Khethiwe Cele / GSB MBA ’13, Director of Young in Prison South Africa //
Education is a gift that lasts a lifetime – sometimes longer. It is a gift to the student, to the student’s community and, when all goes well, to the student’s country. We would like to make sure more of those gifts are given.
Recently, an article published on LinkedIn “America’s Wealthiest Business Schools” cited a comparison between the endowment funds of America’s top business schools and their ranking – the outcome predictably is that the bigger the endowment the higher the school’s ranking.
Is that really a surprise. What the article hints at but does not mention is how those endowments have come about; this is of greater significance because the schools with the big endowments have highly developed alumni relations programmes which develop deep connections to the school and broad networks off which the school can leverage over time. The example of Harvard Business School in the article illustrates this point: during the Great Recession when [just about] all endowments were taking a knock, it increased its endowment by nearly 25% in only 4 years – to a massive $3.3-billion.
Strong alumni engagement is a critical element in building an endowment and seeing it through the lean years. A comprehensive, sustained alumni relations programme is the key to gaining that level of commitment from alumni, and the GSB Foundation works closely with the GSB Alumni Relations office to assist it in building these relations. You can help us by being a champion, an ambassador, within your MBA class – please contact us if you would like to get involved.
