For years now, colleges and universities have been encouraging young graduates to give something back to their alma maters, mostly in the hope of establishing a pattern of giving for later in life when the graduates had built their wealth.
Now the New Economy is turning the equation upside down, as schools are receiving surprisingly large donations from their under-40 alumni, according to U.S. News & World Report.
The younger generation of givers is quite often making money earlier in life, -- thanks to big bonuses, inheritance or Internet stock -- and is looking for ways to give something back, the magazine reports.
"It's noticeable across all types of charities: Younger donors are making larger gifts," Prof. Timothy Seiler of Indiana University's Center on Philanthropy told the magazine.
While schools have usually encouraged giving among recent graduates, the amount of the gifts were expected to ramp up over time as the earning power of the graduate increased, the magazine reports.
"We are ecstatic if a person who graduated in the past 10 years gives us $500," Vicky Devlin, vice president of development of Bates College in Maine, told the magazine.
Now, however, many graduates are able to give more, such as the recent $150,000 gift Bates received from lawyer Marjorie Northrop Friedman, 26, and her husband, Internet entrepreneur Peter Friedman, 28, the magazine reports.
Colleges with good marketing are finding younger alumni to be fertile territory for giving campaigns. Georgetown University's Graduates of the Last Decade campaign sent out a mailing that read, "Here's the perfect Annual Fund letter for busy people: Blah, blah, blah . . . ." The mailing achieved a 10.5-percent return rate -- three times higher than normal, the magazine reports.
Colleges are rapidly becoming prime beneficiaries of Generation X munificence because they are most familiar to the recent graduates.
"Entrepreneurs who hit it rich early in life don't feel they have to buy a second house or jet," said Steve Jurvetson, a venture capitalist who -- along with his wife, Karla -- gave a large gift to Stanford University at his class' 10th-year reunion. "And colleges are the first charity they know and understand."
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