Our alumni are maintaining a deeper and more enduring connection to the university than ever before.

A record number of people took part in last year’s Homewood alumni weekend and young alumni weekend. About 6,000 people attended the former, and 2,000 attended the latter. Over the last several years, we have almost doubled—from 55 to 95—the number of active regionally based alumni chapters in the United States. There are also 22 new alumni groups across the university that are organized around personal or professional interests. Those groups organized or hosted more than 300 events in fiscal year 2014, double the number from two years earlier.

Last year, we achieved a 37 percent undergraduate alumni giving rate, a new record for the university, and there was a 33 percent increase in young alumni donors over the previous year.

Alumni are also playing a stronger role in giving to the future of the university. Alumni commitments total $595 million out of the $2.63 billion raised in the ongoing Rising to the Challenge campaign to date. Last year, we achieved a 37 percent undergraduate alumni giving rate, a new record for the university, and there was a 33 percent increase in young alumni donors over the previous year. Finally, the university saw one of the highest rates—54 percent—for senior class gift participation in history.

Although the efforts to forge a greater sense of community beyond graduation are ongoing, these numbers reflect what we hear from our alumni—that more than ever, they are feeling a connection to Hopkins for life.