Kenyon Fund Executive Committee shepherds the College's annual campaign for operating support

Twice each year, a group of alumni assembles on campus to guide the course of one of Kenyon's most crucial fundraising efforts, the annual Kenyon Fund campaign for essential operating support for the College. Known as the Kenyon Fund Executive Committee, or the KFEC, the group represents the alumni body in managing the progress of the Kenyon Fund.

A group of former chairs of the annual-giving program and other interested alumni was first convened during the 1975-76 campaign (led by Eppa Rixey III '49), at the suggestion of Richard K. Fox, who was then the College's vice president for development. A few years later, while serving as chair of the 1982-83 campaign, John "Jack" Buckley Jr. '66 reorganized the group and founded the Kenyon Fund Executive Committee in its current form.

"What I like best about the KFEC is that the members bring us inspiration every time they visit, and in between visits, too," says Lisa Dowd Schott '80, the College's executive director of alumni and parent programs. "They help us take a fresh look at the things we do every day, and that's hugely important for us."

Schott notes that the KFEC is largely responsible for creating the Kenyon Fund's annual fall appeal to alumni. "The Kenyon Fund is very much a volunteer-driven program, which is a big part of why it's so effective in bringing donations to the College," she says. "The KFEC's members are an exceptionally loyal group of alumni providing leadership for everyone else who helps to make the fund a success."

During the past decade, the KFEC has seen the Kenyon Fund grow by as much as 31 percent annually. This year, while the percentage of alumni contributing to the fund has increased by 10 percent, actual donations toward the $2.9-million goal were down by 4 percent as of mid June. (By contrast, the Kenyon Parents Fund is running ahead of its $610,000 goal for the year.) The KFEC is ultimately responsible to the Development Committee of the Board of Trustees, through the leadership of the Office of Alumni and Parent Programs.

"The KFEC serves as our 'idea group' for ways to appeal to alumni, and it provides us with a wonderful sounding board for our own ideas," says JoAnn M. Usher P'94, director of annual funds, who supervises both the Kenyon Fund and the Kenyon Parents Fund. "The members are also our most effective callers to leadership-gift prospects, not only because of their closeness to the inner workings of the Kenyon Fund but also because they visit the College twice a year, which lends authority to their reports on campus life."

Membership in the KFEC is made up of representatives of strategic Kenyon Fund constituencies, including class agents and members of leadership giving societies. Most members serve three-year renewable terms, while the chair has a two-year term. A vice chair, who will succeed the current chair, is appointed before the beginning of the chair's second Kenyon Fund campaign year.

The group's current chair is Richard A. Rubin '62 P'00 of Mill Valley, California, who served as chair of the Kenyon Parents Fund, and the Senior Parent Challenge, during the senior year of his daughter, Pilar B. Rubin '00. Cynthia A. Cole '74 of Atlanta, Georgia, a former member of the College's alumni and parent programs staff, is chair of the KFEC's Leadership Giving Program. (See the profiles of Rubin and Cole in this issue of Developments.) The current vice chairs, Harvey M. Stephens '85 and Mary Beth Atkinson Stephens '86 of Springfield, Illinois, will jointly assume the group's top post for the 2004-05 campaign.

"The KFEC has been a mainstay of the Kenyon Fund and the College's annual-funds staff for two decades," says Schott. "We are all very grateful to the many alumni who have volunteered their time and talents to the KFEC, and to the continuing betterment of the Kenyon Fund in both dollars raised and numbers of participants, over the past twenty years."

In addition to Rubin and Cole and the Stephenses, members of the committee for 2002-03 included Marcia Barr Abbot '73 of Greenwich, Connecticut, Richard S. Alper '71 of Bethesda, Maryland, Julie Basta Alvarez '01 of Portola Valley, California, Donald Bomann '59 of Greenwich, Connecticut, Matthew J. Borowiecki '98 of Hanover, New Hampshire, M. Phoebe Brown '79 (past chair) of Wyoming, Ohio, Andrea L. Bucey '89 of Hudson, Ohio, Brian J. Derry '67 P'95 of Bayfield, Colorado, Brian D. Dowdall '93 of Worthington, Ohio, Joanna M. Eickmann '94 of Watertown, Massachusetts, Christopher E. Falkenberg '90 of New York, New York, Linda Bunsey Friedman '73 of Birmingham, Alabama, Peter A. Hoagland '79 P'06 of Lake Bluff, Illinois, Julia F. Johnson '73 H'79 of Columbus, Ohio, Jonathan S. Katz '62 of Nashua, New Hampshire, Lewis "Tim" Leach '55 of Tampa, Florida, Julie A. Parsons '94 of Columbus, Ohio, Lisa Betson Resnik '89 and Peter S. Resnik '82 of Louisville, Kentucky, Elizabeth N. Roche '00 of Saratoga Springs, New York, Leslie Hollenbaugh Ross '76 P'02 of Charlotte, North Carolina, Amy King Schindler '93 of Whitmore Lake, Michigan, David A. Schmid '64 of Norwell, Massachusetts, Kelli A. Stebel '97 of Chicago, Illinois, and Scott R. Sporte '90 of Oakland, California.