The University has announced that it received a $6.9 million gift from the Thomas and Dorothy Leavey Foundation to create three new programs related to Georgetown’s Catholic identity.

Of the gift, $5 million will go toward permanent support for the Catholic programming provided through the Office of Mission and Ministry. “The gift will endow programs and a new position that will provide expanded spiritual and educational opportunities for faculty, staff, students and alumni,” Blue and Gray writes.

Another $1 million will provide need-based scholarships to students, with preference to students coming to Georgetown from Jesuit high schools, “including Cristo Rey schools, a national network of Catholic high schools that provide college preparatory education to urban young people who live in communities with limited educational options.”

The final $900,000 will be put toward hiring and retaining Jesuit faculty by creating the Leavey Distinguished Jesuit Scholars Fund.

Georgetown University has received several gifts from the Leavey Foundation in the past, including the gift for the naming rights of the Leavey Student Center, money to endow an academic chair in the Foundations of American Freedom, and money for the Southwest Quadrangle residence halls. Thomas Leavey, a co-founder of the Foundation, was a 1923 graduate of the Georegtown Law Center.

As one its many philanthropy initiatives, the Corp annually doles out Reimagine Georgetown grants to programs that “seek to improve our undergraduate experience at Georgetown in creative ways.”  In recent years, grants—which are co-sponsored by GUASFCU and The Hoya—have gone to now-well-known initiatives like Run for Rigby and 25 Days of Service.

According to Chairman of the Reimagine Georgetown Board J. Ryan Zambon (MSB ‘10), the program received more than 20 grant applications this year.  Yesterday, the Board announced that it had narrowed the proposals down to four winners:

• Georgetown Alternative Music Series: $5,000 will go towards Daniel Alexander’s (MSB ‘11) idea of creating a series of on-campus concerts featuring student and local bands.
• D.C. Students Speak: Michael Trummel (COL ‘10) will be getting $3,000 to establish an annual conference between student leaders at all of the major D.C.-area universities to coordinate student response to issues like 61-D citations.
• Saxa Service Feast: $2,000 will go to Joel Ziebell (COL ‘10) to host a wing-eating contest for students and faculty.  The event will raise money that will be donated to the winning team’s charity of choice.
• Diversability: Tiffany Yu (MSB ‘10) is starting a club to promote “disability pride.” The group is in the process of getting SAC approval, and will be receiving $500 to get off the ground.

You can check out the full descriptions for the winning programs after the jump!

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Trying to get college seniors to give to their soon-to-be alma mater during one of the worst recessions in recent history is no small task. So how did Georgetown’s Class of 2009 senior class fundraising committee do?

Well, when we checked in with them in April, they had about $13,000 in the coffers and 32% of the class had donated. The giving period ended on June 30th, and the final total for the Class of 2009 is $22,360.52, with 55% of the class participating, according to Class of 2009 Fund co-Chair Chloe Waddington (SFS ‘09).

The class of 2009 raised about $12,000 less than the class of 2008 donated (their total was $34,273), but had the exact same participation rate.

This year, seniors were able to individually chose a department or fund they wanted to put their donation towards. According to Waddington, the top three choices were the Georgetown Fund, a general fund for scholarships, faculty retention and student life, Athletic and the Center for Social Justice (68% of seniors who donated gave to the Georgetown Fund, 8% picked Athletics and 3% picked CSJ).

How does the class of 2009 stack up against past senior classes? We’ve got the full stats for the past 15 years and more info about how this year’s fundraising campaign went after the jump!

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