MESSAGE FROM MORY

Greetings fellow alumni—

As another academic year comes to a close at GW, I wanted to share with you some recent successes in fundraising at the University. The Division of Advancement began this new year with the winds at our backs, and has been continuing to raise funds to support strengthened academic and extra-curricular programming for current and future students.

This past year’s fundraising goal was a substantial one, and as of when I’m writing this note, GW is on track to meet it. We’re proud of this accomplishment and wanted to share with you some examples of noteworthy gifts from the past year that deserve mention. A friend of the University gave a $1,000,000 gift to endow The Thaddeus A. Lindner and Sergius Gambal Professorship in Business Ethics at the GW School of Business. This gift was in honor of two alumni of the University, Thaddeus Lindner, who received his B.A. in 1951, and Sergius Gambal, who received his B.A. in 1952. This gift, and others like it, enables the University to continually strengthen academic programs.

Additionally, a husband and wife team of alumni donated $100,000 to create an endowment this year specifically intended for student-loan forgiveness. These funds will help to defray some of the expense for a number of students each year.

Another generous and inspirational gift came from a retired faculty member in the Graduate School of Education and Human Development. This gift was close to $1,000,000 as well, and will be used to enhance international education programs. This very generous gift will help strengthen GSEHD, which is ranked among the top 25 graduate schools in the country.

It also brings me great pleasure to share with you that this year’s Senior Class chose to mark its Commencement by creating an endowed fund to support Gelman Library. The Class of 2004 raised approximately $27,000 to start its endowment, which will provide annual funds to Gelman for new acquisitions. Through this gift, the Class of 2004 has left a legacy which will live on in perpetuity, and we thank our newest alumni for their hard work in making this possible.

Finally, this year’s Annual Fund was a major success—exceeding last year’s total funds raised by 6%, and increasing donor participation by 4%! The Annual Fund raised nearly $2,000,000, which will be used for student scholarships, programming, research, and technological advancement and campus enhancement. The generosity of our alumni to the Annual Fund is a key ingredient to GW’s continued success.

Each and every gift has been vital to helping The George Washington University become the world-class institution it is today. I hope you will take as much pride in this as we do, as well as in the fact that so many alumni, parents, students and friends have committed to supporting our alma mater as it reaches ever-greater heights.

Sincerely,

Scott M. Mory
Executive Director of Alumni Programs