Advancement: Development

From the Director of Advancement

Dear Alumni and Friends of Pharmacy,

We look forward to sharing with you the school's vision and how the advancement department plans to assist in providing resources to realize these objectives. I'd like to explain some of the methodology we use in fund-raising, or advancement and development as it is commonly called.

To achieve advancement goals, institutions often measure success by the amount of dollars raised. This statistic, however, sometimes eclipses another very important measure of success: percent of alumni who give to their alma mater. This measure is referred to as percent participation. Some argue that this is the most important measure as it indicates the degree of alumni investiture in their school.

We are most proud that 18 percent of Pharmacy alumni make an annual gift to Purdue University. This is a full 2.5 points higher than Purdue's overall alumni average of 15.5 percent. Still, we have a long way to go to catch up to other schools such as Michigan, Stanford, and Harvard. To continue to achieve excellence, we will need support from each of our alumni.

Please realize that regardless of size, your gift makes a significant impact on the education of our students. State funds account for only 19 percent of our budgetary support. Tuition, grants, corporate, and individual philanthropy make up the balance. As you can see, your gifts really do make a difference for our students.

Thank you once again for visiting our site. If you're on campus, please stop by and say hello. Also, feel free to contact me at (765) 494-0501 or via e-mail at jcsmith@purdue.edu.

Hail Purdue!

Christopher Smith
Director of Advancement