Your annual gift is immediately put to use to support teaching and learning here on campus. Your gift may enhance the campus learning environment by providing financial aid and scholarships for our students, along with adding computers or books to the library, or other areas of need for our students. Every gift, no matter the size or designation, serves a very specific and important purpose by enabling our faculty and students to better fulfill our mission of "empowering students to present the whole Gospel for the whole World through faith, reason and justice."

Quite literally, every part of Eastern benefits from your support. The most fundamental impact is on student scholarships and aid. Annual gifts also equip our science and computer labs, help to build the library collections, and maintain our beautiful grounds. If you received a scholarship, studied by the ponds, or had class in McInnis, then you have experienced the impact of Eastern Fund gifts.

You can make your gift via credit card, check, or a variety of other methods. Check them all out at Ways to Give!

Anywhere. Really. While unrestricted gifts are important to Eastern's fiscal health, we encourage our alumni, parents, and friends to give to the areas to which they feel most connected. Departments, scholarships, athletics, and the arts are always popular choices. See many of the opportunities.

The Eastern fiscal year runs from July 1 to June 30. All gifts and pledges completed before June 30 count toward the current year's alumni giving percentage goals and budget needs.

Postmarks of December 31 and credit card gift charge is made on or before noon of the last business day in December will count for the tax year ending December 31. Similarly, gifts will count for the University's fiscal giving cycle (July 1 through June 30) if they are postmarked no later than June 30 or your credit card gift charge is made on or before June 30.  If you are making a gift of stock, using a Donor Advised Fund or IRA Charitable Distribution, we suggest you begin the process no later than December 5 for Eastern to receive your gift in the calendar year or check with your broker/financial advisor should they require additional time due to the holidays.

Eastern University is a 501(c)(3) non-profit institution. Your gift to Eastern is tax-deductible to the extent provided by law. A receipt will be issued for your gift.

While Eastern's endowment offsets the cost of student tuition on an average of $3,000 per student, the endowment still only covers about 4% of the University's annual operating budget. Eastern's success, therefore, depends heavily on the support of our alumni, parents and friends. Annual giving is sometimes called the "living endowment" because dollars are expended in their entirety in the year they are given. In that sense, donors know the full amount of their gifts are being used for educating today's students.

Large gifts are absolutely essential to Eastern's success. But so are more modest ones. Eastern now has more than 20,000 living alumni. Most of us will never make the cover of Forbes magazine. Many teachers, pastors and social workers, for example-choose our life's work for love, not money. But when our gifts are combined, they add up and provide critical support for the student-professor interaction that makes our University very special.

Many companies will match your gift to the University, thereby doubling or sometimes tripling your contribution. For most companies, you would find a very simple form in your human resources or personnel office, and return that to Eastern when you make your gift. To see if your employer is a matching company, please visit our Matching Gift Company Search.

Recognition varies with the type and amount of the gift. All donors are sent written tax receipts and acknowledgement of their contributions. Eastern also has donor societies. Donors who establish endowed funds may receive annual correspondence from scholarship or research fund recipients. In addition, we encourage all of our donors to come to campus and see first-hand the impact that gifts make on current Eastern students and faculty.

Supporters who commit to a $10,000 annual gift to Eastern University become members of the President's Circle. Membership includes personal outreach from the University President, quarterly updates on the University and students, and special recognition.

Donors, who make a bequest in their Will, give funds for a Charitable or Deferred Gift Annuity, or name Eastern as a beneficiary of a charitable trust, will automatically become members of the Claghorn Heritage Society.

Absolutely! Whether it's recommending a student to Eastern, setting up a summer internship at the company where you work, praying for Eastern, or volunteering your services for the Eastern Alumni Council, we appreciate your support. There are many ways to get involved, and some of them take just a few minutes of your time. To learn more, please contact the Alumni Office.

The Eastern Fund is the highest annual giving priority for the University. This fund makes up the difference between tuition and the actual cost of education. Next is Capital Improvements, which are providing new educational and athletic facilities. Finally, our endowed scholarships will provide financial support to students for the long term.

Yes, every gift makes a difference. Gifts of any size, particularly those made to the Eastern Fund, play a critical role in helping Eastern grow its ministry of higher education based on faith, reason and justice. Eastern relies on the support of alumni, parents and friends to help many of our students to attend. Further, many grant-making organizations assess alumni participation rates when making their grant decisions.

If at some point you decide to cancel your recurring gift, please call 610-341-5909 or email AdvServices@eastern.edu to do so.