Event highlights importance of private giving to university
Students Promoting the University’s Reach for Success celebrated Thank Alumni for Giving (TAG) day to raise awareness and express gratitude for the university’s annual private donors on Greene Street Tuesday.
SPURS handed out book bag “TAGs” and posted more than 30 signs around campus to remind students of the services, facilities and program improvements that might not be possible without contracts, grants and gifts from alumni.
Steve Farwick, assistant director of the Office of Annual Giving, said 2009-10 private donations totaled over $117 million (over 30 percent of the university’s budget) from over 40,000 donors, including the Kennedy family, the USC class of 1958, and the Duke Energy Endowment.
This money went to fund scholarships, student programs, building upgrades, the community service day shuttle, the Kennedy research center at the pharmacy school and the new technology lounge at the Thomas Cooper library.
“We want to show students how their education is impacted by donors,” Farwick said. “State appropriations decrease every year, and tuition only covers 42 percent of the budget.”
Student Development Council member Sarah Casarella, a fourth-year public relations student, said students don’t realize how much donations directly affect everyday campus life.
“Private giving makes the university bigger, better and more comfortable,” Casarella said. “It’s what makes the university experience what it is.”