To the community,

I want to thank everyone in the entire Sierra Nevada College extended community for their incredible participation during last week’s 24-hour period of Nevada’s Big Give. The official tally on the Big Give website shows that $61,296 was raised in support of SNC.

Your phenomenal efforts made SNC No. 1 statewide for the cumulative dollars raised among the 397 participating nonprofits stretching from Reno to Las Vegas to Elko. Over 80 individuals contributed during this fund drive. We actually raised $62,896 when we include several additional contributions made outside of the Big Give website.

The energy level and enthusiasm on Thursday was absolutely outstanding. We had donations from every sector: alumni, faculty, staff, parents, graduating seniors, members of our Board of Trustees, and of course, a number of individuals here in the community. Most significantly, contributions ranged from $10 to $20,000 – a testament to the importance of gifts of every size. ver half of the gifts received were at the level of $10-$25 and that made all the difference in terms of our overall level of participation. It gives credence our belief that every gift, of every size, makes a difference.

Our efforts were kicked off on Thursday morning with a $20,000 challenge contribution from SNC board member Bridge Stuart. Thanks to all of you, we were able to meet Bridge’s incredibly generous offer. Our board Vice Chair Atam Lalchandani added to the challenge amount, and I joined Ben and Margaret Solomon in constructing a special challenge aimed at our alumni, graduating seniors, parents, faculty, and staff.

We think and talk a lot about the philanthropy of the next generation, so I am extremely pleased to let you know that SNC Alumni and graduating seniors made a very strong showing with a combined total of 32 gifts – approximately a third of the total number of contributions. Graduating seniors logged in as a part of a special Senior Class “$19.69” effort – challenging them to give an amount recognizing the year of the college’s founding for the opportunity to see me dance the hula at the luau two days prior to graduation.

Again, I can’t thank you enough for your support of the college. Your contributions will help us to continue to strengthen SNC and make it great. We have come a long way: achieving unprecedented financial stability for the college; increasing academic excellence and academic rigor; and enhancing opportunities for our students to engage in the kind of active learning – inside and outside of the classroom – that ensures that they will graduate with the higher order critical thinking skills and the leadership and teamwork abilities that are required for success in our rapidly changing world.

Thank you for all that you did to make it such a spectacular day.

Sincerely,

Lynn G. Gillette, Sierra Nevada College president