The ALA Community came together during the Community Call on November 27th to announce the official launch of ALA Gives Back, a year-long campaign to celebrate our principles of gratitude and service. We were delighted to have several members of our alumni network such as Kabelo Motsoeneng (Class of 2013), Yves Mafolo (Class of 2008) and Daniel Mahatlane (Class of 2010) give of their time by coming on campus during the days leading to the launch and reconnecting with the ALA Community. During the Community Call, we had a conversation with alums Eddie Ndopu (Class of 2008, currently at Amnesty International) and Lillian Maboya (Class of 2009 – and first alumni member on the Board of Trustees, and also working at GE) on why and how they give back.
The alumni fundraising campaign was officially announced by our young leaders Thato Ramatseba and Hind Zahour, who highlighted the importance of the campaign for ALA’s students, its significance for ALA’s future, and its ultimate impact on Africa. Hind credited her decision to become a student representative of ALA Gives Back to her passion for the ALA community, the mission, and most importantly, the opportunity to make a meaningful contribution to the success of the ALA Alumni Annual Fund.
Social Media was abuzz on the day with alumni, staff, faculty, parents and friends of the Academy counting down the hours until to the start of the Community Call. Members of the ALA Community gathered on campus, with hundreds of community members watching online from as far as the USA and China, as the event was also streamed online. The community call also included Ammar Kandil’s (Class of 2010) latest viral video in response to the Syrian refugee crisis.
After the launch of the campaign, the alumni community was challenged to raise $15,000 – half of the total dollar goal – in pledged gifts from at least 100 alumni donors in four days. In typical ALA fashion, alumni embraced the idea of ALA Gives Back with open arms, and joined hands to completely surpass the 4-day target. In less than a week, an outstanding US$18,627 was committed in pledged gifts from 147 alumni donors to the ALA Alumni Annual Fund, raising over 60% of the total campaign goal from only 25% of the alumni community.
With 6 months left until the close of the drive, campaign leaders are working diligently to ensure that alumni participation increases over the course of the campaign by mobilizing their peers to give. “ALA Gives Back is about creating a culture of ownership and service,” explained Teboho Mabuka (Class of 2009), a Campaign Ambassador. “ALA Gives Back reminds me that I am working towards something much larger than me,” said Olga Kanyasi (Class of 2012), an inspired campaign supporter.
We are deeply thankful to all our alumni donors thus far for supporting ALA Gives Back. We encourage alumni who have not yet pledged gifts to the new ALA Alumni Annual Fund to visit the campaign site here to get involved.
