Fewer Hopkins seniors give money to the University than seniors at peer institutions. The Hopkins Senior Class Gift Committee, an organization of seniors who encourage others to give back, is trying to increase giving among seniors and understand why Hopkins has a lower rate than other schools.
Senior Jenny Hansen, a co-chair of the committee, highlighted that peer institutions often have higher rates of giving.
“So after [Friday] night, we have over 200 gifts, and we have a senior class of about 1,300 I believe, so we are on our way. Our goal is always to get as much participation as possible. Some of our peer institutions will get 70 to 80 percent participation, and in the past our numbers have been closer to 50 percent, so we’re always trying to raise the bar and kind of compete with our peer institutions,” she said.
“I think that right now we are in the lead compared to all the previous classes. The Class of 2014 set the record with 54 percent participation, and I believe we are on track to meet or better that participation rate which is really exciting.”
She also explained why Hopkins has a relatively low participation rate compared to the donation rates of graduating seniors at other universities, like Georgetown (73 percent), Yale (96 percent) and Harvard (78 percent).
“We don’t set it as a standard really early on. In other schools, the tradition of giving is established very early on, from students’ freshman year, and I think that there is a different sense of loyalty in those kind of peer institutions,” Hansen said. “We’re really trying to change, but that’s more on an institutional level than from the Senior Class Gift Committee’s abilities to influence.”
Many seniors, like Matt Moores, are unsure about what the Senior Class Gift Committee does and where the gifts go.
“I don’t really know what Senior Class Gift Committee does but it feels like their role is [to] get more money out of us!” Moores wrote in an email to The News-Letter.
Hansen noted that increasing the Senior Class Gift participation rate could potentially raise the University’s ranking, like in the U.S. News & World Report’s influential list.
“One of the things we’re excited about is that we’re finally a top-10 ranked school, and one of the things that kind of influences those rankings is senior and alumni giving participation,” Hansen said. “So the higher participation rates help our rankings, and then those rankings help the value of our degree from Hopkins.”
She spoke about the committee’s functions and importance and explained what constitutes a gift.
“A gift is any donation. To be eligible for certain perks, like to enter the raffles or to get your mug at Spring Fair or to go on a Gilman bell tower tour, you’ve had to have made a gift of at least $20.16,” Hansen said.
Hansen goes on to elaborate how these gifts can be donated to specific causes or Hopkins groups to make a more personalized contribution.
“What’s really important is that you can give your gift anywhere. For example, I’m a member of the Vocal Chords. I gave my gift of $20.16 to the Vocal Chords, and that counts. And that’s money that the Vocal Chords will be able to use to fund our concerts, maybe allow us to go on tour,” Hansen said. “The Vocal Chords have had a really big impact on my Hopkins experience, and so I want to make that experience possible for future Hopkins students.”
Hansen emphasized the fact that the donations actually go to specific, personalized causes.
“I think it’s really important for students to understand that they are not necessarily giving to some black hole of the University,” she said. “They can really have a say in where their gift goes and give it to somewhere [that] has been a meaningful experience at their time in Hopkins.”
Hansen also noted that many gifts are given to the Hopkins Fund.
“You can also give your gift to the area of most need, which is the Hopkins Fund, and that funds financial aid and the overall undergraduate experience,” she said. “Seventy-two percent of your education is made possible by tuition. The other 28 percent is created by philanthropy, like things from the Senior Class Gift and the Hopkins Fund. Any gift that is made to the Hopkins Fund is matched by an anonymous donor, which is really awesome. So you’re really able make a difference that way.”
Senior Neil Mallinar was one who used his donation as a way to show appreciation for specific communities at Hopkins.
“I did donate; the donation was important to me personally because I was able to give it back to the communities that made my four years here so spectacular, specifically the theater, music and arts communities, especially considering the fact that it seems like budget cuts affect those communities first,” Mallinar wrote in an email to The News-Letter.
However, he also held some reservations about donating, especially to the Hopkins Fund.
“Barring the sentimental value of the donation, there are issues with appropriation of funds at Hopkins in general and that asking for donations from students seems to me to be a little shifty given each student brings in a quarter of a million in tuition for the University,” Mallinar wrote. “Specifically, the page I read suggested donating to the Hopkins Fund, which goes to the discretionary budget, [and] the Dean gets to choose where to put the money based on the needs of Homewood campus, which might not reflect the needs or desires of the students.”
When asked about donating, students remarked about how they had already given a lot of money to Hopkins through tuition.
“I just feel like I’ve already given Hopkins enough money,” Moores wrote. “Also I’m broke as hell.”
Hansen addressed students’ reservations about giving money back to the school.
“It’s important for people to donate because they are helping to contribute to what tuition doesn’t cover. Also, at the end of the day, almost half (48 percent) of students receive financial aid. For those people who feel like they’ve already paid Hopkins so much money, it’s totally understandable. College in general is expensive.”
“The difference between tuition and the Senior Class Gift,” she continued, “is that with tuition you are paying for something, whereas with the Senior Class Gift Campaign it’s about making a gift. It’s kind of subtle, but the paying versus donating is the big distinguishing factor, and donations help make up that remaining 28 percent to complete the Hopkins experience,” Hansen wrote.
She argued that while Hopkins can be stressful and tiring, it has given all students amazing opportunities and important knowledge.
“There’s like never a great way to phrase this, there are always some people who don’t really want to give back to the University whether it’s not something they can afford now or they didn’t enjoy their time here. You know, let’s be frank, Hopkins is an intense and tiring place, but at the end of the day we all chose to come here and there has... absolutely been a positive thing that Hopkins has offered everyone,” Hansen said. “I really think it is a time for students to kind of reflect and see past the more difficult moments that Hopkins has handed them and really recognize all the good that it has brought into their lives, and that was all possible because of gifts that have been made in the past.”
The Senior Class Gift rarely goes toward the construction of physical objects on campus.
“So we’re really not doing things like ‘the bench of 2016.’ That’s not really what we’re about. It’s about giving back to Hopkins in a really meaningful way and, not to discount benches of the past, but what makes your Hopkins experience is what you’ve participated in [during] your time here,” Hansen said.
The Senior Class Gift Committee is also hosting several events for the spring semester to encourage more seniors to donate.
“One of our events was last [Friday] night, the senior class campaign kickoff party which was held in Gilman, and throughout the semester, we’ll have some more slightly smaller events, just to motivate people to give,” Hansen said. “In the past they have had ‘Doughnuts for Donors’ in the morning on the Breezeway so if you’re on your way to class and you’ve made your gift, you can pick up a doughnut. At Spring Fair, one of our really popular giveaways is a special mug to be used in the beer garden, and you only get that mug if you’ve made your gift.”
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