Isaac Wood’s column (“The Gift that keeps on giving,” 3/30/2009) speaks (correctly) to the fact that participation should be at the heart of class giving, which is why a response is necessary to clarify some of the inaccuracies in his column. Class giving is and always has been about getting as many members of the graduating class to participate as possible. This is the case precisely for all of the reasons Wood listed and, perhaps at its heart, to give students the opportunity to give back to the organizations that most influenced their time at the University.
If the purpose of class giving were to reach a dollar amount obtained from a few students, then having events such as the Phonathon (where trustees called fourth-year students) and cap and gown week would be a waste of time, on top of only achieving a “drop in the bucket.” It would also make those who give a smaller amount seem unimportant, which is false. No gift is too small, which is why the average amount pledged is $20.
All 58 of the trustees are well versed in talking about class giving, but the size and nature of our school makes it harder to reach as high a participation level as smaller, private institutions, even with 58 individuals representing a wide array of groups on Grounds. The University’s goal of 66 percent is no Yale (89 percent), but it is right in step with schools such as Harvard and Duke, who reached 68 percent and 53 percent last year, respectively.
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