Sixth annual fundraising campaign assists social service agencies of Dutchess County

Aaron Biberstein Contributing Editor

As the calendar turns to October, administrators, faculty and students are working to prepare Vassar’s sixth Community Works campaign. The philanthropic fundraiser gathers donations from students and employees and distributes these funds to worthy recipients in Dutchess County.

The campaign was founded in 2001 as an alternative to the United Way of Dutchess County. Vassar chose to create its own philanthropic fundraiser because United Way includes the Boy Scouts of America as a member agency. The Boy Scouts retain the right to discriminate against staff on the base of sexual orientation.

In its five-year span, Community Works has funded 23 institutions in the Hudson Valley. Donations have supported such diverse organizations as libraries, language teaching programs, and homeless shelters. Unlike United Way, Vassar covers the administrative costs of the campaign, meaning that 100 percent of donations reach recipients. In 2004, United Way reported that 16 percent of donations are used to pay for managerial work.

This year’s recipients include Battered Women’s Services, the Children’s Media Project, Grace Smith House, New Horizons, and the Rodney K. Douglas New Day Repertory Company. Seven of the agencies are repeats from last year’s campaign.

For the second year, the campaign includes an international organization. Fusion, founded with the help of Tara Murphy ’04, assists battered women in Bogota, Columbia. Last year’s international choice, the Crossroads Springs Orphanage, was supported for its work with African children orphaned by AIDS. Like this year’s choice, the agency involved a Vassar graduate, Alison Church Hyde ’59.

Last year Community Works set a new record, raising $88,500. Organizers hope to raise $100,000 this year in the first campaign for which a fundraising goal has been publicly set.

The Community Works campaign is unique in that its design ensures that the money goes directly to the community organizations. The application process requires a minimum amount of legwork from what are assumed to be already over-taxed organizations. Agencies submit materials for consideration by the Vassar committee of faculty, students, and administrators, who work to choose a diverse group of deserving agencies. The selection for Community Works support is a vote of trust on the part of the committee, and upon receiving their share of the campaign’s funds, the agencies do not have a responsibility to formally account for the way in which the money is spent.

While the majority of the organizations do maintain communication with the Vassar community, it is not a requirement.

In choosing each year’s agencies, the campaign committee informally considers “categories” of social service, such as hunger action, homelessness, arts and education, health, disabilities, battered women, and, as a new addition, international aid.

The 2006 Community Works Committee includes campaign director and Professor of Hispanic Studies Andy Bush, Vice President for College Relations Susan DeKrey, AAVC Accounting Specialist Susan Leggiere, Director of Field Work Peter Leonard, Associate Registrar Colleen Mallet, Assistant Director of Reunion and Class Giving Susan Morrison-Sheean, Assistant Professor of German Jeffrey Schneider, Manager of Service Response Tracy Smith, Executive Assistant of College Relations Bridget Suhre, VSA President Rick Rodems ’06, and Student Assistant to the President Jen Dixon ’06.
Concerned students can make contributions online at communityworks.vassar.edu. Mail-in forms can also be printed from this site.