The whole truth and nothing but the truth—it was not a very good year by the numbers. The Commitments & Cash History chart report below tells the story.

The ascending pledge trend line, in maroon, dropped precipitously in FY10. The challenge is to know that one year does not make or break a trend. If you look closely at the chart, you will see that the trend line for the yellow bar, the actual cash given each year, did not fall so low. The yellow bars include gifts paid on previous years’ promises. For example, a five-year pledge made in 2005 for $100,000 shows in its entirety in the maroon bar for 2005. In 2005 and in the following four years of the pledge, as each $20,000 pledge payment is made, the cash values appear in the respective yellow columns. Thus, the upward trend for cash gifts received remains relatively intact. Multi-year pledges have assisted us in maintaining this trajectory toward our aspirations.

The chairman of our Business Advisory Council, Jim Champy ’68, sees clearly the value of multi-year commitments. He and his wife, Lois, encouraged the commitment of 10 new multi-year pledges in FY10 by pledging $500,000 to the endowment funds created by the first 10 alumni to make a new five-year, $50,000 pledge to the Law School. Our alumni met that challenge within months of Jim and Lois’ commitment.

The story that the chart for 2010 does not tell is that a network of committed alumni continues to grow and strengthen in its resolve to make Boston College Law School all that it aspires to be. Alumni are doing so by giving generously to the annual fund through reunion and class gift participation, by remembering BC Law in their estate plans, and by pledging to create their own named, endowed funds at the Law School for scholarships, loan repayment assistance, faculty research, and programs.

Thus does this network provide a solid underpinning upon which upward trends are formed and sustained.

Read the 2011 report on giving with donor list (PDF)

Visit our other giving pages:
Ways to give
Dean's Council Giving Society
Law School Fund
Alumni Testimonials

Give Online Now
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Cameron F. Kerry '78
"I think contributing to the school, participating on an occasion like a twenty-fifth reunion, is a way to participate in the community as we move forward in our careers." More...

Professor Ruth-Arlene Howe '74
"It's easy to give the way I do--it's just automatically deducted from my salary every month, so I never see it."More...

John J. McHale Jr. '75
"I have always been happy to support the Law School because almost all the good things that have happened to me professionally have occurred because of my training there." More...

Teresa J. Walsh '87
"We want to encourage breadth and depth of giving, because that's our future." More...