Loyola has almost half of the donations it needs to receive what would be one of the largest gifts of their fundraising campaign.
The university has until May 12 to reach a total of 2,500 donations. As of April 24, Loyola has received 1402 donations for this challenge. An anonymous donor has pledged $100,000 to Loyola if it can get 2,500 people to make donations between Friday, April 26 and May 12.
Director of Annual Giving Stephanie Hotard said the donor chose to remain anonymous to avoid distracting people from the cause he was donating to and didn’t want his name to be reported yet.
“He’ll allow us to tell people person to person but he doesn’t want us to spread his name widely in publications,” she said. “I don’t think he’d want too much attention from this.”
The stipulations on this gift do not specifically dictate how much each donor has to contribute to the cause. Because there is no donation minimum, all potential donors are encouraged to give whatever they feel comfortable with.
“We’ve had a lot of donors who are underclassmen,” she said.
Hotard continued by saying all the outgoing seniors who contributed to the class gift this year were included in the number of donors as part of their goal of 2,500.
The $100,000 donation would only be a small part of Loyola’s $100 million fundraising goal. Hotard said this pledge challenge from the anonymous donor doesn’t mean that Loyola is ready to go into the public phase of their campaign yet.
“We’re still in the quiet phase but we’re hoping that as the campaign is launched that we get to do more things like this that bring donors in,” she said. “An important part of the campaign will be alumni participation so this is one way that we’re trying to reach out to new alumni.”
Hotard said she is confident that Loyola can get donations from 2,500 people in the next 16 days, but also said she doesn’t know what will happen if they fall short of the goal.
“There’s a chance he might not give it,” she said. “We would have to let him know on May 12 and the decision would be up to him.”
Hasani Grayson can be reached at [email protected]
