Showcasing the strong support of Luther Seminary donors, the Sustaining Fund and Scholarship Fund again passed fundraising goals for the year. During the 2007-2008 fiscal year 6,474 donors gave generously to support the mission of educating leaders for Christian communities. Strong support through two challenge matches was instrumental in accomplishing these goals.
The Sander Seminarian Scholarship Match met its goal of $250,000 quickly. Yet because they believe so strongly in scholarship support for church leaders, Duane and Phyllis Sander eagerly offered to go above and beyond their $250,000 gift for a total match of $311,000. Their generous gift and strong belief in scholarship support was critical in helping the seminary reach this goal. Through the combined support, the seminary was able to go above the $1 million scholarship goal, reaching a total of $1,170,851.
Luther Seminary will continue to place a strong emphasis on reducing student debt and supporting students through scholarship support during the 2008-2009 fiscal year. The need for scholarship gifts is so great that the goal has been doubled to $2 million. It is a significant increase, but Luther Seminary hopes and prays for our donors to again respond generously.
The Sustaining Fund also successfully reached the $4.5 million goal, largely due to the Fox Challenge Match. The match was meant to encourage Sustaining Fund donors to renew their gifts. More than 2,500 donors responded generously to the Fox Challenge Match. Of these, 707 doubled their gift from the prior year to have it matched entirely– quadrupling the gift impact. An additional 1,817 donors rejoined in partnership and received a two-to-one match on their gift for a triple impact. Luther is grateful for all of these donors and for the generous support through these remarkable matching gift opportunities.