On Tuesday, March 31, Vice President for Development and Alumni Relations Shane Jacobson gave a talk presenting the College’s current projections and changing efforts in alumni gifts, which was part of a series focused on the College’s operations, known as Inside Grinnell.

However, the timing of his talk was no coincidence. March 31 was also a unique fundraising day for Grinnell, called Scarlet & Give Back Day, which raised a total of $853,586.10.

“The fundraising presentation … was timed with Scarlet & Give Back Day as just one more way to shine a spotlight on why the generosity of our alumni and friends is important to the education and mission of Grinnell College,” Jacobson wrote in an email to The S&B.

Jacobson’s talk focused on the core values and mission of the Office of Development and Alumni Relations, the current update of the College’s fundraising efforts as well as its prospects for the future. As of Tuesday, the total amount of commitments, or annual gifts from alumni to Grinnell, is 20 million dollars for the 2015 fiscal year. Jacobson noted that the rate of giving from alumni donors at most of our peer institutions is flat or going down, a trend that Grinnell College has also suffered from.

Therefore, for the 2016 fiscal year, Jacobson noted that Grinnell should continue to encourage financial gifts that will benefit the position of the College.

“[We] must focus philanthropy on creating a margin of excellence at Grinnell, and to do so means building a better and stronger case for why gifts that support students, faculty, programs and facilities make a real difference,” he wrote.

Editor’s note: Scarlet & Give Back Day is not associated with The Scarlet & Black.

—Compiled by Jenny Chi ’17 and Sarah Ruiz ’18