A Million Buck$!
Young Alumni Pledges Soar, Sending LEF
Over the Magic Million Dollar Mark! | A Record Number of Jesuit Alumni Volunteer & Pledge
For the last night of the LEF spring phone drive on Wednesday, March 17, this quintet from
the Class of 2001 spent a busy two hours contacting their classmates to seek donations
to the important alumni annual fund. From left are Ricky Guttenberg, Dan Serio,
Todd Toranto, Nick Fraiche, and Danny Bourgeois.
BULLETIN:
The LEF drive for 2009 - 10 topped $1 million in pledges on March 22! As of today (March 24), pledges were received from 3,540 Blue Jays — that is 226 more pledges than the total number at the close of last year’s drive. The 3,500-plus pledges from Jesuit alumni translates into $1,003,827. Of that amount, $710,754 actually has been donated.
Young alumni, representing classes from 1995 - 2005, are the forces steering the LEF to another new record. Jesuit’s young alumni have shown up at the recent spring phone drive in big numbers to call their classmates. The efforts of those young alumni have made all the difference. Many of those classes pledged two and three times the number — and the amounts — than the final results in last year’s LEF campaign. This marks the third consecutive year that the annual alumni drive has topped the $1 million mark, although it is, by far, the earliest that the milestone has been achieved. The drive, which began July 1, 2009, will end June 30, 2010. Jesuit thanks the 3,540 Blue Jays for participating in the LEF drive and hopes that their generosity will be the impetus for the remaining 9,000 alumni to make a gift to their alma mater by June 30.
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LEF Spring Drive Wraps Up With Biggest Numbers and Amounts Ever Seen!
Three nights, three consecutive record-breakers. It was an LEF hat trick, enhanced by the record number of Blue Jays who volunteered to come to Jesuit to contact their classmates on one or more of the three nights of the LEF spring drive. The results of the LEF spring drive were outstanding. Among the highlights: - 805 Blue Jays pledged to the current spring phone drive, almost four times as many pledges as last year’s spring campaign.
- $120,740 was pledged, nearly triple the pledge amount last spring.
- 183 Jesuit alumni volunteered this spring, more than twice the 75 volunteers who called last spring.
- the spring phone (and email, text messaging, and Facebook) campaign has fueled the total amount pledged to the drive, $986,184, since it started July 1, 2009. The 2010 drive ends June 30.
- The amounts pledged and donated to each of the previous two LEF campaigns, in 2008 and 2009, have exceeded $1 million, a mark that was not surpassed until June, the final month of the drive.
- the team efforts of alumni volunteers and the staff of Jesuit’s office of institutional advancement, coupled with the generosity of Blue Jays everywhere, is expected to take the current drive to the $1 million pledge mark earlier than ever.
The number of young alumni volunteering for the LEF, many for the first time, is the direct result of a concerted effort by Jesuit alumni director Mat Grau ’68, who has invested a lot of time, beginning late last year, in organizing leadership teams among the various classes and holding planning meetings with the members of these teams.
“Mat has done an excellent job of connecting with these young alumni and bringing them together to not only help with the LEF drive, but also to foster a spirit of comaraderie,” Fr. Anthony McGinn, S.J., president of Jesuit, told members of the President’s Advisory Council at their monthly meeting Tuesday afternoon at the school. “We want our alumni to stay connected and remain connected to Jesuit High School, and I thank Mat for all of his efforts. I also wish to acknowledge our office of institutional advancement for all of its support. It really has been a team effort and the results are quite impressive.”
Results of LEF 2010 Spring Phone Drive
Overall Results of
Three-Night Drive:
805 Pledges
$120,740 Amount Pledged
183 Blue Jay Volunteers
$986,184 Pledged to Drive
Since July 1, 2009 |
| Monday’s Results:
224 Pledges
$37,774 Amount Pledged
70 Blue Jay Volunteers
$903,218 Pledged to Drive
Since July 1, 2009
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| Tuesday’s Results:
349 Pledges
$47,431 Amount Pledged
68 Blue Jay Volunteers
$950,649 Pledged to Drive
Since July 1, 2009 |
| Wednesday’s Results:
232 Pledges
$35,535 Amount Pledged
45 Blue Jay Volunteers
$986,184 Pledged to Drive
Since July 1, 2009 |
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Results of First Two Nights of 2010 LEF Spring Drive 
Fr. Raymond Fitzgerald, S.J. ’76, who will become Jesuit’s next president after the 2010-11 school year, is flanked by 10 Blue Jays from the Class of ’97, who showed up in force to participate
in the LEF spring drive on Tuesday night in St. Ignatius Hall. From left are: Harry Hawney,
Alex Fein, Jason Fein, Nathan Junius, Christian Weiler, Fr. Fitzgerald, Ridge Bourgeois,
Josh Marino, Glenn Hayes, Lance Sannino, and Bill Wynne. The LEF
spring campaign will wrap up on Wednesday, March 17, with dinner
in the Student Commons at 6 p.m. Calling takes place
from 7 - 9 p.m. in St. Ignatius Hall.
