Support Bowdoin

Reunion Giving is a special component of the Alumni Fund that seeks increased support from members of reunion classes. Alumni typically contribute more than $8,000,000 to the Alumni Fund, and about one third of the funds raised come from those celebrating reunions. These funds help the College meet the annual costs of supporting academic programs and other essential activities and services.

If Reunion giving is the foundation of Bowdoin’s Alumni Fund, the 25th Reunion is the cornerstone. In past years, the 25th Reunion gift alone has comprised 14% of the total raised through the Alumni Fund. This commitment speaks volumes about the vital role of the 25th Reunion in the ongoing life of the College and the special relationship members of the 25th Reunion class have with Bowdoin. Bowdoin is grateful for the generosity, enthusiasm, and class spirit of its 25th Reunion class and for the profound and far-reaching impact your own gift will have on the College.

Reunion class members are asked to consider making a “milestone gift” for their 25th Reunion.  All gifts and pledges for up to five years, whether for the Alumni Fund, the endowment or planned giving, will be included in the reunion giving total announced at Reunion Weekend.  We ask that alumni consider a five-year gift and a pledge of ten times the largest annual gift they’ve made in the past. The total of one’s gift, or a couple’s gift, will be considered for stewardship purposes and for that year’s membership in the 1794 Society.

As part of the Alumni Fund, unrestricted reunion gifts help cover the annual costs of running the College that are not fully covered by tuition, fees, or endowment income. The main areas of support include:

• Financial Aid, which supports current spending for scholarship grants, which are provided to nearly half of current students;
• Academics, which supports faculty-student research, faculty enhancement, the Libraries, and Information Technology;
• Student Life, which supports student activities, clubs, service trips, and the McKeen Center for the Common Good;
• Arts and Culture, which supports the Museum of Art, Arctic Museum, dance performances, concerts and lectures; and
• Environmental Stewardship, which supports research and extracurricular educational programming for green initiatives, upgrades to campus facilities, and Bowdoin’s efforts to achieve carbon neutrality by 2020.

All commitments, including gifts and multi-year pledges, must be received by June 30th of your 25th Reunion year in order to count toward your class reunion gift total. Please consider making your gift by May 15^th of your reunion year so your gift is counted for the class total announced on Reunion Weekend.

Many companies will match employee contributions—in some cases doubling or even tripling your gift.  If you are associated with a matching gift company, please obtain a matching gift form from your human resources department and send the completed form to Bowdoin with your gift.

In previous 25th Reunions, typically one-third of classmates have chosen to make 1794 Society-level gifts, and all 25th Reunion classes see an exciting upswing in participation in the Alumni Fund at every level. Over the past 7 years, 25th Reunion classes have raised between $500,000 to more than $1,000,000 for the College from more than 60% of classmates in honor of their 25th Reunions. If you would like to know more about the goals for your class please contact Chuck Fedolfi, Director of 25th Reunion Giving at cfedolfi@bowdoin.edu or 207-798-7184.

In addition to the events scheduled for all returning classes, the 25th Reunion will have special activities of particular interest to your class. In recent years, other 25th Reunions have included speakers, dinners, family activities and outings, and even a screening of student films, rescued and restored from the archives.  Festivities begin on Thursday evening and run through Sunday morning. The 25th Reunion is a particularly special milestone, so whether it’s been five years or twenty-five years since you were last on campus, we hope you will join your classmates in Brunswick to celebrate. Registration materials will be sent to you in February.