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PAGE TWO

KENTUCKY

ALUMNI PAGE
Editor W. C. Wilson, Alumni Sccrelary
Assistant Editor, Helen J. Osborne
Louisville, May 1 (First Saturday Regular ) luncheon nt 1:115, Elk's
Cliicngo, April 19 (Third Mondny club.
Philadelphia, May 1 (First SaturRcgulnr) luncheon nt 12:15 Mar-shn- ll
Field Men's Store. (Grill room). day Regular) luncheon nt 1:15, EnLouisville, April 22 U. of K. ban- gineers Club, 1.317 Spruce street.
Buffalo, May 8 (Second Saturday
quet 0
at the Brown hotel.
Alumni
April 24
Regular) luncheon at 1:15 ChamAssociation
Dance 9:00 p.m. at the Men's Gym- ber of Commerce, corner of Main and
nasium, University of Kentucky.
Seneca streets.

CALENDAR

THE ALUMNI

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FUND

The following is a discussion by Russell R. Larinon, Executive Secretary,
Dartmouth College, of the financial problem as met by that institution:
Alumni funds will differ in organization and method and properly
should do so in order that they may be adapted to the particular requirements of their respective institutions and alumni bodies. Because of this
fact, the writer is not going to endeavor to specify what the organization
of any alumni fund should be. Necessarily, if he desires to be of any
assistance to those who are concermd with such a fund in other insUtutiomi,
all that he can do is to discuss th. organization nnd methods of his own
fund with, here and there, some expressions of opinion as to the value
of methods which have been used. The fact that the affairs of one institution will have to enter largely into the article does not indicate that it
is the belief of those connected with that partcular institution or fund that
successful or that success has been attained.
it stands out as
The Dartmouth College Fund ha3 been in existence since the year 190G-- 7.
At its inception it was patterned largely after the Yale fund. Since 1907,
annual contributions have increased from $5,147.10 to $70,354.28. The
number of contributors has increased from 553 to 3,789, which represents
fifty-fiv- e
per cent of the total number of graduates. The fund is collected
and administered by the executive body of the alumni known as the Alumni
per cent of the amount collected is
Council. Usually about twenty-fiv- e
assigned to permanent endowment, and the major portion of the remainder
is given over to the college as current income. Without any advance
commitment on the part of the Alumni Council, the trustees of the college
have had sufficient confidence in what the result would be to feel justified
in going ahead each year on budgets providing for exceedingly burdensome
deficits if the Alumni Fund collection for that year had failed.
Each fund campaign extends over a period of about six or seven
Each
months, from December of one year through June of the next.
campaign is entirely separate from any other. Pledges are accepted for
only the current year, and subscriptions for a term of years are never
solicited nor accepted. Possibly there are few exceptions to this because of
promises made by individuals to class agents that they will at least make a
certain contribution over a period of years.
The alumni fund books are cloned on July 1 of each year, and pledges
which have not been paid by that time are not counted as contributions
If the pledge is paid tardily, the amount is credited to the fund for the
following year. Contributions- which 'arrive in envelopes postmarked later
than June 13 are not accepted for the current year, but are. credited to the
Some years ago the policy was followed of not closing the
year following.
books absolutely on July 1, but each campaign then dragged on through
the summer. There was fairly uniform agreement among the agents and
among the members of the alumni fund committee that it was preferable to
date, even though this might
close the books absolutely on a definite
mean considerable disappointment to individual agents who were unable
to secure enough contributions by the exact date to make t'heir quota
although they could have made their quota if given three or four days leeway,
The question might be raised as to why we do not solicit promises from
