University President Grey Dimenna, Esq., announced the public launch of a campaign to raise $15 million in private funding to support student scholarships at the University during a meeting of the Board of Trustees on Thursday, Oct. 25.
The goal of the campaign, Together We Can, is to raise $15 million in gifts and pledges by June 30, 2019. The campaign has already made much progress toward reaching its goal. Current development stands at $10.3 million, about 68 percent of the way to reaching the University’s goal.
“Raising money to support student scholarship aid has been one of my top priorities as president of Monmouth, and it will certainly be an area of need for the University in the years to come,” Dimenna writes in an email announcing the campaign.
Dimenna continues, and explains that last year, the University provided more than $66 million in institutional scholarship aid, which is 11 percent more than the previous year, and 99 percent more than a decade ago. “These may seem like daunting numbers, but we have found that even $5,000 in scholarship aid can be the deciding factor in a student’s choice of Monmouth over a peer institution. By way of reference, annual scholarships at Monmouth can be established with a commitment of $1,000 per year over a five-year period,” he writes.
“Most members of the Monmouth community are well aware of how expensive a private university experience can be for students, so many of our donors are stepping up with support for the Campaign so as to help Monmouth students address as much of their unmet financial need as is possible,” said Jonathan Meer, Vice President for University Advancement.
Efforts by the campaign are to reach and exceed its $15 million goal in order to accelerate the University’s trajectory of academic excellence, in order to enable highly qualified students from economically, geographically, and culturally diverse backgrounds to apply and attend.
Meer explained that the Division of University Advancement is providing staffing support and overall daily logistical management of the Campaign. “One of our top priorities has been to recruit a volunteer committee (“The Campaign Cabinet”) that is fully representative of the breadth of the University community. That obviously includes students, faculty, staff, Trustees, alumni, parents, and local businesses,” he said.
Volunteers from the Cabinet are accompanying members of the Advancement Division on solicitation visits to those who are close to the University, and asking for commitments to support scholarships for students. “Some donors are establishing new scholarships while others are adding to their existing scholarships,” he said.
Nicholas Verzicco, a senior finance student, and a member of the Campaign’s Cabinet, explained that his role as one of the student representatives is to bring attention to the importance of giving, and how students can get involved.
“Giving is essential to the survival of our institution. If students cannot come here, then we have no University,” said Verzicco. “Many prospective students base their decisions on financial aid and an amount of $1,500 could cause a student to go somewhere else. The ability to give the additional financial aid could really bring the amazing students who really want to go here but cannot afford it to Monmouth.”
The Student-Alumni Association has also been in the process of planning fundraising events throughout the year in order to raise money for the Scholarship Campaign. “We are focusing on the student body and encouraging them to donate for this cause through events like Giving Tuesday, which is a day of giving after Thanksgiving and Black Friday,” said Teniya Manu, a sophomore accounting student and Vice President of the Student-Alumni Association. “We are also encouraging alumni to donate to the scholarship fund and help out future hawks, along with parents of current Monmouth Hawks.”
The end-date of the Campaign, June 30, 2019, also happens to be Dimenna’s announced retirement as the University’s President. “Since President Dimenna has been such a wonderful champion of Monmouth’s students in his tenure at the University and, in particular, since he became our President in February of 2017, a number of donors are making gifts in his honor,” said Meer.
“As we strive toward our ambitious goal, I hope that you will consider making your own outright gift or multi-year pledge to support scholarships,” says Dimenna. “Every contribution, regardless of its size, will have a direct impact on our students, and is a powerful signal of internal support to alumni, parents, friends as well as external grant-making organizations.”
PHOTO COURTESY of Monmouth University
