Summer 2009: Campaign Update

Lane and Cameron Frostbaum together.

Lane Frostbaum 86C 89L and his son, Cameron, thirteen, completed a two-hundred-mile, two-day bike ride this spring to raise money for the Emory Vaccine Center. They’re among thousands of Emory alumni and friends combining life’s passions with philanthropic goals.

Cathy Fike/Special

Philanthropy 101: Support What You Love

A Challenge for the Class of 1982

Wendy Rosenberg-Nadel 82C and Mary Rahmes 82C have started an Emory Advantage scholarship fund in the name of the Emory College of Arts and Sciences class of 1982. Their challenge to the class: Raise $1 million by December 31, 2012, which marks the end of Campaign Emory. Nadel, Rahmes, and six other classmates already have donated a total of $100,000. Email Patricia Dean White at pdwhite@emory.edu for details.

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Grassroots Giving

Campaign Emory

campaign.emory.edu

Philanthropist. The word conjures images of multimillion-dollar gifts, Woodruff and Candler, Buffett and Gates. But the word translates from the Greek as “to love people,” and anyone can be a philanthropist, from the student who makes her first $25 class gift to the former Emory patient who makes an estate gift to honor his physician.

“The challenge for all of us who care about Emory and the world is to find the intersection between our own commitments and the University’s strengths,” says President James W. Wagner. “What do we want to accomplish with philanthropy? Emory can be a powerful means for us to fulfill those aspirations.”

Since Campaign Emory began in September 2005, nearly sixty-six thousand alumni and friends have invested in the University, supporting everything from scholarships and medical research to construction projects, academic programs, professorships, and information technology. Remarkably, 87 percent of those donors made gifts of less than $1,000 each; 43 percent gave less than $100 each.

“The impact of those gifts is enormous, resulting in nearly $9 million in support for Emory so far. It’s gratifying to see donors realizing important life goals through philanthropy,” says Susan Cruse, Emory’s senior vice president for development and alumni relations.

Lane Frostbaum 86C 89L and his son, Cameron, thirteen, combined their love for cycling with their interest in fighting AIDS by riding two hundred miles across Georgia this spring to raise money for the Emory Vaccine Center. This is the third year that the elder Frostbaum has participated in the annual two-day bike ride, called the AIDS Vaccine 200 (AV200). In 2007 and 2008, he raised more than $5,000 for the center. This year he and his son generated another $2,000.

The AV200 is one of the vaccine center’s principal sources of unrestricted funds, which fill funding gaps created by restricted grant dollars, opening up avenues of research that can’t be met through grants alone. In the past six years, the ride has raised more than $400,000 for AIDS vaccine research, with 100 percent of the proceeds going to the Emory Vaccine Center, one of the world’s largest academic vaccine centers.

Friends and family of the late Stefanie Canright 00C have made nearly eight hundred gifts to support the Stefanie Erin Canright Endowed Scholarship Fund in Emory College of Arts and Sciences. Created to honor her memory after she passed away in 2004, the scholarship reflects her commitment to Emory, love for travel, and engagement with the community. The fund is administered by the college’s Center for International Programs Abroad and enables a student to spend time in another country each year, completing a project that combines academics and public service.

“The tremendous response of Stefanie’s family and friends is a great testament to her, and the success of this grassroots fund-raising effort is a remarkable achievement,” says Philip Wainwright 85C 85G, associate dean for international and summer programs.

Lane and Cameron Frostbaum together.

Alumni, members, and friends of Alpha Tau Omega fraternity are raising $150,000 to match a challenge from the R. Howard Dobbs, Jr. Foundation.

Alumni, members, and friends of Emory’s Alpha Theta chapter of Alpha Tau Omega fraternity are working to raise $150,000 by the end of 2010 to match a challenge grant from the R. Howard Dobbs, Jr. Foundation. The total raised will create the Alpha Tau Omega Leadership Development Fund at Emory, offering fifteen $500 grants per semester for qualified ATO brothers on financial aid.

“Each member of Alpha Tau Omega has benefitted from his association with the chapter, and we are asking them to continue their commitment to service by supporting young men who are beginning the journey they have been on themselves,” says Paul McLarty Jr. 63C 66L, chapter adviser for the Alpha Theta chapter and incoming president of the Emory Alumni Board (EAB).

The EAB has an enthusiastic approach to giving, with all of its forty members supporting the Emory Alumni Board Leadership Scholarship, along with many other Emory programs and priorities. McLarty alone has made 166 gifts to Emory over thirty consecutive years, an achievement that earns him membership in the Judson C. Ward Consecutive Giving Society. (See “Grassroots Giving,” opposite page.)

The Ward Society’s 1,084 members—donors who have given consecutively for at least twenty-five years—have generated more than $42 million for Emory. Among them are Dusty Porter 85C and Ed Cloaninger 91OX 93C, cochairs of the EAB campaign committee. They have been consecutive donors for the past eleven years each, making more than two hundred gifts to support scholarships, strengthen endowments, and provide unrestricted funds that can be used for the most pressing needs.

One of Emory’s newest consecutive donors, Casson Wen 08OX 10C, spoke to the Jake Ward Society at its spring event. A philosophy major from Houston, Texas, Wen has given to Emory in each of the past three years.

“Your contributions to Emory not only help better the institution as a whole,” he said, “they also inspire others, including students, to follow your lead.”