On behalf of the Vice Chairs of the campaign Jay Ireland, Jo Ann Campbell and Sarah Redlich, I would like to welcome you to the formal kick off of our new Campaign:

As we all know the school is showing great momentum. Momentum: it’s energy, movement, progress. You might remember the equation: the momentum of an object is equal to the mass of the object times the velocity of the object. St. Lawrence’s momentum is unprecedented. Our mass? It’s the shared commitment of trustees, faculty, University administration, and alumni volunteers and benefactors of all kinds. Our velocity? Faster than a well-trained athlete sprinting down the track. We are moving forward and moving upward, and everyone is noticing.

Momentum represents the success the University has experienced in application growth, retention, student achievement, facilities investment, improvements in the staff and faculty, and enhancements in the curriculum and sports programs. Equally important is the continued success the University is experiencing in fund raising. The 2005-2006 fiscal year was the best fund raising year ever, with gift income totaling over $22.6 million. The total is some 20 percent higher than the previous record, $18.8 million in 2001-2002, the final year of Campaign St Lawrence. The St. Lawrence Fund, which represents gifts from alumni, parents and friends in support of the University’s ongoing operations, also experienced a record setting year, totaling over $4.8 million, a 9 percent increase over the previous year and a 15.4 percent increase over the last two years. And importantly the Alumni Fund, a sub-set of the St Lawrence Fund, totaled over $4 million. In addition to cash gifts, a number of new pledges for future gifts were secured by the University, including 10 gifts of $1 million or more. I thank you all for you generosity. But as we all know much work is yet to be done to reach our goal.

In order to create momentum, you need energy and power to propel the mass. At St. Lawrence, energy and power are created by the incomparable devotion of Laurentian volunteers. Our alumni, parents and friends who work with our University leaders, who connect with others, who share devotion to St. Lawrence, who plan events, who open doors, who take every possible opportunity to speak well of St. Lawrence: you are the energy and power behind this momentum.

When the campaign concludes in 2010, we will take enormous pride in all we will have accomplished together. Among those accomplishments will be a corps of new and emerging leaders—alumni and parent volunteers who will have been integral to the success of the campaign. Our volunteers will help shape what the University becomes tomorrow. Your work is that essential.

What an inspiring start we have! St. Lawrence volunteers will work closely with the Trustee Campaign Steering Committee to make the campaign part of our words and actions every day. I would like to take a moment now to thank just a few of the groups of people who make our work so worthwhile and so effective.

To my colleagues on the Board of Trustees: You have the ultimate responsibility for the success of the campaign. You will provide leadership, articulate goals and objectives and participate in appropriate solicitations. From the Board we have created the Campaign Steering Committee, and my fellow members of this Committee will undertake to role of oversight as the campaign moves into its public phase.

To the 37 alumni from the Class of 1960 to the Class of 1992 who enthusiastically have accepted the role of founding members of our National Major Gifts Committee: I express confidence that you will work with the staff to identify, involve and solicit Laurentians for gifts typically of $100,000 or more. You should expect to complete two to four face-to-face solicitations with staff support each year of the public phase of the campaign, so your contributions will be direct and lasting.

To the Committee on Planned Giving, I underscore how important your work will be encouraging deferred gifts. You will take an active role by acknowledging new bequest provisions and deferred gifts, conducting follow up calls with individuals who request information about placing St Lawrence in their wills or making a deferred gift, and encouraging attendance at estate planning seminars.

To the Alumni Council: You are strong, focused and energized in every area crucial to the success of the University and of the Campaign. You are, as President Sullivan says, the best Alumni Council in America. Your committees in such areas as admissions, career services, Reunion, Saints Network and, of course, development, have adopted goals for this year and beyond that will help assure we reach our goals of the campaign and of a more competitive St. Lawrence University.

To those of you who are members of the Reunion Development Committees, Parents Committee, and the President’s Leadership Gift Committee, I emphasize that you will communicate how important strong annual giving is in the campaign’s success.

To faculty and staff, I want you to know that all alumni appreciate that by virtue of how you perform your work, you have a direct impact on fundraising. Students, parents, alumni and friends draw impressions about the University by their interactions with you. Did you realize that faculty and staff are among our most generous donors? During Campaign St Lawrence, over 85% of the staff and faculty made a gift. A faculty and staff committee will educate colleagues about the important role they already play in the success of the campaign and to help devise and implement a suitable way of approaching faculty and staff for gifts.

Volunteers in all these categories are valued ambassadors for the University's priorities. As ambassadors, our volunteers will be ready and able to speak about how the campaign will shape the University’s future, and they’ll be ready to listen actively to alumni, parents and friends throughout the world, sharing ideas with the leadership in Canton.

I firmly believe that we will succeed beyond our plans and beyond our dreams, with this campaign. We will do so because of the broad and deep network of volunteer support we have been privileged to assemble. I want to thank all of you again for the generosity of your support, time, gifts and efforts to help obtain this milestone for St Lawrence. The success of this campaign will be an important achievement in putting St Lawrence in a strong financially competitive position for the future. Without your dedication this could not be accomplished.

I am proud and honored to announce that we—all of us here today and every Laurentian around the world, will carry the University forward into its next historic phase. Recognizing our upward and forward movement, tonight we announce the commencement Momentum St. Lawrence, our new campaign with a goal of $200 million by December 31, 2010. Importantly, I want to thank our generous donors who have already contributed over $85 million toward that total. We are almost 45% completed and we have five years to go!

We are off to a great start; we will need all of your efforts to get to the finish and beyond.

Thank you!