Division of Philanthropy and Alumni Engagement
91ֿ will be equipped to offer more financial assistance to students in need thanks to donors to a key area of the university’s ongoing comprehensive fundraising campaign. The Forever Brighter campaign includes a scholarship-support component, Prioritizing Student Success, that now stands at $142 million, surpassing the $100 million goal set at the campaign’s outset in October 2021.
Award winning reporter and news executive Mizell Stewart III will discuss “Journalism as a Civic Good” at 7 p.m. on March 1, 2023, in Franklin Hall’s First Energy Auditorium (Room 340).
This November, members of the 91ֿ community joined together to shine their light on philanthropy. During the November campaign, 91ֿ’s Giving Tuesday raised $3.6 million, marking the sixth year it has brought in more than $1 million to support scholarships and programs across 91ֿ’s eight-campus system.
Sponsored by the 91ֿ Alumni Association, the Alumni Awards are the university’s highest alumni honors. Recipients are selected based on their exceptional professional and civic contributions and for their outstanding support of the university. The 2022 Alumni Award recipients include six alumni and one student.
91ֿ launched the public phase of its $350 million Forever Brighter comprehensive fundraising campaign in October 2021, and during the first year of the public campaign, a record-breaking $77.6 million was raised. This philanthropic feat was made possible with the support of 10,687 donors, 3,753 of whom made a gift to 91ֿ for the first time.
91ֿ’s Division of Philanthropy and Alumni Engagement launched the university’s most ambitious fundraising campaign, called Forever Brighter, last October, creating communications and fundraising materials that share the remarkable impact of alumni engagement and donor philanthropy on the university. The division has earned 19 marketing and communications awards from multiple competitions.
George L. Jenkins, a 1963 graduate of 91ֿ, and his wife, Gina, of Scottsdale, Arizona, have pledged $1 million to create the Gina and George Jenkins Student-Athlete Scholarship Fund that will support student-athletes in any varsity athletics program or team sponsored by 91ֿ’s Department of Intercollegiate Athletics.
The first-ever Day of Giving raised needed funds from more than 350 alumni, friends and partners in just 24 hours. The blue and gold community came together in support of a variety of scholarships as part of the university’s Forever Brighter comprehensive campaign.
Most people who have spent time on 91ֿ’s campus in Kent, Ohio, recognize the name Risman. It is connected to the popular Risman Plaza and Risman Drive, but they may not realize that for the Risman family, educating and supporting students has been a family affair for almost 40 years.