Each year the Wabash Annual Fund kicks-off its phone-a-thon season in late October. This year the team of student callers introduced an interesting element to the calling and recognition plan.
As part of their conversations, members of the 21-man student calling team are explaining to alumni and friends how Annual Fund gifts open doors of opportunity for Wabash students — opportunities such as generous scholarships, top-notch faculty instruction, cutting-edge technology, and inspiring travel abroad programs.
The callers go on to explain how this year — for every alumnus, parent, or friend who makes a pledge or gift to the Annual Fund during one of the phone-a-thon sessions—they will be writing the name of the individual donor on an actual door to show how gifts add up to open even more doors of opportunity for Wabash students.
Joe Klen ’97 and Roger Busch ’96 coordinate the College’s Annual Fund plan and supervise the Phone Room.
"We wanted to add an element to our phone calls that visually demonstrates for both student callers and alumni the importance of all Annual Fund gifts — both large and small," said Klen.
The goal for the 22-night fall calling session is to add 1,100 names to the old wood door.
"It's important for the callers to see all of the names go up on the door; it helps them realize the collective impact of those gifts on their Wabash experience," said Busch. "Having the names on the door also serves as a type of physical ‘honor roll’ of donors."
After the first few weeks of calling, alumni seem to be responding very positively to this campaign and the theme of how gifts to the Annual Fund help "open doors" of opportunity for Wabash students.
Klen and Busch report that each year nearly a quarter of those who make annual gifts to the College make those commitments through conversations with Wabash students during one of four phone-a-thon solicitation sessions.
The students call from 6:30-9:30 p.m. on Sunday-Thursday evenings from a 12 man calling room in the lower level of the Pioneer Chapel on the Wabash campus.
So if the phone rings, you answer, and there is a Wabash student on the other end, please take a few minutes to share your Wabash experience and listen to how he describes his experience. You might be surprised to learn which doors of opportunity opened for both of you as a result of some alumnus or friend, like you, who made a gift to the Annual Fund.
If you are not able to talk with a Wabash student this fiscal year, you can always make your gift in support of opening doors for Wabash students by visiting https://www.wabash.edu/alumni/egift.
The 2006-2007 fiscal year runs through June 30, 2007.