Every year, particularly during tough economic times, we ask ourselves, "Will the school open fully enrolled next year?" The fact that more families find Proctor via the Web (invisible to us)--rather than the traditional "inquiry" (request for a catalog)--only exacerbates this late-winter anxiety. April and May yielded very high enrollment, and we're set for 350-something on Registration Day.

 

The Admission Office's mid-winter angst is mirrored upstairs in the Development Office, where we track--week by week--the growth of the Annual Fund. Let's say the total budget to provide the quality of services we offered 354 students this year is 16 million dollars. As a not-for-profit institution, Proctor's operational income and expenditures ultimately cancel out. This past year, the budget called for all but 1.1 million dollars to come from tuition income, interest from investments, extraneous fees and income (summer programs, etc.) The final 1.1 million dollars, we budgeted, would come from annual giving.

 

For a small, rural school to budget a 1.1 million dollar annual giving program takes great confidence in the loyalty, commitment and generosity of its constituencies. Like the Admission Office, the Development Office experienced some anxiety in February and March, when the fund was tracking behind predicted benchmarks. But like the Admission Office, we have experienced a strong late surge, and now stand (at this moment) with $992,673 in gifts and pledges with a little more than a week to go in the fiscal year.


 

In a recent blog, Seth Godin considers the meaning of a gift versus--say--a present. He asserts, "...the giver must make a sacrifice, create an uneven exchange, bring himself closer to the recipient, create change and do it all with the right spirit." What is the "right spirit" that has motivated 588 people to sacrifice for Proctor? After all, each is acting on his/her own volition.

 

The "right spirit" Godin invokes is opportunity. Making a gift to the Family of Funds is taking advantage of an opportunity to directly improve the quality of student experience at Proctor, and--therefore--your gift makes the world a better place.


 

Within 90% of our goal, we have the opportunity to exceed our own expectations. Please consider participating before July 1!