BU Law Fund Donations in FY2017 Set a New Record for Giving
Alumni, faculty, and friends raised more than $1.2 million, a 19 percent increase over the previous year’s donations.
Donations to the Boston University School of Law Fund reached a record-setting $1,216,357 in fiscal year 2017, a 19 percent increase over last year’s gifts and 9 percent over the previous record set in 2015. More than 1,600 BU Law alumni, faculty, and friends contributed to help the Law Fund, one of the five priorities of the school’s Building on Excellence Campaign.
Law Fund donations provide unrestricted funds—resources that can be used when and where they are most needed, including student scholarships and loan repayment assistance. In the 2016–2017 academic year, more than 50 percent of students received some form of financial aid from the School of Law, with an average scholarship award over $20,000. The Fund is also used at the discretion of Dean Maureen O’Rourke to support new programming, the Public Interest Project, the moot court program, and more. With such a direct impact on student life, the Fund is a fitting place for many young alumni to begin supporting the school.
Some alums, like Dan Marinberg (’01), senior vice president and general counsel at Vertical Bridge, choose to arrange recurring gifts to provide ongoing support to the school. “My time at BU Law was incredible—the professors and the types of courses and specializations offered were critical to my education and advancement as a legal thinker and professional,” he says. “I gained the practical training and overall knowledge necessary to understand the substantive issues that could impact my business and how I could be of value to my board of directors and to my CEO.”
For Marinberg, supporting BU Law is about making sure the school can attract and retain high-caliber professors who can give students access to the same opportunities he had. The recurring gift, he notes, was a convenient way to manage his donation. “I’ve been giving on and off for a couple of years, but I decided to set up the recurring gift for my Reunion,” he says. “It was a good way to have the same impact, but spreading it out over the course of the year made it easier on my budget.”
To celebrate the critical support donors have provided to BU Law, Dean O’Rourke is hosting a cookout on Boston’s waterfront. The family friendly event will take place on September 16 at the InterContinental Boston from 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m., and will feature food, drinks, lawn games, and the opportunity to come together with BU Law alumni, faculty, and staff.
>> Interested in attending the Second Annual Donor Celebration? RSVP here by September 8.
“I’m inspired by the generosity of our alumni, faculty, staff and friends,” says Dean O’Rourke, “Support for the Law Fund means that in the year ahead the school will offer generous financial assistance to ensure the best and brightest students can attend BU Law. We will also continue to evaluate our academic programming to meet the demands of the evolving legal profession.”
If you are interested in making a gift to BU Law, please do so here bu.edu/lawgiving
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