Alum Toby McChesney issued a challenge to AU alumni. If 1,000 alumni donate money to AU by May 11 commencement, McChesney will donate $25,000 to the university.
“With commencement coming up,” he said in a previous interview, “I thought it was the perfect time to engage our newest class of incoming alumni and show them that they can have an immediate impact on their alma mater.”
It has been dubbed the ‘McChesney Challenge’ by AU Alumni Relations. Alumni can choose from multiple funds to designate their donations, including the Career Center, the Green Eagle Sustainability Fund and scholarship funds from each school. There is no minimum donation amount.
McChesney graduated with his bachelors from the School of Public Affairs in 2002. After graduation, he worked at AU admissions for four years. He is currently Assistant Dean of the Graduate Recruiting and Student Services department at Georgia State
University’s College of Business.
Assistant Vice President of Alumni Relations Raina Lenny said that the campaign has been successful so far.
-Thorn/The Eagle
“We have seen over 250 donations in the first four days of the challenge,” Lenny wrote in an email.
The campaign had 569 donors on April 24, according to the AU Alum twitter.
Clarence Fulker, a 2002 graduate of the School of Communication, decided to donate to the McChesney Challenge after receiving an email about it.
“I planned to make a gift later in the year, but this motivated me to do so now,” Fulker said. “I think it is great what Toby McChesney has done to help spark a movement of giving and I’m glad that I can be a part of it and hope that it spreads.”
