Feature
A Commitment to the Future: The 2006 Class Gift Campaign
At the Class Gift closing party on Friday, February 10, the School’s graduating class certainly had something to celebrate. They had just ended their four-week Graduating Class Gift Campaign, and raised $14,014 to support the renovation of Classroom A-8 in the Caster Building. Even more impressive, an astounding 94.2% of the graduating class participated in the campaign. This is only the second class gift campaign in the history of the School; the tradition began last year when the 2005 Graduating Class Gift raised $12,391 with 92% of the class participating, and supported the renovation of Classroom A-14.
Led by Co-Chairs Emma Steiner ‘06, and Haynes Morrison ‘06, the Campaign offered a chance for graduating students to come together for a common cause while giving back to their school. According to Ms. Steiner, the Campaign Committee believes that the impressive success of the Campaign is “a testament to the Class’ commitment to the future.” A good testament, since these students – who will graduate in May – are social work’s future leaders.
This year, the Class received generous support from several outside donors. Mr. Tom Shapiro, W’88 and a member of the School’s Board of Overseers, agreed to match every gift by a member of the Class of ’06, dollar for dollar, up to $10,000. Members of the Class of 2006 contributed $6,115 in gifts and pledges that were eligible for Mr. Shapiro’s match. An anonymous donor challenged the class to exceed last year’s 92% participation rate – and offered $900 if they did. This challenge was reiterated by Professor Walter Palmer, and his Palmer Foundation offered another $300 as an incentive for more than 92% of the Class of ’06 to participate. Dr. Kenwyn Smith extended an additional challenge, and offered $1000 in honor of the Intellectual Refugees at Penn, if more than 95% of the class participated. However, with 130 out of 139 graduating students participating, the Class fell just short of meeting this challenge.
Early in the Fall semester, the Committee chose a quote by Horace Mann to capture the essence of their campaign: “Doing Nothing For Others in the Undoing of Ourselves”. Then, students were invited to incorporate the quote into a logo that would be used throughout the Campaign. Alvin Lee ‘06, submitted the winning design, which was featured on the 2006 Class Gift Campaign T-shirts and all other printed campaign materials.
Over the course of the four week campaign, Ms. Steiner and Ms. Morrison worked with Campaign Committee members Morgan Fine, Ariel Feinberg, Pamela Errico Sigman, and Tina Jiwatram – all members of the Class of 2006 – to staff the Class Gift table in the Caster lobby, manage the campaign, and creatively publicize it to the School (one week, the lobby was decorated with chocolate coins and banners encouraging students to “Donate some money, Make some change”).
Calling on social workers’ desire to strive for the best, a challenge was issued to each advanced-year practice class: any class that achieved 100% participation by the end of the campaign received a pizza party. Three out of the seven classes met the challenge, and the practice classes of Professor Brunn, Professor Silver, and Professor Krawchuk all received a pizza party.
Those who were closely involved with creating the initial class gift campaign last year were pleased to hear that the program has not only continued, but flourished. Lauren Moore, MSW’05, 2005 Class Gift Co-Chair and Student Council President, remarked, “It’s great to see the Class Gift Campaign become an established and successful program at the School. As this tradition continues to grow, and each graduating class leaves its mark, it’s exciting to think about how each of those gifts will create a lasting, positive impact at the School of Social Policy & Practice.”
The Graduating Class Gift Campaign compliments the Adopt-A-Classroom Campaign, the School’s Reunion-Year giving program. All alumni celebrating a reunion this year (Classes of ’41, ’46, ’51, ’56, ’61, ’66, ’71, ’76, ’81, ’86, ’91, ’96, and 2001), are invited to make a gift to this campaign in honor of their graduation anniversary. The graduating class and all participating reunion-year classes will be honored on a dedicated plaque outside of the renovated classroom. Additionally, the names of all Class Gift and Adopt-A-Classroom donors will be displayed in A-8 when the renovations have been completed. For more information on the Adopt-A-Classroom Campaign, please click here [LINK to AAC website].
The Graduating Class Gift Campaign at the Penn School of Social Policy & Practice is one of only a few campaigns, if not the only campaign, of its kind at a graduate school of social work. And, it is a highly successful one – the undergraduate class gift campaign hovers around 50% participation each year. But as Ms. Steiner points out, the Class Gift makes sense for social workers: “As our Class leaves the School to enter the world as change agents, it is appropriate that so many of us committed to be change agents within these walls first."