Class of 1975 sets a new record for 50th reunion fundraising
July 17, 2025 — When a small group from the class of 1975 met on campus last summer to plan Reunion 2025 fundraising, they didn’t initially set out to break a record.
“We bandied about the idea of raising around $1 million, but even that felt like a reach at the time,” says co-class fund director David Calvert ’75. “The most we had ever raised in a year was about $200,000.”
By the time their campaign ended on June 30, they had done far better, raising $5.29 million in gifts and commitments – the most ever from a class celebrating its 50th reunion.
While sporting this year’s Reunion T-shirt, David Calvert ’75, co-class fund director, talks with a classmate during Reunion 2025.
The committee created the Class of 1975 Endowed Civic Education and Innovation Fund, inspired in part by the fact they came of age at Grinnell during a time of political, social, and cultural upheaval.
Calvert, along with co-class fund director Jim Decker ’75, and Reunion Class Committee member Bonny Gildin ’75, were key to the fundraising efforts.
As a lifelong grassroots organizer, Gildin has raised tens of millions of dollars for nonprofits across the country, including building the nonprofit All Stars Project into a national youth development organization. After Grinnell, Calvert returned to East Harlem in New York to help launch YouthBuild to address the housing crisis and support youth education and job skills. Decker, who until mid-June worked in R&D and data science roles, was a longtime social justice coordinator for his local Ohio church. In that role, his volunteer efforts included coordinating house painting and repair for low-income homeowners in Cincinnati and leading a group that helped rebuild a home in New Orleans’ ninth ward after Hurricane Katrina.
“I spent a lot of time fundraising and have a feel for what can be accomplished,” Gildin says. “As we’re turning the age we’re turning – for me 71 – I told the committee that this is a prime moment in life to make large commitments. So I jumped in and said, ‘let’s be inspirational.’”
Alums from the class could make gifts to an area of their choosing including documenting planned gifts and supporting the Endowed Civic Education and Innovation Fund.
Members of the class of 1975 who returned to Grinnell for their 50th reunion pose for a class picture at Reunion 2025.
“We wanted to give classmates the freedom to give to what’s most meaningful to them,” Gildin says, “but we wanted to suggest a particular thing that really resonated with our Grinnell experience and is still relevant.”
Economics professor and fellow reunion planner Bill Ferguson ’75 encouraged the idea of focusing a fund on student and faculty community engagement and service.
“We heard from him that there are all sorts of opportunities for students and faculty to expand on work being done in the classroom,” Calvert says. “Everyone felt good about it. Classmates contacted me and wanted to know more about this engagement. They sent additional donations or pledges once they learned more.”
Grinnell Listening Project, which fosters dialogue between students and Grinnell residents, is a current example of a program that connects and engages students with the community.
“The key concepts are civic engagement and communication,” Decker says. This new fund will empower students “to have a learning experience that also does something to promote the common good, beyond academics.”
Class of 1975 alums share a laugh during the Reunion 2025 class dinner held May 30 at the Golf Course.
The fund will support student participation in projects that are student-initiated and led, as well as projects designed by faculty members, community partners, and social innovators that involve students in direct service and/or driving long-term systemic change. The committee made a video highlighting projects Grinnell students have done in the community and sent it to classmates.
The Center for Careers, Life, and Service (CLS) will administer the fund. CLS has a civic education and innovation team in place and sponsors several collaborations between students, faculty, and the community.
“I think the fact that we started the fund and were actively supporting it communicated a message and inspired classmates, even for people who didn’t direct gifts to the fund,” Decker says. A total of 101 donors from the class gave during this year’s Reunion fundraising drive.
“I think you succeed because you really touch someone’s heart strings,” says Decker. “You communicate in a way that this is about your Grinnell experience, which changed your life in some way, and you want to be able to do that for someone else. Somehow through your giving back, you are giving back a bit of your own experience.”
And while the trio is proud of breaking the fundraising record, they’re hoping that the next class to celebrate their 50th reunion – the class of 1976 – does even better.
“We’d love to have them beat us,” Calvert says.
“Yeah, $7 million, class of 1976!” adds Decker.
The challenge is out there.
—by Anne Stein ’84