alumni that they subscribe a certain definite amount over a period of years
The answer lies in the fact that our alumni quota, when viewed over a
period of years is constantly advancing, and it is much easier to ask for
larger contributions from individuals; as the need increased than to endeavor
to predict a need over a period of years nnd ask for a definite contribution
per year. Moreover, part of our reason for having an alumni fuund rather
than an endowment fund is that we may expect that an alumnus will
contribute as generously as his income allows him to contribute, and we
rather expect that this will vary from year to year.
SCHEME OF ORGANIZATION
Having identified the fund as one administered by an alumni body, and a3
one whose proceeds are devoted, in the man, toward increasing the current
income of the college, as one which accepts only cash contributions and as
one in which each year's campaign is entirely separate from any other
year's, let us turn to the oorganization which is employed in its cllection
and administration.
members, representing
The Council of Alumni is composed of twenty-fiv- e
.different geographical and other groups, and acting virtually as liaison
officers between the trustees and the body of alumni. The Council, among
its other activities, elects a committee of the alumni fund which has a
membership of six, one of the members being named as chairman. Thi
committee appoints an executive secretary, the incumbent being usually
The treasurer is ex officio
connected with the college administration.
treasurer of the alumni fund. In practice, the chairman of the fund com
mittee and the executive secretary are chiefly responsible for the planning
nnd the earrvinir out the camnaien each year. The members of the fund
committee, other than the chairman, are asked by the chairman to supervise
the w,ork of collection which is being done by certain groups of agents oi
by alumni associations.
Tile chairman is an alumnus who is successful in his own line oi
activity, one who commands the respect of the other alumni, and one who
is willing to work untiringly for the college. The executive secretary keeps:
in constant touch with the agents of the various classes and is responsibk
for the printing of any circular appeals which may be mailed to the alumni.
Ho keens the chairman in touch with the progress of the fund and the
nrogrcss of the various classes. The chairman will, from time to time,
correspond with the agent of a class who is doing very well, or with an
ni'ent who is not doing well. He throws in his influence wherever it ie
needed. The treasurer, or course, is responsible for the proper recording
of contributions and for making the wcessay investment of contibutions
which accure.
IMPORTANCE OF THE CLASS AGENT
But the most important cog ,in the alumni fund machine is the clash
agent. In our alumni organization the class is the most important unit,
for a man's contact with the college is usually maintained more through
his class than through any other agency. After consultation with the clasr.
officers, the alumni fund committee appoints every year an alumni fund
agent for each chts3. In some classes the appointee is known simply as the
chairman of a committee whose responsibility it is to raise the class quota
for the alumni fund. But in the average class hd is known as the agent,
while in all the classes which have graduated in recent years, he invariably
culls to his aid a certain number of assistants who are usually known as
s.
The members of the class are divided between the member?
according to geographical residence,
of the committee or the
according to undergraduate social connections, or according to the point
at which the first letter of their lust names comes in the alphabet. If we
were to hazard a prediction, we should say that, in all probability, classes
will be handling their alumni fund affairs in the future more often through
s.
usually
For a sub-agecommittees than through agents and
assumes that he is merely helping out the agent, and this attitude is often
evident in his letters to possible contributors.
A quota is set for each yeur's fund campaign the amount being fixed

