2008 Annual Giving Report
Tom Hoster '72, Class Agent
__________________________________________________________________________

 

I am pleased to report that the Class of '72 has completed another outstanding year in Annual
Giving.  For the Annual Giving year 2007-08, the class gave $302,328, while achieving a
participation rate of 63.2%. 

Participation.  Our participation of 63% marks the tenth year in a row that the Class of '72 has
been above the magic 60% level, a feat that no other class in the decade of the seventies has
come close to achieving. 

 

Our participation was significantly better than all of the other classes of the seventies, including
the two classes that were celebrating major reunions. 

 

Indeed, our participation was more than thirteen percentage points above the average of the other
nine classes in the seventies.  Our participation results allow us to continue to claim to be THE
class of the seventies in Annual Giving. 

 

Taking the longer view, the Class of '72 continues to distinguish itself among the youngest 40
classes.  As you can see, we stand out from the pack in a graph of the participation of the off-year
campaigns of the 40 youngest classes.  Only four of the 32 off-year classes in youngest 40 had a
higher participation result than we did: 

 

 

Dollars.  On the dollar front, the class also had an excellent year, contributing more than
$302,000, our second-best off-year results ever (second only to the 1999-2000 campaign).  This
is all the more remarkable because classes typically do not have strong results in "hangover"
years, the ones just after a major reunion year.  We contributed 31% more this past year than we
did at the 31st.  Only two other classes in history have given more than we just did in their 36th-
year campaigns. 

 

Campaign Efforts.  I need to give credit to the many classmates who helped in telethons to make
calls on behalf of the class, especially Robby Robinson, who organized the New York
phonathons.  These phonathons are particularly helpful, because my being in California prevents
me from making calls during the week to the Eastern Time zone.  Robby and his crew catch
people at home who are normally away on weekends.  In addition, Merc Morris, Pam Coulter, and
Bill DeGolian made calls on their own. 

 

The support from the Annual Giving Office was unwavering.  They supplied me with everything I
needed to be as productive as possible.  The AG Office has created "Tiger Tracks", an ability for
volunteers to go to the Internet and pull off names of classmates whom they would like to call. 
The volunteer is then supplied with complete contact information and giving history.  We made
modest use of this in the past year, but we will use it more in the future. 

  

This is my 16th year as Class Agent.  My solicitation style continues to evolve; this past year I
made more extensive use of note cards – always with a hand-written message inside – with return
envelopes.  This year the card provided by the AG Office had a nice picture of a window in East
Pyne on it.  In the months of May and June, I made 485 phone calls, sent out 432 cards, and sent
84 e-mails.  The results are gratifying.

Let me add that none of this would be possible without the support that the Annual Giving effort
gets from the class leadership.  We tend to take that for granted, but there actually are classes
where the class leadership is actually anti-AG. 

 

I believe strongly in the separation of church and state – that class officers should not become
shills for the Annual Giving effort – and we in '72 have done a great job of maintaining that
distance.  But the class leadership, to a person, recognizes that strong Annual Giving results can
be a unifying force in the class, and they have always supported a strong Annual Giving effort. 
For this, your Class Agent is grateful. 

 

With a couple of decades of outstanding Annual Giving results behind us, the Class of '72
continues to be in an excellent position to extend our string of successful Annual Giving results as
we move towards our big 40th-reunion year. 

 --Tom Hoster '72, Class Agent