Joanna Chodes and her family have what she calls a long legacy at BU. Her father, Frederic Weinstein, attended the University, and Chodes, her two siblings, Leslie H. Fishman (CAS’64) and Walter R. Weinstein (CAS’74), and her oldest child, Gabrielle E. Chodes (UNI’94, GRS’98, LAW’99), are alumni.

“My father helped his children and grandchildren attend college. I want to help someone else go to BU,” says Chodes (CGS’66, SED’68), who has given to a BU scholarship fund almost every year for the past 30 years.

To recognize the support of steadfast donors like Chodes, BU in May created the Boston University Loyalty Society. Donors become society members after making gifts of any size for two consecutive fiscal years or after setting up a recurring gift or a multiyear pledge.

“The Loyalty Society has started up at a great time for BU,” says Dan Allenby, assistant vice president for annual giving. “The Campaign for BU is in full swing and making great progress, and our donor base is growing. Our objective is to encourage even greater annual support and to celebrate those who give to BU regularly.”

The Campaign for Boston University has received several much-publicized multimillion dollar gifts that have launched new schools, made major new facilities possible, or created new programs or research centers. Less heralded are the nearly 45,000 smaller annual gifts from alumni, parents, and friends that support ongoing activities, equipment, and thousands of other needs. Some 42 percent of BU’s 300,000 alumni have made at least one gift to the University, and on average, 55 to 60 percent of alumni who donate in a given year give again the next. The Loyalty Society launched with 14,000 members, and almost 5,000 of them have given for six or more consecutive years. Such support provides a stable income stream for many BU programs, from scholarships to student groups.

Chodes, for one, might not be able to make the kind of gift that draws headlines. But by giving to BU every year, she says, “I can do this for many years to come.”

Trustee Stuart Pratt (CAS’69), national Annual Fund chair, offers another perspective. “Though every gift to BU is unique,” he says, “there are a few motivations and values that many sustained, long-term BU donors share: the desire to provide educational opportunities for new generations of students, the drive to support the creation of new knowledge for the world, and, yes, good old-fashioned loyalty to BU.

“We should celebrate those impulses and that dedication, whether they are expressed through gifts of $50,000 or $50. That’s what this society is about.”