BY DENISE RICHARDSON
STAFF WRITER
ONEONTA _ SUNY
Oneonta alumni led their
SUNY peers in supporting
their alma mater for the
eighth successive year, said
college officials reporting
2008-09 figures.
``It’s one of our best years
ever,’’ Paul Adamo, vice
president for college advancement
and executive
director of the College at
Oneonta, said Thursday.
The college received a total
of $3.9 million in gifts and
grants from all sources in
2008-09, he said.
The total includes a
bequest of more than $2.5
million from the estate of
alumna Dorothy
Wemple of the class
of 1936.
Nationally, the
State University
College at Oneonta
ranked sixth among
public master’sgranting
colleges in
the percentage of
alumni who made a
gift to the institution,
according to a media release
from the college.
In 2008-09, the average
gift from alumni and other
individuals, not counting
Wemple’s bequest, was $150,
Adamo said, and alumni gifts
accounted for 76 percent of
all gifts. The Council
for Aid to Education
reported the average
gift nationally in 2008
for public colleges
like SUNY Oneonta
was $177, he said.
According to the
Council, 14.4 percent
of SUNY Oneonta
alumni made a
charitable gift to the
college in 2008-09 fiscal year.
The average among four year
SUNY colleges was 7.9
percent, and the national
average among public
colleges was 6 percent,
the council said.
Adamo said gifts and
grants to SUNY Oneonta
support the college’s
mission, programs and
students.
“Our graduates and
friends recognize that
charitable investments
in our college can provide
life-altering opportunities
for our students,
our communities and
our shared future,”
Adamo said in the release.
For the 2009-2010
academic year, SUNY
Oneonta awarded 1,085
scholarships to students,
valued at over $1.8 million,
he said.
Many scholarships
at SUNY Oneonta are
endowed through gifts to
the College at Oneonta
Foundation. As of Dec.
31, the endowment was
$31.6 million, college officials
said, and earnings
from the endowment’s
investments are used
to fund the awards to
students.
The Council for Aid to
Education said alumni
participation in giving
to public and private
colleges and universities
nationwide dropped to
10 percent in 2009, the
lowest level recorded on
its Voluntary Support
of Education survey.
Overall, charitable
contributions to colleges
and universities fell 11.9
percent nationwide.
The high rate of
alumni giving was a
positive sign for SUNY
Oneonta in a difficult
economic year, Adamo
said.
“We appreciate our
alumni and friends,’’
Adamo said in the
release. ``We know that
their continuing support
in difficult economic
times reflects their
understanding of the
important work that the
college does.”
