Guiding Principles
- You have the opportunity to participate in the Grinnell experience every year.
- Make a gift that is meaningful to you and appropriate to your circumstances.
- The College appreciates your generosity and will keep you informed of our efforts because you are integral to the well-being of the College.
Pioneer Fund Gifts
The majority of Pioneer Fund gifts are unrestricted operating funds to enhance the operating budget. Funds are expended following the budget process's recommendations for priorities for a given year.
Unrestricted funds support educational programs: classes, laboratories, performances, speakers, internships, wellness programs, athletics, and arts initiatives.
The budget is prepared each fall and put into place the following July. In the intervening months, opportunities arise that, if Grinnell had to wait for the next budget cycle, could take up to two years to be implemented.
Unrestricted giving to the Pioneer Fund allows Grinnell to take advantage of these opportunities and to be responsive in its decision-making.
Pioneer Fund Communications
We are thoughtful about what we do and how we do it. We invest a lot of care in our communications with donors by maintaining a cost-effective and environmentally friendly communication plan.
When planning our communications, we pay close attention to printing and mailing costs. We have been able to dramatically reduce the mailing cost per piece over the last several years. We are frugal stewards of our budget while sharing messages at the most reasonable investment per donor possible.
Our communications utilize more electronic media because this approach is more mindful of the stress of paper products on our environment. It also offers a different venue to communicate with those who prefer e-mail. We try to be respectful and honor the College's general stance that electronic communications be appropriate and infrequent.
Paper and Printing
We use the most environmentally friendly paper possible for our printing balanced with our practical needs. All inks we use are soy-based. We often incur incremental costs to use papers with higher post-consumer waste contents.
At the office we recycle all possible materials. We are increasingly paperless. In Development and Alumni Relations, we rely more and more on email and electronic media.
