Delaware Online February 1, 2011 Donation signals stronger fundraising effort by DSU alumni Nearly five months ago, Delaware State University President Harry L. Williams had harsh words for the Dover school's alumni fundraising -- or rather, lack of fundraising. Williams assessed the record of DSU graduates giving back to their alma mater as "dismal." "That is a shame," he told the board of trustees at its September meeting. "We have to change that." Given the alumni's 5.6 percent donation rate<http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20110201/NEWS03/102010329/Donation-signals-stronger-fundraising-effort-by-DSU-alumni>, it was hard to argue with Williams' point, said Meeshach Stennett, vice president of the DSU Alumni Association. Instead, the group took the criticism as a challenge. Earlier this month, the university received an $88,560 donation from the association -- the largest contribution the organization<http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20110201/NEWS03/102010329/Donation-signals-stronger-fundraising-effort-by-DSU-alumni> has ever made. The one-time payment nearly equals the $98,213 alumni gave to DSU all of last year. The money will provide aid for 45 undergraduates, many of them seniors, coming up short on their tuition bills this semester, the university said. But perhaps more importantly, DSU officials and alumni leaders hope the gift signals the start of a new era for a school that has struggled to raise private funds<http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20110201/NEWS03/102010329/Donation-signals-stronger-fundraising-effort-by-DSU-alumni> throughout its history. "What [Dr. Williams] said is true," Stennett said. "Since those statements, we've had several meetings with the president. We didn't take those statements as an insult but as motivation." The university and the alumni association plan to announce, probably within the next month, the details of a capital fundraising campaign this year, said C. Bernard Chase, president of the DSU Alumni Association. DSU and the alumni have not decided yet on a goal for the effort. Many publicly funded historically black schools face similar challenges. Like DSU, most have giving rates<http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20110201/NEWS03/102010329/Donation-signals-stronger-fundraising-effort-by-DSU-alumni> between 5 and 7 percent, said Marybeth Gasman, a University of Pennsylvania associate professor who is writing a book about fundraising at historically black colleges. The country's most elite private schools generally post alumni giving rates between 30 and 40 percent. The Georgia Institute of Technology, the University of North Carolina, the University of Virginia and Penn State University were the top public schools in 2009, with rates above 20 percent, according to U.S. News & World Report. The University of Delaware's alumni participation rate was 10 percent during the 2010 fiscal year, according to the university. SANDRA M. PHOENIX Program Director HBCU Library Alliance sphoenix@hbculibraries.org<mailto:sphoenix@hbculibraries.org> www.hbculibraries.org<http://www.hbculibraries.org/> 404.592.4820 Skype:sandra.phoenix1 1438 West Peachtree Street NW Suite 200 Atlanta, GA 30309 Toll Free: 1.800.999.8558 (Lyrasis) Fax: 404.892.7879 www.lyrasis.org<http://www.lyrasis.org/> Honor the ancestors, honor the children.