Seed Money: Helping Our Students Grow: A Model for Giving

摘要

Tuition costs have outpaced the rate of inflation making a college education more difficult to attain for lower- and middle-income families. A model for enhancing charitable giving for Agronomy and Horticulture scholarships is presented in the form ofsuccessful case studies. Among the key elements in the process is the need for a dedicated faculty member to serve as a catalyst. The potential donor groups include alumni, faculty, industry leaders and friends in commodity groups. Paramount to successof a program is a system that seeks to connect the donors and the programs they support. The power of departmental resources such as popular and familiar sites (gardens, farms) and activities (student clubs, field trips, annual festivals, etc.), plus iconic professors should be tastefully exploited. Above all appreciate the momentum of success, It entrains more reticent givers and an expanding array of scholarships attracts the attention of students, recruiters, faculty and the envy of competing departments, Finally successful models seek and use the help of institutional supporting facilities such as the university foundation, alumni association and the professional organizations associated symbiotically with the university and its faculty.