Capitalizing on a personalized appeal at a time when the pandemic made in-person visits impossible, Oxy’s Legacy Challenge documents more than $7 million in planned gift commitments to the College
如果在斯沃斯莫尔行得通 Oxy trustee Gil Kemp P’04 reasoned, it could work in Eagle Rock. A longtime board member at his alma mater and chair of its recently concluded comprehensive campaign, Kemp saw firsthand how a personalized appeal to alumni and parents to document estate gifts to the college could be “a really powerful tool.”
And work it did: During the 2020-21 fiscal year, Occidental’s Legacy Challenge produced $7.38 million in previously undocumented planned gifts from more than two dozen graduates—as well as an additional $290,000 for the Oxy Fund thanks to the generosity of Kemp in tandem with fellow trustee Mike Gibby ’68 and Mike’s wife, 芭芭拉·诺基68年. Together, they made a donation of $10,000 to the Oxy Fund for every newly documented planned gift.
“Occidental is indeed fortunate to have leaders like Gil and Mike whose expertise—and generosity—pay huge dividends for the College,Harry J. 拦,小. “We are tremendously grateful to both of them and to every member of the Oxy community who has chosen to include the College in their estate plans.”
Participants in Oxy’s Legacy Challenge span four decades of alumni, from the 1950s through the 1980s. Their gifts to both the endowment and the Oxy Fund will eventually support everything from scholarships to athletic programs. Regardless of their age or program of choice, donors say that it was the lasting impact of their Oxy education that motivated them to give.
“We decided to invest in Occidental because we really do believe in a liberal arts education,” says political science major Pat (Kruse) Gillette ’73, 一位成功的民事审判律师, 中介, 性别平等倡导者. “We want to put our money where it makes a difference. And if we give it to Oxy, we know it is going to make a difference.”
Increasingly today there is an emphasis on science and tech in higher education, 1972年的戴恩·吉列补充道, a psychology major who retired as California’s chief assistant attorney general in 2014. “这显然很重要, but I think there is a lot to be said for a broad-based liberal arts education that gives you an understanding of literature, 历史, 和哲学.”
遗产参与者迈克尔·菲尔兹，1970年, who also majored in psychology before becoming a successful San Francisco dentist, 完全同意. “Oxy showed me that the path to one’s goals need not be linear or conventional,他说. “我学会了如何思考, 写, to create; to trust my instincts and pursue my interests with passion and a standard of excellence. … Not a day has passed that I have not been rewarded in some way by my Occidental education.”
由单身母亲抚养长大, Kenyon says it was a generous financial aid package, paired with campus work and loan opportunities, that made it possible for her to attend Oxy and earn a degree in economics. She credits her liberal arts education for her “knowing how 写, 分析性思考, 使用数字, 有效地沟通.” She also feels that the experience of working with people from different cultures and backgrounds at Oxy was invaluable.
对坎普, it was daughter Rebecca’s experience as a 历史 major and athlete who ran cross country and track that sold him on Oxy. 当丽贝卡, 纽约人, 在911事件后休息了一年, “What impressed me was that Oxy was very supportive of her and worked thoughtfully with her to make her feel welcome back,他说. “The fact that she could catch up and graduate with her class was to me a demonstration that Oxy really is committed to its students.”
Kemp, who called many potential legacy donors himself, often jokes that making a planned gift seems to add 10 years to a donor’s life expectancy. “我不能保证, 当然, but there is evidence that being philanthropically minded is good for one’s health and happiness,他说. “Under the rubric of supporting Occidental, all of us can find one or more parts of the institution we particularly care about and want to support.”
Top photo: Dane Gillette ’72 and Pat (Kruse) Gillette ’73. Jim Block摄影
