Case Statement
To build upon our history and tradition, sustain our expanding offerings of programs and services, and to bolster recruitment and retention efforts, the Board of Trustees and the College administration have anticipated needs for enhancements to the campus and for increased financial support. In 2004, the Trustees committed to a $30 million campaign titled the Promise of Peace. The campaign seeks to boost the future of the College with state-of-the-art facilities offering diverse, innovative programs for our students and faculty. Our goals also seek to ensure that the College will prosper in an everchanging higher education market.
Promise of Peace Strategy
To keep pace with heightened competition, the campaign employs a two-pronged strategy to support programs and operations. First, the Trustees and administration instituted a plan to invest in a contemporary campus featuring collaborative learning spaces, social gathering places, and technological hubs. Second, the campaign aspires to secure critical funding to increase the permanent endowment. The endowment provides ongoing support in perpetuity for academic programs and student scholarships. Annual giving plays a vital role in maintaining our record of prudent spending while investing in new programs. Unrestricted gifts to the annual Loyalty Fund allow the College to meet the needs of day-to-day operations. Accordingly, the campaign also affirms the importance of the College’s Loyalty Fund by including all gifts during the campaign.
The initial campaign phase, the Trustee Leadership Campaign, set the tone for the fundraising that followed and built an incredibly strong foundation of support. Leadership gifts of more than $5.6 million were given by the Trustees who then “passed the torch” to members of the Foundation Board, Board of Visitors and Alumnae Association Board for an All Boards Campaign which raised an additional $1.72 million. Together these generous benefactors raised 23% of the $30 million goal by December 2007—setting the example for others. Other benefactors then stepped forward. As a result, the campaign total reached $19.66 million given and pledged as of June 2008. Having achieved more than 66 percent of the overall goal, Peace College launched the public phase of the campaign on October 17, 2008, “passing the torch” once again to a new leadership team—the Campaign Cabinet, all alumnae and College friends.
Gaining the Advantage for Women
We have compelling evidence of the special value that women’s colleges provide to their students both professionally and personally. Recently, the Women’s College Coalition commissioned Hardwick~Day to conduct a survey comparing the experiences of alumnae from women’s colleges to women alumnae from coeducational public and private colleges and universities.
Women alumnae from the classes of 1970 through 1997 were contacted. Key findings demonstrated that women’s college alumnae report outcomes that surpass outcomes of women alumnae who attended public and private institutions.
Furthermore, women’s college graduates were significantly more likely to have gone on to earn a graduate degree. According the magazine Inside Higher Ed, 53% of women surveyed reported earning a graduate degree after having attended and graduated from a women’s college, compared to 38% of those women who attended other liberal arts colleges and 28% from those who went to public flagship schools.
In fact, more than 95 percent of women’s college alumnae believe the financial investment in their education was worthwhile and that the intellectual and personal capacities they gained are still extremely important to them. For Peace College to continue its tradition of strengthening young women on journeys of education and self-discovery, we need the support and leadership of our friends and the more than 9,000 alumnae who, since their years at Peace, have made important contributions to their communities.
Source
The Hardwick~Day Comparative Alumnae Research Study:
What Matters Most In College After College?
Prepared for the Women’s College Coalition, 2008
