Fund Donors Thanked

The campus was dotted with colorful booths covered in slips of paper, candies and banners as part of Thank a Donor Day this past Tuesday. A three-year running tradition, the event encourages both students and faculty to express gratitude towards alumni, parents and other donors to the Academy for their contributions.Giving Thanks Club co-heads Becca Nievar and Ify Ikpeazu, who helped organize the day, stressed the importance of giving thanks to the 6,670 alumni, parents, students and grandparents who have donated to the Exeter Fund in the past year.“We forget that Exeter wouldn’t be here if it were not for the support of donors. I like that all students, faculty and staff get the chance to express their gratitude,” Nievar said.Ikpeazu agreed. “Many people believe that they pay fully for their opportunity to attend, but this is not the case. We should all be grateful to generous contributions and support of alumni, parents and friends of the Academy.”To date, the Exeter Fund has raised $4.9 million, more than half of its goal of $7.5 million for the 2013-14 year. In addition to the Giving Thanks Club, the event was also organized by Exeter Fund Director Lee Frank and Assistant Director of Alumni and Parent Relations Michelle Curtin. Tables were set up throughout the day in both dining halls, Agora, the Academy Building and Phelps Science Center to provide students the opportunity to write notes to donors.The Giving Thanks club made a promotional video for the day, which was shown at assembly, handed out pins and stickers and put up posters all over campus. They also promoted the fact that donations comprise 61 percent of the costs of running Exeter, and that without them the school would have run out of funding by Dec. 22, 2013.Students stopped between classes and during their free time to write notes of gratitude, which were later collected and sent to donors. They could also contribute by signing a banner or attending a Thank-A-Thon, an evening event where students called donors to express their thanks. Ikpeazu and Nievar also contributed by extending the day’s reach to more of the community.Faculty and students who manned the tables worked to encourage as many contributors as possible to add their voices by signing notes. “I try to encourage my peers to come over and be conscious of their gratitude and entice them to come,” Giving Thanks club member Megan Do said.Ikpeazu said that the club was especially focused on having students outside of the Giving Thanks club work the booths this year. “I help come up with ideas to make sure the day has a maximum impact on students,” Ikpeazu said. “[We looked to] StuCo, Pass it Forward and other interested students.”Caitlin Kiley ‘00, who is also assistant director of alumni and parent relations, said that she donated to the Academy in order to help current and future students have the experience she enjoyed.“My attending Exeter was made possible by donors, so giving back is a way for me to recognize the generosity of alums,” she said.Kiley also wrote cards to other donors. “It is very important to recognize everyone that makes Exeter the place it is,” she said. “Really, it is just polite to say ‘thank you’ every once in a while and let them know that we appreciate what they are doing.”Do stressed the importance of donors on student experience at Exeter. “If we didn’t have the the support we have,” she said.“Exeter wouldn’t be what it is. We live at a school with so many great opportunities that wouldn’t be available without those donations," Do added.The day also incorporated new additions this year. A banner which said “Exeter Gives Thanks” was signed and filled with notes from students and faculty and placed in Agora for anyone to help decorate as they passed through.Some also noticed an increase in notes written and signed by faculty, and also that many individuals were writing multiple notices. Ikpeazu was encouraged by this fact.“We want people to write as many as possible,” she said.Curtin noted that the scope of the event has been growing since its first year, with the addition of more club members. “It is clear that the more we, as a community, understand just how much we all benefit from the generosity of others, the more willing and motivated we are to show our appreciation and gratitude,” she said.