By Sarah Love
Transcript Correspondent
The Ohio Wesleyan Fund hopes to raise the amount of faculty, staff and administrator donations with their new campaign “I Believe.”
The Ohio Wesleyan Fund helps to pay for student’s education, and for essentials within the school like hot water and electricity.
The “I Believe” campaign is designed to be catchy and grab the attention of faculty, staff and administrators.
The faculty, staff and administrators on the posters all explain why they chose to donate, and why they believe in OWU.
Support is absolutely essential.
“Tuition only covers 47 percent of an OWU education,” said Ashley Waltermeyer, Phonethon student and young alumni coordinator.
“The rest is covered by support from alumni, friends, parents, faculty and staff,” Waltermeyer said.
Every year there is a meeting to design the staff campaign. This year, they chose the slogan “I Believe” and decided to not only feature faculty and staff, but to also feature students.
Emily Winnenberg, assistant director of the Ohio Wesleyan Fund said since the students benefit from the fund so much, they should be included in the campaign.
“Students are the primary beneficiaries of the Ohio Wesleyan Fund so we wanted to share their story this year as well,” she said.
Sophomore Livvy Coseriu is also helping with the campaign.
“It’s my role to give students a voice to the campaign and let faculty and staff know how important it is to us that they help out. OWU simply couldn’t function without donations so every little bit counts,” she said.
Winnenberg offered another reason as to why it is so important for faculty, staff and administrators to donate.
“When you participate in the Ohio Wesleyan Fund, you’re indicating that you believe Ohio Wesleyan is an excellent institution worthy of your support,” she said.
“Your enthusiastic participation encourages others to give and increases the likelihood of Ohio Wesleyan receiving recognition from national ranking organizations.”
Last year, only 32 percent of faculty, staff and administrators donated to the Ohio Wesleyan Fund.
“Our peer institutions had much higher participation,” Winnenberg said.
“50 percent of Denison’s faculty and staff donated while 99 percent of Ohio Dominican’s staff participated.”
The goal this year is to increase participation to 45 percent.
“The more people participate in the Ohio Wesleyan Fund, no matter the size of the gift, the more likely it is that Ohio Wesleyan will accomplish its goals, boost its academic reputation, and attract and retain the best students, faculty and staff,” Winnenberg said.