previous year); supported our 130+ student-run clubs and organizations and 17 varsity athletics teams; enhanced diversity and inclusion efforts across campus; supplemented internship, research, and experiential learning opportunities; and contributed to our ability to resume in-person learning in a safe and healthy way just a few weeks ago. Without alumni giving, none of this would have been possible.

This year, continued alumni support will be more important than ever, as our students and faculty needs have grown significantly. For information on where and how to support any area at Clark, please email The Clark Fund.

Nicole Missino is director of The Clark Fund.