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An Open Letter
 Make a gift online to the Sesquicentennial Campaign.
This letter was written in early spring 2007, prior to the death of President Emeritus Herbert Reynolds.
To our fellow Baylor alumni and friends,
On behalf of the Baylor Alumni Association and its governing Board of Directors, it is our pleasure to announce to you, our fellow Baylor alumni, the launching of the Baylor Alumni Association's Sesquicentennial Campaign.
As we look forward to the celebration of our organization's 150th anniversary, we are now enthusiastically beginning a campaign to expand our membership and to build a permanent endowment that is large enough to fully support the Baylor Alumni Association's historic programs and services to Baylor University.
In the many decades since Baylor was chartered in 1845, more than 130,000 graduates have been welcomed into the ranks of our alumni family. Today, Baylor alumni are making a difference in their professions and communities throughout the United States and around the world, and they stand as the university's greatest stakeholders. Baylor's effectiveness in living out its historic mission, core principles, institutional strengths, and bold aspirations directly affects the value of each graduate's degree.
The Sesquicentennial Campaign for the Baylor Alumni Association is expressly designed to bolster Baylor University's unceasing efforts to fulfill its distinctive mission as a first-rate Christian university in American higher education. In leading up to a wonderful sesquicentennial celebration in 2009, our endowment campaign will provide a critical base of support for the Baylor Alumni Association's programs--all of which directly benefit Baylor University and its students.
Since its creation in 1859, the Baylor Alumni Association has been Baylor's recognized general alumni organization, serving as an ardent supporter and a loyal defender through times of plenty and times of difficulty alike. The association represents a tradition of alumni organizing themselves in a spirit of integrity, transparency, and democracy in order to--as an 1879 resolution of the association phrased it--"maintain, defend, and support, by all means in their power, the original design of the founders of the Institution, to make it a true educational establishment of the highest grade."
Incorporated as a nonprofit organization since 1978 and governed by an elected board of alumni volunteers, the Baylor Alumni Association is a group of loyal supporters who have come together to keep Baylor strong and to enjoy the bonds of the Baylor family. The alumni of Baylor, through their coordinated involvement in the life of their alma mater, have proven crucial to the university's vitality over the decades.
To be a financially self-sufficient partner with Baylor, the Baylor Alumni Association must raise an endowment of at least $20 million. With this financial strength, the Baylor Alumni Association will be able to more fully serve all of our alumni and more extensively work to strengthen the role and reputation of our alma mater. You can make a gift by by using the secure giving form at the Sesquicentennial Campaign site or by calling 1-800-BAYLOR-U, opt. 6.
Your participation, as an alumnus or alumna of Baylor University, in this unparalleled and far-reaching endeavor is of lasting importance to the future of Baylor. Each gift will make a difference, and each gift will help to lay the foundation for the Baylor Alumni Association's expanded service to our beloved alma mater.
Remember--you are the Baylor Alumni Association.
Most cordially,
Lyndon L. Olson Jr. '69
Chair, The Sesquicentennial Campaign
U.S. Ambassador to Sweden, 1998 to 2001
President of the Baylor Alumni Association, 1996
Babs Baugh, Class of '64
Vice Chair, The Sesquicentennial Campaign
President of the Baylor Alumni Association, 2006
Herbert H. Reynolds, MS '58, PhD '61
Memorial Chair, The Sesquicentennial Campaign
President (1981 to 1995) and Chancellor (1995 to 2000), Baylor University
President Emeritus, Baylor University, 2000-2007
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