Page 47 - Newsletter_Spring_2019

15 Annual Appeal in Full Swing
th

By Jon A. McLaughlin ‘73 • Fundraising Co-Chair

First, there is a need for clarifi cation of
why an Annual Appeal is necessary.

Alumnae will say “I gave to my class
scholarship fund and now I am being
asked to give to the Annual Appeal?” Well
the truth of the matter is yes and for very
good reason.

Each year the Association gives out over
$50,000 in scholarships. Most of this
comes from various Endowment Funds
serviced by the Maine Community
Foundation, but not all. e Annual Fund
supplements the scholarships as well, but
some of the Annual Funds go towards
operations.

ere are expenses for our part-time secretary, bookkeeping and general operational expenses, and a large amount
goes towards the bi-annual newsletter. Ads in the newsletter cover some of the costs of producing the newsletters,
but not all.

e Annual Appeal usually kicks off in September with a personalized mailing to all alumnae. en in mid-February
we host a phonathon evening where a group of alumni volunteers call other alums that have not yet replied to the
mailer sent earlier. You are always so generous when reached by one of our callers and they always like to speak with
other alums from around the country. e phonathon ends with several alums that still were not reached either
because the person being called was not home at the time of the call or the callers simply ran out of calling time for
the evening. ose names that were not reached are given to a paid-on-commission, alumni worker that calls all
remaining names over a period of several weeks. e process is fi nalized, near the end of the annual campaign on
June 30th, with a blast of bulk email requests that brings in remaining funds. Quite a process for an all-volunteer
organization.

e 2018-2019 campaign is our 15th year of undertaking an Annual Appeal and it will once again be successful in
reaching our goals of supporting scholarships and operations of the Association

So now you can be understanding of why you might be contacted more than once during the year to give to the
HHSAA.

ere is a way to avoid a call for at least the Annual Campaign and that is by becoming a sustained monthly giver
to the Association. It’s easy to do, not painful for the contributor and usually more benefi cial to the Association. It’s
simple.

Go on-line and set up an on-going monthly payment plan that is automatically assessed to your credit card. For an
example, a $10 monthly contribution can automatically be contributed and is painless and it will result in an annual

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