Gifts go beyond tuition
By Tommy Heyboer
Staff Writer
Soon most of you will be alumni of Calvin. But what does it really mean to become an alum?
Finding a job? Hopefully. Starting a family? Perhaps. Trying to figure out what on earth you want to do with your life? Certainly.
Beyond those things, becoming a Calvin grad allows you a deeper perspective to reflect on what Calvin meant to you and what Calvin’s impact is around the globe. In doing so, we all have the great opportunity to thoughtfully consider what we can do to ensure the sustainability of this fine institution.
First, let us consider a moment some of the defining characteristics of Calvin. Calvin is an academically excellent institution as well as a not for profitorganization. Calvin consistently ranks near the top of any study with comparable institutions in academics. However, a statistical study doesn’t seem to capture the energy or the excellence that a Calvin education inspires in its students. It doesn’t take more than a cursory search to find Calvin alumni doing amazing things around the globe.
Dr. Christopher P. Holstege ’88 credits Calvin for equipping him to rise to unexpected challenges, such as secretly flying to Vienna to treat Ukrainian presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko from a deliberate case of dioxin poisoning in 2005.
For his senior design project, Jordan Hoogendam ’ 04 designed and installed the photovoltaic roof for the Bunker C enter here at Calvin, which gave him the crucial and extraordinary experience to become a green building project manager for the only engineering firm in Ontario that is entirely dedicated to green building.
Engineering major Laura Rip ‘04 studied renewable energy while at Calvin, which led her to take a position in Antarctica as a facilities engineer. Rip maintains and monitors the heating system that is powered by waste energy allowing scientists to study the South Pole and the global climate.
The only full-time U.S. field worker for Micah Challenge U.S.A, an affiliate of the ONE Campaign that seeks to halve absolute global poverty by 2015, is Jason Fileta ’05. Fileta credits Calvin’s International Development Semester in Honduras for transforming him into formidable advocate for the global poor.
The list goes on, and on, and on.
Calvin is also a not for profit liberal arts school, meaning that fiscally it is very similar to any other charitable organization . Not only is Calvin a charitable organization, it is a very stewardly charity when it comes to translating philanthropic dollars into tangible action. Just this month Calvin received a four - star (out of four ) rating from Charity Navigator, America’s largest independent evaluator of charities. To remain solvent, which is also to say to continue educating and grooming students like Christopher P. Holstege, Jordan Hoogendam, Laura Rip and Jason Fileta, Calvin requires sources of revenue beyond tuition.
Although tuition does seem hefty and each hike feels like an additional weight being place on your already burdened shoulders, tuition alone only accounts for three quarters of the c ollege’s revenue. Let that sink in. Tuition only gets us to mile 20 in the marathon of the Calvin budget. The remaining 6.2 miles (or 25 percent ) is run principally by alumni through their financial gifts. Alumni that have lived and breathed the same campus believe in the promise and potential of today’s current students.
Furthermore, absolutely no tuition dollars are allocated for building projects like the new — and I must say breathtaking — Spoelhof Fieldhouse Complex. Fundraising for building projects occurs completely separately from tuition payments, and instead through campaigns, such as the one you see advertised on campus right now.
One of the most effective and meaningful ways that alumni support the college financially is through the Calvin Annual Fund. The annual fund gifts are so vital because they can be used anywhere on campus to address needs and opportunities as they arise — they aren’t already designated for a specific purpose . Principally, the annual fund directly lowers the cost of tuition and makes it more affordable for every student regardless of their level of financial aid. Although there are other ways the college keeps tuition as low as possible, such as named scholarships, grants and endowment, the annual fund is a crucial and direct element.
Charitable gifts also influence Calvin’s national reputation. The number of alumni who donate is an important measure of “a lumni e ngagement,” a metric that influences the national ratings of Calvin by organizations such as US News and World Report. So, bigger and better alumni engagement numbers elevates Calvin’s national reputation. It’s a way for alumni to endorse Calvin’s mission and what it stands for while simultaneously increasing the value of their own degree.
Students have a special opportunity to direct their annual fund gifts to the Community Care Fund, which is a fund that helps students and their families when emergencies and crisis arise. For example, the fund originated when the seeing-eye-dog of a student several years ago was hit on Burton Street. The Community Care Fund helped the student with expenses.
