Fifty years ago, in the summer of 1957, ACU’s Annual Fund officially began.  At that time called the Annual Alumni Fund, it was an effort begun by President Don H. Morris.  Its purpose, according to Robert D. Hunter (’52), who served as the Director of Alumni Relations, was “to bind each ACCian more closely to the College by inviting him to share in the great challenge of supporting Christian education at his alma mater.”  Jack K. Currey (’47), then-president of the alumni association, stated that “a gift of some size from every ex-student will be our continual goal each year as we strive to undergird the needs of our great College.”  In that first school year (1957-58), 1,768 alumni contributors gave $73,071.59 in unrestricted gifts to the university.

Since then, some things have changed. The “alumni” part of the name has been dropped, as Annual Fund contributors now also include gifts from current and past parents as well as friends of the university.  The numbers of donors and dollars are higher.  But some things remain very much the same. Abilene Christian University still depends on donors who are willing to support today’s students through unrestricted gifts. These donors send gifts of every imaginable size throughout each school year. And those gifts touch every student on campus through scholarships, campus improvements, technology upgrades, and many other budgeted areas.

During the 2006-07 fiscal year, 3,689 donors made Annual Fund gifts totaling $1,092,899. Every year Annual Fund gifts help cover “unfunded” scholarships (those without endowment earnings to cover them). Those scholarships are an integral part of our strategy to attract and retain strong, Christian students. In addition, in this last year Annual Fund helped implement our new online graduate courses (ACU WorldWide), added wireless internet service to all residence halls and learning spaces, and accelerated the deployment of “smart classrooms” across campus. 

As you make your plans for this coming year, we hope you’ll include ACU as part of your family’s philanthropic outreach. Every gift is important - no gift is too small to bless our students.

ACU’s Annual Fund:  Every gift.  Every year.  Every student.