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by the Alumni Council after the chairman of the fund committee has
conferred with the president of the college as to the probable needs that
the college will have for thnl year in current income. The quota in therefore
sot- according to the needs of the college nnd according to the amount which
the alumni will probably bo able to subscribe for that year. The share of
each clan is determined by the time which has elapsed since graduation
and by the number of men within each class. By experience wo have
found that ability to give in roughly measured by the time which has
By plotting average gifts of classes over a
elapsed nfter graduation.
period of years, we secured a graph Indicating giving power.
We use
this in assigning and calculating class quotas. This method is not as
scientific n one as we could wish to have, bul it has proved on the whole
fairly satisfactory in practice, and we will expect that it improve as time
goes on.
Asking nlumni for money in fnirly lnrgc sums year after year with the
expectation that a majority of the alumni will respond necessitates cducnting
the alumni as to the financial problems of the college nnd the need thnt
exists for alumni support. One means of carrying on this education is
through spenkers which the college sends out ench year to the various
alumni associations. While it is not their custom to discuss the funds,
it is their practice to discuss the problems of the college, and among these
problems the financial one. In the actual alumni fund work it is expected
that the circular material which the alumni fund committee sends to all
the alumni will benr the burden of educating the nlumni as-tthe reasons
for giving, and that the personal appeal which is mndc by the agent in each
class to the individuals in each class will accomplish the result of securing the
ictual contributions. We have found that printed appeals mailed by the
alumni fund committee are, on the whole, effective only in educating them,
so tiiat we no longer expect that circular material will result in securing
many actual contributions. Out,, plan provides for sending out about four
printed appeals each year. The material, in so fnr as possible, is on standard size. But the whole emphasis of the Fund Committee and the executive
secretary is placed on the work of .the class agent and his assistants with
meetings, telephone calls, or personal
their personal appeal by face-to-faletters. It is fair to make the niisumpition that the class which is so
organized for the Alumni Fund purposes that the members of the class will
be seen personally by men interested in the success of the Fund, will make
its quota. But the class which is organized only to the extent of having
to collect the
an Alumni Fund ngent who endeavors, almost single-handeFund by means of circulnr letters will invariably fail to make its quota. '
DETAILS OF CAMPAIGN
Suppose we summarize what happens in a single campaign. We will
take the last one as an example. In September the chairman of the
committee and the executive secretary corresponded with the agents and
made such changes in the list of agents as were necessary, either through
rlsignation, or through record of unfitness for such work as judged by the
record of the year passed Some time in the month of October the committee
sent the Alumni Fund report for the year to all the members of the alumni
body. It contained the report of the committee, a tabulation of the results
secured by eacli class, a statement of expense, and a list of contributors
arranged according to classes. It was a report only, and it did not present
any appeals for funds by definite statement. About the same time the executive secretary corresponded with the individual agents and suggested that
they make preparation for the active work of the campaign, which would
begin in December. They were urged to set up their uganization and to
have their committees or their assistants ready for work by December.
The chairman of the Fund Committee sent a mimeographed letter to the
agents, signed with a penned signature, outlining the plans for the year,
and asking them for suggestions. In November the Alumn Council met and
set the quota for the year, the chairman of the Alumni Fund Committee and
the members of the committee having been selected at the previous meeting
in June.
On December first the chairman addressed the agents by means of a mimeographed letter in which he talked of the Fund, and more especially of the
first printed appeal which was to be sent out about a week later. The
appeal was enclosed, and the agents were urged to write letters to their men
to follow up very closely the receipt of the printed appeal from the committee.
The chairman told them that the central appeal for the year was to be
"the support of the educational program of the president by means of contributions to the Alumni Fund." This first appeal was sent out to all of the
alumni by the Committee.
It consisted of a four-pag- e
announcement containing the opening appeal of the year and a list of class quotas. Ac- compaying it was a facsimile of a typewritten letter from the president of
the College to the chairman of the Fund Committee expressing to him the
need of the College for the year ahead. Slips were enclosed in the belief
that they would stimulate the immediate mailing of contributions. It is a
substitute for a note from the alumnus to the agent. Tlje fact that a letter
should be writen to accompany the check often results in a long delay in
sending anything. Moreover, it allows us to save some expense in postage,
and printing later in the year if we can iduce alumni either to send us a
contribution at the time, or to pledge for a later time, or to assure us that
they do not expect to contribute.
On December eleventh the chairman addressed a circular letter to all
of the alumni discussing the Alumni Fund and the College's needs, ( urging
ing them to return the small card with its declaration of intention if they had
not already done so.
On December fifteenth the executive secretary addressed a mimeographed
letter to all agents inviting them to be present at a dinner in New York
on Januury third or a dinner in Boston on January fourth, at both of which
the president of the College, the chairman of the committee, and the execu
tive secretary would be present. These dinners served a very valuable
purpose in arousing enthusiasm and in the pooling of suggestions and criticisms.
At these dinners it was made known to the agents that small contribution slips similar to ones previously sent out by the chairman would be
available for the agents use in their personal letters.
About the middle of January a mimeographed letter, signed by the
chairman and the executive secretary, was mailed to all the agents telling
them that an abstract of the various things which had been said at the dinners
was enclosed in order that those who were not present might have the opportunity of understanding those thing.- which were said and discussed, and
that those who were present might have a record of the discussion to rend