Charitable gifts, therefore, ensure the sustainability of Calvin, significantly lower the cost of tuition, and increase Calvin’s national reputation. But most importantly, when an alum — or a student — makes a gift to Calvin, it’s the best evidence we have that the people who share our college’s past also believe in its future.
Alum finds giving back to Calvin rewarding
By Ben Graves
Guest Writer
During my senior year I was asked to give money to Calvin’s Annual Fund. And my life hasn’t been the same since.
OK, maybe that seems a bit overdramatic, but that’s definitely the truth.
My senior year I had the privilege to serve as Student Senate president — a position that brought me into close contact with a number of Calvin staff members from various departments across campus. One such staff member is Norm Zylstra.
That year was Zylstra’s first as “Coordinator of Student and Young Alumni Programs,” and since, in a sense, neither of us had the best idea of what our positions fully entailed, we worked in conjunction on quite a few projects. One such project was “student giving.”
One day, while having lunch in Knollcrest and enjoying my fresh Ronlette, the topic of giving money back to Calvin came to my attention for the first time. I don’t remember clearly if it was on that occasion or during another similar situation, but in one of these discussions I was asked, “Ben, are you going to give back to Calvin?”
At that moment, the question seemed a little absurd (because I had been giving money to Calvin these past four years, right?), but I think I still responded, probably rather coyly, “Sure.”
We discussed that issue for a bit that day, and it was the first time that I truly drew a distinction between the tuition money I had already spent (given in exchange for a service) and the money I could give (given because I wanted to and believed in what Calvin was doing).
After our discussion, I still hadn’t fully decided to give, but that first question really started the wheels turning. Would I actually give money back to Calvin? Was it truly that important? It was only after pursuing this issue and learning more throughout that whole year that I did decide, at the time the question was really asked, that I would make a donation.
During that year I learned about one main avenue for donating money: the Calvin Annual Fund. This fund supports the daily operating budget of the college. This means that when 1st VanderWerp needs a new light because the boys have been playing one too many sports in the hallway, the cost of the bulb will likely come out of this fund.
This fund covers those kinds of costs — smaller maintenance expenses — and it also supports each department on campus, funding programs, lectures, faculty salaries and much more. So, through all of these ways, the Annual Fund doesn’t just cover the costs of things around campus.
Without these annual gifts — and other non-tuition sources of revenue, such as grants — the cost of attending Calvin would be much higher. In other words, the Annual Fund underwrites the cost of attending Calvin for each and every student.
Contrary to what so many of us may believe or think, the “external price tag” that students see on their “Tuition, Room and Board” statements is not the final, real-dollar cost of attending Calvin. Thanks in part to the Annual Fund, each student pays about 75 percent of the actual cost of attending Calvin.
This is the importance of Calvin’s Annual Fund to me.
Last year about 12,000 people donated to the fund. These people showed that they believe in what Calvin’s doing for all of us each and every day. They also give back because they understand that when they attended Calvin, there were others who had supported them in a similar manner.
Beyond these two ways that the Annual Fund makes a daily impact, there’s one final aspect of the fund that I want to highlight right now — the Community Care Fund.
The Community Care Fund is a microcosm of the Annual Fund. Students can donate money directly to it, and it meets the specific needs of Calvin students each year. It exists for emergency situations in which a student has a pressing and immediate need for money to cover a cost.
The critical, most important part to know about the Community Care Fund, though, is that it is student-supported. Each year when seniors are first asked to donate money back to Calvin, their donation goes directly to this fund, and that’s the only money that goes there.
Whatever money a senior class gives to the Fund, whether that be $5 or $500 or $1000, is all the money available to help students the following year. As I hope you can see, this is one area in which our donations make a huge, direct impact on the lives of some students around us or, perhaps, the students following in our footsteps.
So as this year comes to a close, I wish to offer some encouragement to all of you.
To those of you graduating this year, I encourage you to lead the way for the students to come. Give back because you’ve already received so much.
o those of you who may still have a year or two or three (or four or five, I guess ... although I hope it won’t take you nearly that long), I encourage you to think through this decision, so that when you are asked, “Will you give back to Calvin?” you will be able to make an informed choice.
