Kenyon offers parents and alumni the opportunity to designate their gifts to one of eight critical areas of need. By exercising this option, donors will have a direct impact in the area of their own greatest interest. The eight unrestricted, budget-relieving areas for annual giving are:
Gifts in this area support teaching, learning, and a curriculum firmly grounded in the traditional liberal arts and sciences. Gifts help Kenyon attract excellent professors, maintain a 10:1 student-faculty ratio (and thus keep classes small), expand research and other enrichment opportunities for students, and provide ample, up-to-date resources for laboratories and classrooms. You may designate your gift for a particular major or program.
Annual gifts in this area give Kenyon the flexibility to direct funds to parts of the budget that need critical, immediate support. Every gift in this category has significant impact, because it results in keeping the Kenyon experience strong across the board.
Gifts here support the athletic and recreational activities that large numbers of students value and depend on-for health, personal growth, a balanced life, and leadership opportunities. Funds benefit our twenty-two varsity sports (eleven for men, eleven for women), more than a dozen club sports, the popular intramural program, and the ever-expanding fitness and recreational offerings based in the Kenyon Athletic Center.
A special financial-aid initiative of President S. Georgia Nugent, the Hannah More Scholarship is awarded to first-generation students- that is, students who are the first in their family to attend college. This life-changing scholarship is named for one of Kenyon's earliest benefactors and in keeping with her legacy of leadership.
The special character of the Kenyon experience is deeply tied to the College's extraordinary natural environment. Kenyon's campus is recognized as one of the most beautiful in the world, and gifts in this category help keep it that way. Funds go toward maintaining Middle Path along with the College's many gardens, preserving our historic buildings, and protecting the rural character of the lands surrounding the campus.
Gifts in this area support the myriad activities that enrich student life outside of the classroom. More than one hundred student-run clubs and organizations benefit, as do residence-hall programs that promote close-knit community. Gifts also support crucial services such as the Health and Counseling Center and the Career Development Office.
Gifts here enable Kenyon to hold firm to a fundamental commitment: that qualified students should be able to attend the College regardless of their family finances. Approximately 65 percent of all students at Kenyon receive some form of financial aid. In 2015-16, the average aid package totaled $43,000. Countless Kenyon "success stories" involve students who could not have considered the College without financial aid. Annual gifts make these success stories possible.
Gifts to this area will help make Kenyon more energy-efficient and environmentally friendly. Funds will support a host of projects addressing this increasingly important priority. Among them: electric vehicles, campuswide recycling, the composting of food waste, high-efficiency appliances, sophisticated energy monitoring and control, an energy-generating elevator, low-flow water devices, citrus-based cleaning products. Solar arrays will likely join the list soon.