Alumni donate millions of dollars to USC every year, but students rarely see or hear from those alumni. GratefulSC changes that.
The Trojan network is something students hear about all throughout their time at USC. They hear how many trojans there are out there and how philanthropic they are for the school, but students may never physically see or meet them.
On Wednesday, the GratefulSC event on McCarthy Quad brought together students, faculty and alumni to thank donors and alumni for the assistance they give USC. This year marks the inaugural event.
“GratefulSC is another way for the university advancement office to thank our donors,” said Senior Executive Director of Stewardship and Donor Relations in the University Advancement Office Gina Galluppi. “We wanted to engage our entire campus community, faculty, staff and students in just saying thank you in different ways.”
Significant recent donations from alumni include a $40 million gift to expand research with Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, a $260 million donation to a foundation that supports USC and a $59 million donation from healthcare leader Leonard D. Schaeffer and his wife to establish the Leonard D. Schaeffer Institute for Public Policy & Government Service at the USC Capital Campus in Washington, D.C.
At the event, there were different stations for students and faculty to share their appreciation. There were multiple tables under tents: one to write letters to donors, another to tape a thank you video and another for snacks for the people attending.
“We’re going to use these different stations in different ways,” Galluppi said. “We’re sending out cards, sending out videos and emails to donors to say thank you from the Trojan family.”
The event was right next to the weekly farmer’s market on McCarthy Quad.
“We usually come to the Farmer’s Market so we wanted to stop by and see what it was about,” said Marcy Higareda, who graduated from the School of Social Work with her master’s degree in 2010. “Anything that is about giving back to folks that can support USC is always appreciated.”
While showing appreciation for alumni and donors, GratefulSC gives students the opportunity to connect with alumni and use that Trojan network that they hear so frequently about.
“Networking is one of the reasons I was excited to come to USC as a grad student. I heard all about the strong network of the Trojan family,” Higareda said. “So I love that there’s an opportunity for us alumni to connect with current students.”
While the network itself is important, Galluppi wants students to realize that the network wouldn’t be possible without the alumni and their support.
“Students start to get a sense of how critical it is to the university, their ability to go here, the ability to hire great faculty and the ability to have great facilities,” Galluppi said. “We wouldn’t have all of this if we didn’t have the philanthropy of our donors.”
This is the inaugural GratefulSC, but the university advancement office does plan on doing it annually. The university special events department sent out broad communications for the students, faculty and staff to sign up for GratefulSC.
Galluppi hopes that the donors really get “a sense of the appreciation and impact they have on the university” through this event.
“One thing that we hear from donors all the time is how their money is being used. They want to hear from the folks who have benefited,” Galluppi said. “When they get a nice thank you, even short and sweet, they really appreciate it.”