Yale SOM Alumni Fund: A Call to Action

“This is a call to action,” says Susan Lennon ’85, chair of the SOM Alumni Fund. “It is a call to each of us as leaders. It is a call to make a difference, and giving is one way to do this.”

With four months — a full third of a year — left to go before the fiscal year closes, the Alumni Fund is at 80% of its annual goal, with a total of $965,248. Based on the Alumni Fund’s success in the previous fiscal year, this year’s goal was raised to $1.2 million, a number that represents the Alumni Fund’s most ambitious goal ever, and is more than double what the fund was raising only three years ago. Participation rates are also ahead of where they were last year as, to date, 37% of alumni have made a gift, moving the Alumni Fund toward its other goal of 50% participation. SOM is second only to Tuck in alumni participation and continually exceeds the performance of other peer schools, like Harvard and Stanford. 

Lennon credits two separate yet interrelated causes for this outstanding performance: changing attitudes toward philanthropy and the continued relevance of the SOM mission. “People are increasingly more deliberate and intentional in their giving; philanthropy is being viewed as risk capital to fund social change,” Susan suggests. “And this new trend is reinforced by the SOM ethic of making a positive difference as a leader.”

“Alumni understand that what is happening at SOM today — from curriculum development to campus building — is a compelling imperative to lead change through passion and purpose.”

Help move the Alumni Fund closer to its goals.