Hopefully, all of us will be good stewards of the money we earn — whether a lot or a little — and choose causes that we feel called to support. Calvin can be — and for me, is — one of those causes because I see how this place contributes to building God’s Kingdom.
Community Care Fund and Nyela Turaki Fund
By Bethany Duemler and Samuel McConnell
Features Editor and Staff Writer
Seniors graduating this spring may be asked as future alumni to give money to a few little known funds: the Community Care Fund and the Nyela Turkaki memorial fund. Although these funds have until this point received little publicity, they have been in existence for several years — the community care fund for almost two decades — to help students faced with unexpected situations which require funds beyond their capacity.
The Community Care Fund and the Nyela Turaki Fund are run by Knights for Life (K4L), an organization for young alumni that tries to get former students involved both in campus activities and in fundraising right out of college.
“It’s all student generated,” explained K4L intern Sarah Frank. “We want students to get in the habit of giving, and charity is a great way to start. Through these funds someone you never met, or maybe just shared some philosophy class with, can be helped and blessed.” These funds serve the double purpose of aiding students in need and in building future alumni community.
The community care fund has its origins in the late eighties. Marcia Beare (Visser), a 1990 graduate of Calvin college was a student in Dale Cooper’s 8 a.m. religion class.
“She is one of the most remarkable women I have ever encountered,” said Cooper. “She had this bright effervescent smile and a larger-than-life personality. Everybody knew Marcia.”
Marcia was blind, but according to Cooper she navigated her way around campus with ease.
“I once asked her, ‘Marcia, how do you get around so easily?’” said Cooper. “And she said to me ‘Coop, it’s kinda like I’ve got eyes in my feet.’”
Marcia’s seeing-eye dog was a golden retriever named Sebastian.
"That dog was smart,” said Cooper.
One day a car violated a red light when Marcia was crossing Burton. Sebastian was hit and ended up in an animal hospital.
"This is where my tiny role in this story came in,” said Cooper. “I wondered, ‘What’s the best way for us as a community to respond?’”
Wanting to let the Calvin community answer that question, Cooper sent a letter around to the departments and housing asking for response to the community need. The response was overwhelming.
"We raised 2,500 bucks,” said Cooper. “That’s a lot of money in the 80s!”
Sebastian’s injuries were not as extensive as originally feared, and he was taken care of with less money than was raised. Marcia was able to use some money to buy a new harness for him, but she didn’t want any of the extra money beyond that.
“She said ‘it isn’t mine anyway; it belongs to the community,’” said Cooper.
The money that was not used went towards what is now the community care fund. It has remained an open fund that anyone can add to and can be used at any time if a need arises.
“My understanding is that it is designed to respond to occasional needs,” said Cooper, “when a student faces a situation which is more than she can handle. It is something like water pipes under the street. It provides a vital service, but is not drawn attention to.”
According to Cooper, it has been a blessing both to givers and receivers in the years since.
“This is just one of the ways we live out the words of Jesus: encourage one another, build each other up,” said Cooper.
The Nyela Turkaki memorial fund was established in 2004 as a branch off of the community care fund for Calvin’s international students. Nyela Turaki was a Calvin student from Nigeria who passed away unexpectedly in June of 2004 due to a brain hemorrhage.
These funds allow alumni to give directly to students rather than to the school infrastructure. “This money doesn’t just insulate the Fieldhouse,” Frank observed. “It’s student money raised by students to help students.”
K4L sees the funds as an expansion of Calvin College’s dedication to service strongly represented by its academic and student services. Both funds serve obvious gaps in the system: crisis financial aid for both local and international students.
Originally only departing seniors were asked to contribute to the community care fund and the Nyela Turaki memorial fund. This year K4L is trying to step up publicity for the funds in order to raise greater funds and awareness of the program for students in need of its services. The program is now open for donations from the entire student body, and along with advertising, mail and e-mail, will also hold a phonathon next month.
Frank believes this expansion could radically increase the fund’s size. “Last year the number of contributors raised from 58 to 152. People will give money if they know about it; they just don’t know about it. So why not 300 students? So double again? 100 percent increase. If a 1,000 people gave up a $5 foot long at Subway or an expensive coffee drink at Starbucks, that’s $5,000 right there.”
