MIT Class of 1968 40th Reunion Giving

The 40th reunion is a big one. It's a great time to remember our time at the 'tute and our time with our friends. It's also a superb time to look back on our lives and contemplate the effect our years there, our puny tuition payments, and the efforts of the Institute have had on our lives and on our world. The natural response to a gift far exceeding our own contributions is gratitude, expressed by our own giving to bless those who follow in the same way we were blessed. This page helps you do that, and in a way that builds our class team spirit by giving 'credit' to our class. As you compare our class giving to others, you can't help but think whether MIT provided greater benefit to the class of 19xx than it did to ours.

Slicing the Numbers

Even those of us who were not Course 18 majors recognize the power of statistics. Let's look at our class giving in two ways. First is giving in fiscal year 2008 (7/1/07 - 6/30/08). As of early March, our class has given $972,000, with 35% participation. Since the 40th is a major reunion, this participation really should be 100%. You can see this on the Live Roster.

The other is the reunion gift total page. It includes all gifts made from 7/1/03 through Technology Day (June 7, 2008) and all pledges made by that date and payable over the next 5 years. This shows our class giving (as of June 20, 2008) of $7,948,263 with a participation of 66%. Only three classes (1938, 1948, and 1958) topped that. Total reunion giving was over $100 million.

Class Project

Our class project is the Class of 1968 MacVicar Faculty Fellowship. It's listed on the class project list. This fellowship (3254600) established an endowed fellowship in memory of Margaret MacVicar. The Margaret MacVicar Faculty Fellows Program recognizes faculty who have made exemplary and sustanied contributions to the teaching and education of undergraduates at MIT. Current fellows include our own Nobel Prize-winning Alan Guth. The most cost-effective incentive to enhance the benefit of MIT is to reward those who do it best.

MIT Financial Aid

Read the March 7 letter from Beth Garvin for a better appreciation of MIT's commitment to education.

Please use the Reunion Pledge Form to make your reunion contribution. It assures your gift is 'credited' to both our class and our reunion, though I have assurance from the MIT Alumni Fund that "All gifts that come in from the class of '68 to any designation all count towards the reunion." It is also the easiest way to support our class project, if you so choose. Read the February giving letter for our class. Find out more at http://giving.mit.edu/.