So, why should students give? Good question.
We grew fast. And we’re still growing.
In the decade of the 1960s, Madison College graduated a little more than 3,000 students.
In the decade of the 2000s, James Madison University graduated nearly 35,000 students.
The JMU Class of 2013 will be larger than all the classes of the 1960s combined.
In total, the Classes of 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016 will be 15% of JMU’s alumni population, taking the total number to 130,000 in a span of four years.
That means you can make a BIG difference
Because of JMU’s rapid growth, that 7% alumni giving number can only be fixed from the ground up. The current JMU student body has an opportunity to infuse a culture of giving and philanthropy into the alumni population, and also lay the groundwork for a culture of giving on campus for all future students to follow.
A healthy percentage, and a healthy number of our older alumni (1940-1989) give back. Each decade is in double-digit percentages. Nearly 13% of all alumni who graduated between 1940 and 1989 are current donors -- 4,600 donors out of 36,321 alumni.
But the university was a fraction of the size it is today
Look at that total alumni number from 1940-1989 again (36,321) and consider JMU graduated just as many people in the decade of the 2000s alone (34,591).
The problem isn’t that we don’t have young donors — 1990s, 2000s and 2010s grads account for 3,200 of our 7,700 donors total — the problem is we have a lot of young non-donors. 
