To celebrate the Class of 2011 and build a tradition of giving among our alumni, board member Andrea Gabrielle MBA ’88 is providing matching funds to MIIS students who make a gift to support the Alumni Scholarship Fund at MIIS. It works like this: If a graduating or current student makes a gift of $20 or more, Andrea will match that gift with a $100 contribution. That’s a total of $120 that will be added to the Fund, which was established in honor of and by MIIS alumni. Scholarship funds raised by the Challenge could be awarded as early as spring 2012. Three scholarships have already been awarded this year with the funds raised from last year’s Challenge.

Thanks to all those who have already contributed to the Challenge. Gifts from everyone in the MIIS community are greatly appreciated and make a difference! Learn more about the Challenge and contribute today at go.miis.edu/2011-challenge.

To celebrate the Class of 2010 and build a tradition of giving among our alumni, MIIS trustee Jed Smith has launched the Jed A. Smith/Class of 2010 Scholarship Fund. Jed has offered to match every gift of $25 or more with $100, up to $25,000. That’s a total of $125 – five times your original investment!  Gifts from faculty and staff to the Class of 2010 Scholarship Fund are also eligible for the matching funds.

Response to the challenge has been encouraging; we’ve received 58 gifts totaling more than $8,000 with Jed’s match; 36 have been from staff and faculty members!

Thanks to all those who have already contributed—your participation makes a difference.  The May 22nd  deadline is fast approaching so please consider taking advantage of this opportunity to leverage your gift and support the MIIS community.

Learn more about the challenge and contribute today at www.miis.edu/giving/challenge

Last month, Institutional Advancement welcomed Anna Dudney as its new development coordinator. She will provide strategic support to IA’s major gift fundraising efforts and overall direction for its participation-level fundraising initiatives.

Anna knows the Institute well; her mother is a MIIS graduate and Anna herself graduated from the nearby York School. She received her BA from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles and is fluent in both Polish and French. Anna will return to Loyola next week for the conference Social Justice & Diversity by the Sea: Spirituality, Creativity, and Activism, where she will be presenting her paper Gender Wars at Work: A Lesson in Ideology from Anchorman. The conference is being convened by the Organization for the Study of Communication, Language, and Gender.

Please join IA in welcoming Anna to MIIS!