Macaulay Connections

Macaulay Honors College continues to work hard to encourage donations as part of the public/private partnership that funds our mission. In the last calendar year, we raised a total of $3,026,348 in cash collected and in new pledges. In the first quarter of 2010 we received new cash gifts and payments against existing pledges totaling $81,688. Our alumni have proven to be remarkably supportive of Macaulay, with donor participation rates that rival any of the other schools in CUNY. We are also particularly pleased about the growth of our donor recognition society, Friends of Macaulay, and that so many of the parents of current students have elected to make gifts to support Macaulay and to join Friends of Macaulay.

Friends of Macaulay celebrates unrestricted gifts of $1,000 each year (with special recognition at the $10,000/year level). At many colleges, a donor society is about thanking people for their generous gifts. At Macaulay, we have a deeper purpose: we want to find people who wish to become actively involved in our unique mission.  We are building an organization where parents, students, alumni, and volunteers can become engaged in issues concerning higher education in New York. For our volunteers, we are small enough to able to include them in a range of activities and discussions, all of which highlight the tremendous talent and promise of our students. For our students, this kind of interaction often provides networking opportunities to move ahead in their careers.

Soliciting membership in Friends of Macaulay is also the primary way that we raise money to support Macaulay Honors College.  As the cost of higher education spirals upward to new levels each year, we see access to education being foreclosed to increasing numbers of students.  The crucial problem that Macaulay is addressing is the choking off of practical access to education to some of our brightest urban students, who we know are numerous and who can make the difference for our future. Although it may sound cliché, our future is in their hands.

At the same time as education costs rise, the economic downturn has precipitated a growing budget crisis in virtually every state.  Over the next several years, public higher education in New York State will feel serious constraints.  Programs will be cut and scholarship opportunities focused on academic merit will face serious threat.  Macaulay Honors College has always been funded through a public/private partnership, but at this crucial point in our history we know that only philanthropy can preserve opportunity for the brightest and most promising minds in the system.

Please consider becoming more involved with the extraordinary experiment in urban public higher education at Macaulay Honors College. We have a wealth of opportunities to engage you.