Dialing for Dollars

Dialing for Dollars

MSU's Annual Fund goal of $100,000 has been achieved seven months before its deadline. At least part of that success can be attributed to a group of students who spend their evenings calling alumni to solicit donations.

This person-to-person approach, known as the Phonathon, allows students an opportunity to visit with alumni all over the nation. It also provides alumni the chance to ask questions about current activities on the MSU campus.

"Many people have questions about professors they had while they were students," stated Kristal Amador, director of the Annual Fund. "The Phonathon students become their link back to campus, especially if they now live some distance from Wichita Falls."

Although many schools pay outside agencies to do their calling, MSU administrators decided it is more beneficial for alumni to hear from current students, and it gives the university another way to employ students. Currently, 20 students call Monday through Thursday evenings; however, Sunday night dialing is set to begin soon.

An additional goal for the Phonathon is to solicit as many alumni donors as possible. Alumni giving is one factor used to rank colleges and universities among each other. So far, participation is about halfway to the goal of 1,537 alumni donating funds.

Phonathon callers recently broke new ground in setting a record for the "most dollars raised in one night" - $2,184.51.