For students and faculty looking to give back to the university, Bridge Builders might be the way to go.
Bridge Builders serves as a way for current and retired faculty and staff who value Texas A&M University-Commerce to donate to the university.
Director of Annual Giving Jan Ainsworth heads the program. Donations go to the foundation which funds recruitment of students, scholarships, programs, student services, departmental excellence funds, student and faculty research and networking opportunities for alumni and students. The foundation takes in monies from alumni, donors and friends of the university.
Ainsworth says the program doesn’t set goals based on dollar amount, aiming instead on a total percentage of university employees as a measure of the program’s success.
“Last year, we had 38 percent of the faculty give,” she said.
When the program began in 2004, 12.7 percent of the staff donated, according to Ainsworth. In 2005, 23.7 percent gave to the fund. The president of the university sets the goal for each year. For 2007, Dr. McFarland would like to have 50 percent of the campus employees donate.
“When we ask our alumni and friends of the university for support or apply for grants from foundations and corporations, it is important that our internal giving is healthy,” Jan Ainsworth said.
Mike Hutchinson agrees. As the director of major gifts, he seeks out donations from alumni and corporations. Although separate from Bridge Builders, support of the program makes his job less difficult.
“One of the things people always talk to us about is, ‘Tell us what your own internal constituency is doing,'” he said. “To be able to say that we’ve got a strong following from our faculty and staff that certainly makes it easier for us … It makes a huge difference.”
The name Bridge Builders comes from a poem about explorers in the Old West making a bridge that would last for those who follow after them. Ainsworth said the suggestion to use the poem’s title as the name of the organization came from Professor Kenneth “Rock” Clinton of the international studies program.
Clinton said the poem seemed a natural fit to the purposes of the group since its purpose is to benefit those who will attend the university in the years to come.
“I believe that every faculty and every student who is here should give and build on what was before,” Clinton said. “It just keeps getting better and better.”