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University Advancement
(Data as of March 31, 2008)
The 47 professional and support staff in University Advancement build relationships and increase support of St. Lawrence among the University’s internal and external constituencies.

To do so, staff seeks to increase awareness, understanding and involvement with the University among alumni, faculty, staff, prospective and current students, parents, friends, North Country communities, grant-makers, the media, school representatives and other opinion-shapers.

Philanthropy to St. Lawrence University
In the area of fundraising, again, are examples of remarkable growth and achievement. In the mid 1990s, the University raised between $5 million and $6 million per year. In 2006-2007, the University set a new gift income record of $22,897,142. 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, surpassing $5 million for the first time ever. Gifts to the St. Lawrence Fund totaled $5,061,869 from 9,708 alumni, parents and friends. The Parents Fund (one of the most successful in the nation) also set a record, surpassing $700,000 for the first time ever, with a total of $708,748. The Alumni Fund exceeded its goal of $4,227,000, reaching $4,241,032 from 7,304 donors. Alumni participation achieved 35% in 2006-2007, a challenge to the University as a rate below aspirations.

On December 31, 2002, St. Lawrence completed Campaign St. Lawrence with $132.2 million, exceeding its goal by $2 million. On January 1, 2003, the University launched Momentum St. Lawrence with a goal of $200 million by December 31, 2010; as of March 31, 2008, the campaign has raised $132.6 million, or 66.3% of goal. St. Lawrence trustees have contributed $61.4 million, a remarkable exhibit of commitment and generosity.

Momentum St. Lawrence Goals:
Securing Our Future through Endowment Growth: $100 Million
Add 100 new student scholarships: $50 million
Add 12 endowed professorships: $20 million
Endow 100 annual grants for student/faculty research: $20 million
Enhance program with visiting lecturers, new courses, improved teaching methods: $10 million
Enhancing Facilities for Optimal Student Benefit: $45 million
Support science facilities: $25 million
Support arts facilities: $10 million
Classroom redesign and residential improvements: $5 million
Enhance technology: $5 million
Energizing Today’s St. Lawrence through the St. Lawrence Fund: $35 million
Strengthening Competitiveness through New Programs and Opportunities: $10 million
Ensuring the Future with Unrestricted Bequests and Trust Commitments: $10 million

University Communications
Nine professionals and two support staff assist colleagues throughout campus in efforts to communicate St. Lawrence’s key messages to the University’s key publics and to listen actively and carefully to the perspectives of these publics.

Messages: What We Work to Convey

• St. Lawrence’s mission is to provide an inspiring and demanding undergraduate education in the liberal arts to students selected for their seriousness of purpose and intellectual promise.
• St. Lawrence recognizes that seriousness of purpose is manifested in many ways, and that all ways are valued.
• The nature of the education, both curricular and co-curricular, has been shaped by the location, the attention to personal needs and the responsiveness to the evolving global society.

To communicate these messages, staff tells stories about the expertise of faculty and staff, the programs that help distinguish St. Lawrence as excellent and the academic and co-curricular achievements of active, intelligent student leaders. To listen actively and carefully, staff pays attention to queries or perspectives that support or contradict these messages and help shape responses that feature evidence of programmatic, faculty or student accomplishments. Professional functions include writing, editing, design, media relations, Web design, photography, events management, volunteer coordination (the Alumni Council and the Board of Trustees), University honors programs and survey responses.

St. Lawrence receives national and major metro attention annually for about 100 stories, in several hundred print, radio, television and on-line news outlets.