Alumni Relations & Volunteer Engagement

All for Reed 

What is All for Reed?

If Reed made you who you are today, now is your chance to give the world another Reedie.  

All for Reed (AFR) is a committee of dedicated volunteers that support the Reed experience for students by raising funds for the Reed Annual Fund. AFR volunteers  take on a select number of individuals for peer-to-peer fundraising, focused on meaningful and on-going conversations with alumni, Reed students, parents, and staff/faculty.

What AFR does

We believe genuine conversations matter. Volunteers are provided with tools and guidance on how to engage meaningfully, whether through face-to-face meetings, phone calls, or digital platforms. Volunteers form relationships that transcend transactional fundraising efforts—creating a community built on shared values and commitment to Reed’s mission and creating a dialog to understand an individual’s relationship with Reed, and what could be sparked to deepen it.

AFR volunteers

  • Initiate meaningful connections with donors and volunteers;
  • Build a strong case for and understanding of supporting the Reed Annual Fund;  
  • Focus assignments on communities that will most benefit from genuine and meaningful peer-to-peer outreach;
  • Measure success based on quality of connection, as well as outcomes;
  • and focus on continual improvement.

You have a unique story to tell, and as you share your reasons for giving to Reed, you inspire others to do the same.

Why is AFR important?

Fundraising for the Annual Fund is the best way to immediately benefit current and future Reedies. Annual Fund gifts are put to use as soon as they are received, either as financial aid or to support emerging needs and critical programs that make Reed the transformative, rigorous place that it is.  For example, in the past few years, the 

Annual Fund supported

  • need-based financial aid
  • student & faculty research
  • peer-mentoring
  • Multicultural Resource Center
  • advising to connect students with jobs and internships
  • classroom technology
  • library acquisitions
  • canyon conservation

Gifts to the Annual Fund are incredibly powerful in their ability to support programs, services, and facilities; and admit the exceptional regardless of means. $5 million raised in Annual Fund support has the spending power of $100 million in an endowment, representing a powerful collective impact each year. 

Out of 2,600 four-year colleges, Reed is one of only about 70 that will meet 100% of a student’s demonstrated need across all four years, even if family financial circumstances change. Currently, 57% of Reedies receive financial aid.  Our goal is for students to graduate with less than $23,000 in debt— the equivalent of a used car payment, rather than a mortgage. And that opens up a world of choices for a student’s future.

How do I get involved? 

If you are a Reed alum, parent, family member, student, staff, or faculty, and would love to learn more about volunteering with All for Reed, simply email jmanning@reed.edu to get connected to your staff contact and co-chairs! We’d love to hear from you!

All for Reed Committee

Advait Jukar ’11, Co-Chair

Katherine Lefever ’07, Co-Chair

Keith Allen ’83

David Buckler ’85

Sam Elgin ’13

Doug Fenner ’71

Jay Hubert ’66

Kyndra Homuth Kennedy ’04

Christine Lewis ’07

Jan Liss ’74

Kathryn Mapps ’86

Dylan Rivera ’95

Andrew Schpak ’01

Lara Simonetti ’20

Anne Steele ’70

Andrei Stephens ’08

Ray Wells ’94

Janet Youngblood ’68

“Thank you for volunteering. At a time when other liberal arts colleges are closing or in trouble, alumni giving has never been of more importance. As a nonprofit, Reed relies on our philanthropy and every gift makes a difference. Encouraging alumni who made a gift last year but haven’t yet renewed their support is often the reminder they need to make that gift. And let’s be honest, a lot of us are procrastinators. We wait until the last minute possible. And then sometimes forget. Not because we don’t care, but because we have a lot of other things going on. AFR outreach is the friendly reminder that giving to Reed matters.” 

—Christine Lewis ’07, AFR Steering Committee member