Parent Involvement Continues to Grow

Parent donations to the university increased 272 percent last year.

October 16, 2013

Helen Witt and Al Stonitsch

Al Stonitsch, Helen Witt and their son, Tom, attend the President’s Reception during Colonials Weekend last year. Mr. Stonitsch and Ms. Witt serve on the Parents Campaign Philanthropy Board.

By Lauren Ingeno

Several years ago, following the 2008 economic crisis, George Washington University parents began to raise concerns about the challenges recent college graduates were facing in the job market.

Parents addressed the issue with the university, and the Parents Campaign Philanthropy Board as well as the Office of Parent Services began to brainstorm potential solutions. 

Fast forward to spring 2013 when the GW Career Services Advisory Council introduced the Knowledge in Action Internship Fund. The grant program provides monetary awards ranging from $1,000 to $3,000 to eligible students participating in internships, and the funding is provided, in part, by parent donations.

“I think a lot of the really big changes that you see in career services today came out of those initial conversations between parents and the university. And so once that conversation started, we began to do fundraising around that, because if you’re going to expand the Career Center dramatically, you need resources,” said Stephanie Schwartz, the Parents Campaign senior co-director of development.

This is just one of many examples of the ways in which growing parental involvement at GW has had significant impacts on student life, Ms. Schwartz said.

Colonials Weekend, which begins this Friday, is a two-and-a-half-day event in which parents have the opportunity to get involved in the GW community. But in 2013, more than ever before, parents are offering an overwhelming amount of support to the university all year round.

GW brought in around $8 million from parents alone in the 2012-13 fiscal year — a 272 percent increase from the year before. Including parents who are also GW alumni, the total amount of donations from all parents last year was $12.9 million.

The staff of the GW Parents Campaign increased from two to four last year, Ms. Schwartz said, and the fundraisers have been working hard to build relationships with parents across the country — by hosting an increasing number of regional events and reaching out to specific populations. The mission of the Parents Campaign Philanthropy Board, which consists of parents of undergraduate students, is to help financially support GW and to help increase parent philanthropic support

Parents have been identifying specific areas within the university and thinking about how their financial commitment to those areas can improve the lives of their students, said Rachel Jarvis, senior co-director of development for the Parents Campaign.

“Parents want to give to areas they’re interested in and areas they see will help their own students’ experiences,” Ms. Jarvis said.

So it makes sense that staff members from the Parents Campaign have strategized to work with gift officers from other departments around the university to increase parent support.

While alumni may have a connection to the GW of the past, parents are very “connected to the here and now and know GW as a highly regarded, global institution,” Ms. Schwartz said.

And parents are committed to seeing GW grow. 

Helen Witt and Al Stonitsch, from Chicago, are parents of a GW freshman, junior and recent graduate. Both parents serve on the Parents Campaign Philanthropy Board and are regular donors to the university.

“Supporting the school with financial contributions to programs and initiatives like the Gelman Library improvements that directly benefit students and the quality of their education is an important way to make sure GW becomes an even better university,” Mr. Stonitsch said.

But offering financial support is just one way that parents are giving back, said Rodney Johnson, executive director of the Office of Parent Services. 

At the GW Center for Career Services parents are providing resume reviews, mock interviews and mentorship. Parents volunteer at Colonials Weekend and other events, call parents of prospective students in their community, help the Office of Admissions and host summer send-offs in cities throughout the world.

“There are all kind of ways for parents to be involved,” Mr. Johnson said. “I really believe that students whose parents are involved in this educational process do better.”