at their leisure.
e
February fifteenth a
folder was mailed to all alumni,
giving the list of agents with their addresses and repenting the class
quotas. Those men who contributed the year before received, along with the
e
folder, a letter from the chairman asking them if they would care
to sign the enclosed slip which indicated their willingness to receive, about
May first, the names of two Dartmouth men who had not contributed by that
time and, having received them, to endeavor to interview them personally
with the purpose in view of securing their contributions. Those men who had
e
not contributed the year before received the
circular and the
usual small slip, as well as a letter from the chairman urging them to 'indicate on the contribution slip that they were making a contribution, or that
they were pledging to make one later, of tha hey did not expect to contribute.
Beginning February fifteenth, and continuing at weekly intervals until
July first, the executive secretary sent to each agent and member of the
Alumni Fund Committee a mimeographed copy of the standing of the
various classes ranked according to percentage of contributors, the quota,
and the contributions Witli this first record of the classes was mailed a chart
showing the progress, week by week, of the Fund during the previous year.
Every two weeks from then until July first a chart showing the progress
of the Fund of the present year was enclosed with the record of class
3tndings, so that the agents themselves might have full knowledge of the
progress of the Fund and of the necessity for continued effort if the quota

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four-pag-

four-pag-

four-pag-

was to be made.
On March nineteenth the chairman and the executive secretary joined
in sending a mimeographed letter to agents. On March twenty-thir- d
the
chairman addressed himself to the members of the classes from 1850 to
1670, by means of mimeographed letters, asking them to set an example
for all the rest of the alumni by making an early record of a high per
centage of contributors.
The March number of Alumni Magazine carried an excellent editorial

on the Alumni Fund. This was reprinted so thnt the agents were given the
opportunity of sending reprints to the members of their clnsscs. On April
fifteenth, n booklet presenting questions and answers on the Alumn Fund was
s'
offered to the agents as a manual for their own as well as their
letter enclosing
the chairman sent a follow-u- p
use. On April twenty-thir- d
a reprint of the Alumni Fund editorial to the members of the classes from
the
1850 to 1870 who had contributed up to that time. On April twenty-fift- h
chairman and the executive secretary mailed n mimeographed letter to nil
ngenls, enclosing copies of two more printed appeals which had been prepared, and asking the agents if they desired to receive a supply of them for
use in nppenling to the members of their classes.
On May fifth the executive secretary sent typewritten letters to the
secretaries of all active alumni associations, asking them If their associations
in their district,
would be willing to receive the names of
and to be responsible for these men being interviewed before June thirtieth.
was to bo placed on the card the card
The name ofcach
to he returned" to the executive secretary. Thirty-eigh- t
associations agreed
to do this work. On May eighth the executive secretary sent lists of unpaid
pledges to all class agents,' accompanying the lists with a letter.
On June first cards bearing the names and nddresses of
were sent to individuals and to associations who had volunteered to
help. Accompanying the cards was a printed note from the Fund Committee,
folder containing some questions concerning the
as well as a four-pag- e
Fund. On June eleventh the chairman nnd the executives ccretnry joined
in dispatching a letter to the agents urging them to increased cJfort during the
remaining three weeks of the campaign. Moreover, they were told that,
ns hud X't'ii the custom in previous years, a small slip three inches by five
inches would be sent direct.from Hanover to the members of their clastsci. who
had not contributed, unless they indicated to the executive secretary that
hey did not wish to have the slip mailed to the mombr.'s of their classes. The
slip was headed "Last Call,'' and it announced that the Fund bookr, cloicd on
June thirtieth, and thnt this was the last opportunity to include their name
in the ilst of those who support Dartmouth.

