Annual Fund Vision 20|20 Enters Final Countdown
Magic Number: 1,480 Alumni Participants
When the Harold Alfond Foundation challenged MMA alumni to reach 20 percent participation in the Annual Fund, they had one goal in mind. The Foundation presented MMA with a golden opportunity: reach 20 percent participation and earn an award of $750,000 to be invested in the scholarship endowment, which would serve students forever. They set a June 30, 2020 deadline for the challenge, the end of the Academy’s 2020 fiscal year.
The foundation’s goal was clear: to ensure that alumni would participate in the sustainability of their school so that Maine Maritime – and its students – could maintain their competitive edge into the future.
Alumni became motivated to meet this challenge. Some noted it’s a great rate of return, since gifts as small as $1 count toward participation: if we invest a dollar, collectively we can earn $750,000 for our school.
MMA’s Advancement staff saw a surge in volunteerism as several alums stepped forward wanting to help spread the word among classmates. These volunteers have used social media, email and phone calls to ensure their fellow alumni know about the importance of earning this $750,000 grant.
Currently, the Alumni Advancement Volunteers corps has 28 members. To date the alumni group has made a tremendous impact. These alumni volunteers include: Mike Ames ’77, Rich Armstrong ’86, Eric Brown ’05, Larry Burrill ’77, Pat Carney ’86, Omar Chaar ’09, Bob Curtis ’90, Dave Fenderson ’56, Bill Full ’76, John Gillis ’72, Chris Gilman ’16, Jeff Ivory ’95, Jake Jacobs ’85, James Jeffcoat ’05, Russ Kniehl ’66, Eddie Ma ’18, Bill Mahoney ’56, Brian Marston ’83, Wayne Norton ’86, Eliza Pingree ’15, Bill Sawyer ’57, Tom Shannon ’82, Carrie Stewart ’00, Jay Stewart ’00, Andrew Strosahl ’05, Fred Therrien ’71, Joe Valliere ’99 and Thomas White ’18.
Fiscal Year 2019 ended two weeks ago (6/30/19) with an annual participation rate among alumni that surpassed 16 percent, up from the Fiscal Year 2018 figure of 13.28 percent. This jump in alumni participation is exciting to note because it gets MMA incrementally closer to reaching the 20% goal. It would take just a slightly higher increase during Fiscal Year 2020 to earn the Harold Alfond Foundation’s grant for the scholarship endowment and win the Harold Alfond challenge.
Members of the Alumni Advancement Volunteer corps are excited about the prospects for the coming fiscal year. Volunteer Rich Armstrong ’86 says, “There is no doubt in my mind we can get to 20 percent alumni participation in the year 2020. If you challenge an MMA grad, he/she is going to meet or exceed your expectations. For three years running we have done exactly that with the MMA vs. Mass Maritime and SUNY Maritime alumni challenge. MMA grads like to win and will prove it to you every time.”
Scholarship funds have become increasingly important to MMA’s ability to maintain its competitiveness with similar institutions. The Alfond Foundation’s $750,000 scholarship grant, if awarded, would greatly enhance the academy’s ability to offer competitive financial aid packages at the level currently offered by other maritime colleges.
For some budget context, states such as Massachusetts and California offer much higher annual appropriations to their maritime educational institutions. Massachusetts receives approximately 44 percent of its budget from the state and California receives about 54 percent. In contrast, the State of Maine appropriates about 20% of the college’s annual budget, thus impacting Maine Maritime’s ability to award attractive financial aid packages.
One of the highest priorities of the college is to increase its capacity to provide scholarship funding to potential students so that they select Maine Maritime and join the ranks of Mariners.
The Board of the MMA Alumni Association showed great leadership and made a significant impact by getting information out about the Alfond Foundation’s Vision 20|20 challenge.
The Association Board also reached 100 percent participation in the Annual Fund during this past May’s Maritime Alumni Challenge and urged fellow alumni to join them.
Maine Maritime surged ahead of Massachusetts Maritime Academy, SUNY Maritime, and California Maritime Academy to win the two-week event and defend its Maritime Alumni Challenge title. The number of alumni donors during the Maritime Alumni Challenge went from 417 in 2018 to a high of 539 in the spring of 2019. In the spring of 2020, Mariners will be out to defend their title once more. Donations to the Annual Fund of any size given during the weeks of the Maritime Alumni Challenge count just as much toward the alumni participation goal as those given throughout Fiscal Year 2020.
Thank you to all donors – your gifts make a real difference to students and to Maine Maritime’s increasing alumni participation in the college’s Annual Fund!
For more information on the Harold Alfond Challenge, or to join the Volunteer corps, please contact Annual Fund Manager Karen Brace at karen.brace@mma.edu or visit the Vision 20|20 page on MMA’s website.
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