Will it be three records in a row?
Two nights, two consecutive record-breakers. From the results of the first two evenings of the spring phone campaign, the 2010 LEF drive is on the right track, a fast, slick track, to surpassing the $1 million mark for the third consecutive year. The first two nights of the spring drive have attracted twice as many volunteers as the entire spring campaign in 2009. With more volunteers, the pledges are rolling in. The 65 volunteers on Tuesday night brought home the bacon and the eggs — 350 pledges amounting to $47,431. The two-night spring drive results have been nothing short of phenomenal — 135 volunteers who reeled in 575 pledges from classmates totaling $83,204.
On Tuesday night, 10 Blue Jays from the Class of 1997 enjoyed a meatballs and spaghetti dinner with the other 55 LEF volunteers in the Student Commons before getting down to business in St. Ignatius Hall. They reached out to their classmates using Jesuit’s phones, their own cell phones, laptops to email and communicate via Facebook, and text messages. They tried virtually every which way to get in touch with their classmates, with the possible exceptions of sending telegrams and riding the Pony Express. Want to donate-pledge? Check the links below...
LEF 2010 Spring Phone Drive
Monday’s Results:
225 Pledges
$35,773 Amount Pledged
70 Blue Jay Volunteers
$903,218 Total Amount
Pledged to Drive |
Tuesday’s Results:
350 Pledges
$47,431 Amount Pledged
68 Blue Jay Volunteers
$950,649 Total Amount Pledged to Drive |
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Email to Blue Jays Regarding LEF 2010 Spring Drive
from Brett Forshag '84, Chairman
Dear Blue Jays: We are in the home stretch of Jesuit’s annual LEF drive, which began July 1, 2009 and wraps up on June 30, 2010. As this year’s chairman, I am asking for your support — either by pledging or donating to this important cause, or by volunteering to join me, along with dozens of other Blue Jays, on one or more of the three nights of the spring campaign, which begins Monday, March 15 and ends Wednesday, March 17. Jesuit asks its alumni only once during the current (2010) fiscal year to give something back to their alma mater. Now is that time. If you have not already done so, I ask that you donate or pledge online by going to Jesuit’s secure web site right now.
Donate Online to the LEF Drive Pledge Online to the LEF We could use additional volunteers for next week’s phone campaign. Dinner is served each of the three nights at 6 p.m. in the Student Commons. Contacting classmates is from 7-9 p.m. in St. Ignatius Hall. We welcome LEF volunteers and encourage them to sign-up online: Sign-up Online to Volunteer for the LEF Spring Drive: March 15-17, 2010. Since Jesuit’s 2010 LEF drive began last July, more than 2,500 Blue Jays have pledged $837,133. The generosity of our alumni givers is truly inspiring and I sincerely thank them. However, I want to reach out to those alumni, especially young Blue Jays, who would be making their first donation. Please donate online today. I am also appealing to Blue Jays who have not contributed in recent years — become involved once again in the LEF and go online today to make your much-needed donation. No gift is too small, and certainly none is too large. For many Blue Jays, donating to the LEF is a sacrifice. Participation by as many Blue Jays as possible has always been, and continues to be, the key to ensuring the success of this important drive. Along with the Parents’ Annual Giving drive, the LEF goes a long way towards keeping tuition at a reasonably affordable level, thus attracting a diversity of students. In short, your gift enables Jesuit to continue its mission of developing in its students the competence, conscience, and compassion that enables them to be men of faith and men for others. Thank you for your participation and generosity towards Jesuit. Sincerely, Brett Forshag ’84 Chairman, 2010 LEF Drive |
Listen: In Their Own Words...
Fr. Anthony McGinn, S.J. ’66, president of
Jesuit High School, discusses what
makes the LEF drive so important.
(Total Run Time :31) | Brett Forshag ’84, chairman of the 2010 LEF drive,
addresses the role of alumni
in the annual campaign.
(Total Run Time :37)
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