A WORTHY

RECOGNITION

The following editorial which was written in the Lexington Herald
shortly after appointment of Dr. Thomas P. Cooper, dean of the College
of Agriculture of the Univeisity of Kentucky and head of the extension
work of the University and of the Kentucky Agricultural Experiment Station, as chief of the Bureau of Agricultural Economics of the Department
'of Agriculture at Washington, is indeed echoed in the hearts of many
alumni, especially those of the College of Agriculture, and farmers of

Kentucky.
"The call from a sickbed of the United States Secretary of. Agriculture for Dr. Thomas P. Cooper, dean of College of Agriculture of the
University of Kentucky, and head of the extension work of the University
and pf the Kentucky Agricultural Experiment station to assist lii:a in
the department which gives such valuable assistance to the American
fanr.ar, is otj in which all Kentucky may take a just pride. A personal
friendship formed between Secretary of Agriculture Jardine and Dr. Cooper
before Dr. Cooper came to the University of Kentucky no doubt was a
fact? in the appointment. Nevertheless, there can be no denial that this
call to government post comes more directly as a recognition of the work
whl.I. Jr. Cooper ha3 been able to do in Kentucky through the vehicle, of
the state university nnd through the wholehearted cooperation oi Kentucky farmers whose confidence he has inspired, whose friendship he has wn
and whose problems he had made his own.
"The appointment of Dean Cooper as chief of the Bureau of Agriculture- economics of the Department of Agriculture has not yet been formally announced but the dispatches from Washington are such that there can
be no doubt that the appointment will be tendered. While unwilling to
say anything until definite announcement has been made from Washington,
Dean 'Cooper has indicated that he will, accept the appointment if the University of Kentucky sees fit to grant to him a leave of absence. There is
no reason that the University should not do this and there can be little
doubt that it will. It is, of course, an inconvenient time both for the University and for the State to spare him. But if the University makes a
"loan" of Dean Cooper to the federal government to do the task which
Secretary Jardine calls him to, he will not sever his connection with the
University. He would still retain his connection with the University and
at the conclusion of a temporary occupancy of the post in Washington
can return to the University to continue the work he has begun in Kentucky.
"Dr. Cooper has been head of the College of Agriculture, the Experiment station and extension work since 1918, coming here from North
Dakota. He is also a member of the state board of agriculture, state park
commission and livestock sanitary board. He is past president of the
American Farm Economics Association and of the Southern Agricultural
Workers Association.
"An expert in agricultui'al economics, Dean Cooper in Kentucky has'
led in a better farming movement along widespread and varied lines. In
thi very important features of farm management and of marketing he has
He abo has consistently urged better
been able to render valuable service.
housing conditions and improved handling of crops and facilities for handling them. Under his direction the formation of junior ad farmers' clubs
throughout the State has progressed until these clubs now have a very
large and active membership and are no 3mall factor in agricultural development.
This has been made possible by the confidence and cooperation
of Kentucky farmers.
"Dean Cooper was influential in having E. O. Robinson of Newport,
give 15,000 acres of land "at Quicksand to the college and Experiment station and obtained from the legislature an annual appropriation of $25,000 to
run this eastern Kentucky substation. A western Kentucky substation, also
'
has been started at Princeton.
"He has reorganized the departments at the college and Experiment
station and has built up the department of home economics and marketing
to one of the best at any experiment station. The farm management also
ban been built up.
"His appointment as chief of the federal bureau of agricultural economics shows that the work done in Kentucky, of which many favqrablo
comments are heard within the State, has gained nationwide attention and
prominence.

"While a contpicious feature of it, the work of the agricultural agencies
connecTed witli the University under Dr. Cooper's leadership are a part of
tint general progressive accomplishment of the University of Kentucky.
With meager funds so that a constant handicap is found in the most
ly
factors for advancement, the University has gone ahead with a
program of which the agricultural department is a shining example.
Its efforts for usefulness to the State have been in no wise confined to classrooms which is one thing that has drawn nation-wid- e
attention to the work of
he College of Agriculture anei the kindred agencies. If Dr. Cooper, as head
of the federal bureau of agricultural economics can tell the farmers of the
United States how to do as much with as small funds as the University has
done he will have, to give them advice not in agricultural economics bat in
wizardry.

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plates for
Please reserve
me at U. of K. banquet to be held

at Brown Hotel, at 6 p. m.,
April 22, 1926.
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Don't Forget the Big Alumni Dance Saturday Night, April 24, in the University Gymnasium
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