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Maryville Fund hits record number, surpasses five-year goal

June 16, 2021

The Maryville Fund hit a record number for the 2020-21 fiscal year, topping out at $2.07 million. More than 2,000 donors from around the globe contributed to the Maryville Fund during the last fiscal year, which ended May 31.

The Maryville Fund supports Maryville College’s most pressing needs, including student scholarships, library resources, and faculty professional development. In 2015, when the Maryville Fund was at $1.2 million, the College set a five-year goal to hit $1.5 million annually by 2019 – and that goal was met in 2019, with a total of $1.52 million that year. Since then, the Maryville Fund has continued to see steady growth annually.

“Our donors proved to be as resilient as our students,” said Suzy Booker, vice president for institutional advancement at Maryville College. “We are incredibly thankful for their outstanding support. Their generosity helped to address our areas of greatest need, which were considerable, as the College addressed the challenges of COVID-19.”

Part of the Maryville Fund’s success can be attributed to Tartan Tuesday, Maryville College’s annual 1,819-minute giving challenge. Held during the first week of April, Tartan Tuesday invites all members of the Maryville College community to support the programs and causes that are important to them and help the College earn challenge gifts.

“We began discussing the idea of a giving day in 2015 because giving days were an emerging trend in higher education,” said Meghan Fagg-Smith ’10, director of annual giving at Maryville College. “Larger universities held successful giving days in the fall of 2014 and the spring of 2015, and we wanted to see if this was a channel that our community responded well to. A giving day was attractive to our team because they are time-limited, technology-driven, can raise a substantial amount in a short time period, and often increase the number of first-time donors to an institution.”

Since it began in 2016, Tartan Tuesday has seen record giving totals every year. During its inaugural year in 2016, Tartan Tuesday raised over $94,000, with 329 gifts. In 2021, giving exceeded $451,000, with 966 gifts.

“We are thrilled with the response to Tartan Tuesday,” Fagg-Smith said. “It really shows what the Maryville College community can do when everyone comes together and unites around a common goal.”

Dr. Peggy Cowan, professor emeritus, retired in 2012, after 22 years of teaching religion at Maryville College. In retirement, Cowan has continued to support Maryville College financially because “I believe in the mission of the College as articulated in the Statement of Purpose and in the commitment of the faculty and staff to fulfilling that mission,” she said.

“Preparing ‘students for a world of uncertainty and accelerating change’ has never been more important than it is in 2021, and MC’s liberal arts curriculum is a powerful tool for preparing students for a wide range of vocational directions, as well as for service, citizenship, and lifelong learning and enrichment,” Cowan said. “Distinctive co-curricular programs, like Mountain Challenge with its emphasis on being ‘fit, green and happy,’ contribute to learning outside the classroom. Together, a faculty dedicated to teaching and mentoring students and a staff committed to nurturing and developing students create a ‘community of learning’ that challenges students to grow and supports them throughout their time at MC.”

“While committed to a shared set of values – truth, justice, wisdom, and genuine care for others and the world – members of the College community also reflect a variety of beliefs, backgrounds and perspectives that foster an openness to exploring ideas and listening to those who are different,” she continued. “I am truly grateful for the years I was privileged to be part of this community as a faculty member and the relationships with students, faculty and staff that continue to enrich my life.”

For more information about the Maryville Fund or to make a gift, please visit maryvillecollege.edu/maryville-fund.

Maryville College is a nationally-ranked institution of higher learning and one of America’s oldest colleges. For more than 200 years we’ve educated students to be giving citizens and gifted leaders, to study everything, so that they are prepared for anything — to address any problem, engage with any audience and launch successful careers right away. Located in Maryville, Tennessee, between the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the city of Knoxville, Maryville College offers nearly 1,200  students from around the world both the beauty of a rural setting and the advantages of an urban center, as well as more than 60 majors, seven pre-professional programs and career preparation from their first day on campus to their last. Today, our 10,000 alumni are living life strong of mind and brave of heart and are prepared, in the words of our Presbyterian founder, to “do good on the largest possible scale.”