We hear the call to purpose service and leadership all too often at Pepperdine. Most of us think about service in terms of what we’ll be doing in a future far from Pepperdine but we shouldn’t be so quick to dismiss serving the University after we graduate. Serving Pepperdine can mean a number of things but one of the biggest ways to make an impact is through a financial contribution.
Students eagerly support social justice issues with time and money so there doesn’t seem to be an overall unwillingness to give. As current students we’ll stop to give a few dollars to benefit microfinance organizations or Project Serve yet we won’t designate $10 toward student scholarships when the Call Center asks. We don’t tell our friends “Sorry I have loans or, If I had money I’d be paying tuition when they ask us to support a cause. That’s because we’ve found a personal connection or value in the goal of the organization. My call to the Pepperdine community is to make giving to the Pepperdine Fund meaningful.
Most importantly, giving a tax-deductible donation to the Pepperdine Fund is an investment in the future value of a Pepperdine degree. One of the factors in ranking top schools is the percentage of alumni that give back the school, and Pepperdine is currently at an appalling 11 percent average alumni giving rate. Our alumni giving rate had been as high as 20 percent in 2002 but has steadily dropped each year.
Our U.S. News and World Report ranking has declined similarly; in 2003 Pepperdine stood at 47th in the national rankings before dropping to 58th in 2010. Its 2011 jump to 53rd largely reflects a change in U.S. News and World Report’s ranking methodology that places more weight on output” measures like graduation rate not a significant change in any category. We claim to be a university of “academic excellence and Christian values but if we really mean this, we should be constantly striving to be the best in both areas. Although many may believe that Pepperdine’s value is greater than any one rating, one way the University can attract top students, faculty, and programs is to prove itself in terms of the current ratings.
Schools ranked better than Pepperdine reported an average alumni giving rate of 19 to 37 percent. Our giving rate indicates that alumni are not maintaining a strong connection to Pepperdine. I would love to see more alumni giving to specific organizations, like athletic teams, clubs and international programs. General gifts are deposited in the Pepperdine Fund, which supports the school’s most urgent needs.” As alumni may disagree with the school over what the University’s urgent needs are I would encourage alumni to support the programs they deem most valuable.
Alumni should also sponsor specific programs events and resources that they wish they would have had access to during their time at Pepperdine. Alumni regularly confess that they feel Pepperdine didn’t do enough in a certain area while they were a student but they fail to realize that funding can make institutions do things they couldn’t in the past. Funding can additionally increase diversity as in the case of the Glazer Institute for Jewish Studies. Alumni should also realize that if they only have half the donation required to fund a specific project their company may have a gift-matching program. During our time at Pepperdine we have often heard “freely ye received therefore freely give so I urge alumni to remember Pepperdine’s role in preparing them for their future and to make a gift to the Pepperdine fund that will specifically help a current student to be the change” on campus and beyond.
The senior giving campaign will be starting soon and I hope that seniors will find a specific meaningful area in which to donate. Seniors should begin seriously contemplating which area of the University they would like to see grow in the next few years and plan on being a part of Pepperdine’s growth as a university.