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Bluefield College recently completed its spring 2008 Annual Fund Phonathon, and alumni and friends of the college pledged more than $44,000 to the effort -- the highest pledge total in BC Phonathon history.

July 1, 2008

Article by BC student Rachel Reed     

Bluefield College recently completed its spring 2008 Annual Fund Phonathon, and alumni and friends of the college pledged more than $44,000 to the effort -- the highest pledge total in BC Phonathon history.     

For three straight weeks this spring, 13 current Bluefield College students, joined by two former BC students, phoned some 4,282 alumni soliciting support for the BC Fund for Scholarships.     

Nearly 5,500 alumni were contacted in an advance Phonathon mailing. The advance mailer generated $11,616 in gifts from 133 donors, while solicitations from students by phone produced $33,110 in gifts and pledges from 370 donors for a total of $44,726 in gifts and pledges to date.     Proceeds from Phonathon, coordinated annually by BC's Betty Carroll, director of annual giving, go directly to the BC Fund for Scholarships, which is the primary financial resource for institutional financial aid for students. More than 90 percent of BC students depend on financial aid to be able to afford their college experience.     

"We have wonderful alumni and friends who participate in the Phonathon," Carroll said. "Their generosity and participation make Bluefield College's Phonathon program a great success. Our student callers really enjoy speaking with them and updating them on the happenings at Bluefield College. It is a great experience for our student callers to be able to connect with our alumni."     According to Carroll, President David Olive encouraged this year's students to raise a record amount of donations.     

"Dr. Olive made a challenge to the student callers that if they made over $40,000, he would treat them to dinner at Fincastle County Club," Carroll said. "So, the student callers were rewarded with a really nice dinner."     

Post-event calculations also indicate that the average gift or pledge to this year's Phonathan was $88 per donor. In addition, of the 503 donors who pledged or gave to date this year, 95, or about 19 percent, were new or first-time givers.     

Current Bluefield College students who participated in the Phonathon this spring included Kim Carroll, Josh Cline, Jennifer Cook, Jonathan Gunther, Kyri Jacobs, Abigail Meadows, Andrew McKinney, Renae Meadows, Kathryn Pyles, Le'Andra Sabatino, Benjamin Thurmer, Kara Woodward, and Michael Yates.     

The two alumni who joined the current students in calling were Bryan Wohlford and Annette Tabor.     

The college also received gift certificates, small prizes, and amusement park tickets, among other donations, from area businesses to be given to callers as incentives. Items from the campus bookstore were also given as prizes. Three large prizes were given to the top three callers who raised the most money, and another three large prizes were given to the top three callers who had the most new donors.

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