Annual Fund
Annual Fund
Contact the Annual Fund/Individual Giving Staff
What is the Annual Fund?
The Annual Fund is the fund-raising effort that secures contributions in support of the academic, spiritual and social development of St. Thomas students.
Most gifts to St. Thomas are given through the Annual Fund. Alumni, students, parents of students and alumni, faculty and staff members, friends of the university, and many foundations and corporations, all donate to St. Thomas through the Annual Fund.
Whether or not St. Thomas students receive financial aid per se — and about 80 percent do — all students benefit from Annual Fund contributions in that these gifts enable the university to charge less in tuition than the actual cost of providing a St. Thomas education.
The Annual Fund is vital to enabling St. Thomas to offer its high-quality education to both undergraduate and graduate students. The university counts on alumni and friends to make unrestricted Annual Fund gifts in order to keep a St. Thomas education available to today’s students and those in the future.
What purposes are served through Annual Fund giving?
Annual Fund contributions help to support almost everything that relates to daily life at St. Thomas.
- financial aid, faculty support and new equipment
- renovations to classrooms, residence halls, and athletic facilities
- library resources, computer labs and new curricula
- lights, heat and telephone service
- many other academic, administrative and facilities needs
Donors can restrict their gifts to just about any purpose that they choose, or they can make unrestricted contributions. Unrestricted gifts are vital to the well-being of St. Thomas because they allow resources to be directed to where they are needed immediately or where opportunities are greatest.
Why is it important to support the Annual Fund?
Annual Fund giving helps to bridge the gap between income generated by tuition and the actual cost of educating students each year. Expenditures from the Annual Fund help to preserve and improve the excellence of St. Thomas by supporting both ongoing and special needs.
Also, many foundations and corporate giving programs consider rates of alumni giving when determining whether or not to grant funding requests. They view an organization’s internal support as one accurate measure of its worthiness of outside funding.
So, strong alumni annual support can benefit St. Thomas well beyond the direct positive effects that these gifts bring. Further benefit can be gained through employers’ matching gifts.
Contact Information
Annual Fund |
Individual Giving |
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John Bannigan
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Brendan Bannigan
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