Swarthmore College, my apartment's alma mater, sent a fundraising solicitation to my girlfriend earlier this week. On the front of the postcard is a wonderfully picturesque photo, similar to the one above, of the belltower just to the right of its lush central lawn, at sunrise. It makes me miss campus. On the back is the ask. It says, "Remember the nights you stayed up so late you saw the sun rise over Swarthmore? Help today's students benefit from the same transformative education you enjoyed. Make your Annual Fund gift before the fiscal year ends on June 30!"
Huh? Maybe it should read: "Remember those night you were unhappy, synthesizing five books into one essay in one week so your seminar's fellow classmates would skim it in the night before class? Oh, you were trying to forget those grueling nights of work and focus on the wonders of learning and socializing and sitting outside on mid-April afternoons? We can't understand why. But now that we've reminded you of them, how about giving money to inflict that pain on someone else?"
Not that I ever watched the sun rise at Swarthmore. Sure, I worked very late some nights, but was reasonable about getting some sleep, and I've never "partied" that late before. But shouldn't Swarthmore's fundraisers accentuate the positive when they're asking for your money? Who wants to write a check after being reminded of such a valley?
My girlfriend donated $30. (In full disclosure, she says she agrees the postcard is poorly conceived, but as someone who works in development, she wants to be magnanimous.)
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