Aggies Demonstrate Selfless Service

During the Lead by Example campaign, Aggie students dedicated approximately 12 million reported volunteer hours equating to a total monetary value of nearly $280 million. While this total is not reflected in the campaign’s $4 billion goal, it does demonstrate the difference Aggies make every day and the enormous value that students bring to their communities through compassion and service.

These totals were achieved using survey data collected from the entire Texas A&M student body, including answers directly related to student service hours and involvement in key leadership organizations (such as The Big Event, Carpool and organizations in the Memorial Student Center). To calculate the dollar value of students’ volunteer hours, we used a number published by Independent Sector that posited the national average value of volunteer time as $25.43 per hour.

The Association of Former Students

Engaging and strengthening the Aggie Network.

Throughout the Lead by Example campaign, no single organization or entity engaged more Aggies in support of Texas A&M than The Association of Former Students, touching almost every student on the Texas A&M campus through the funding of scholarships and academic programs, traditions and student activities, and recognition of former students, current students, faculty and staff.

From 2012 through 2020, more than 140,000 members of the Aggie Network made gifts to The Association totaling $143 million. These gifts provided support for university-directed programs through the Annual Fund and also funded endowments providing perpetual Annual Fund support, as well as Endowed Aggie Ring Scholarships.

The Annual Fund, the bedrock of The Association’s support to Texas A&M, grew substantially during the campaign in both donors and dollars. In 2012, 43,341 donors contributed $7.68 million to the Annual Fund. In 2020, during a global pandemic that devastated the economy, 58,759 Aggies contributed $10.43 million. Most remarkably, the average gift in both 2019 and 2020 was only $14 per month, showcasing the incredible power small gifts can make to Texas A&M. These gifts provided scholarships; made emergency funds available to students facing unplanned financial hardship; subsidized the Aggie Band's travel to away games; supported diversity initiatives; and provided support to the Ross Volunteers, Fish Drill Team, Yell Leaders, Fish Camp, Muster Committee and many other student organizations. 

A total of 422 Endowed Century Club gifts were made during the campaign, increasing the total number of endowments by 62%, while 138 Endowed Aggie Ring Scholarships were also established. These scholarships, combined with pass-through gifts, provided Aggie rings to 1,200 students who otherwise might not have been able to purchase one. 

In addition to direct funding, gifts to The Association also provided support to Association programs such as Ring Day, Class Reunions and Class Newsletters, A&M Club activities, Traveling Aggies and the Distinguished Alumni Gala. Considering the services, programs and funding provided by The Association, the total impact of The Association topped $15.3 million in 2019, an increase over the $10 million impact provided in 2012.

In 2019, The Association featured Alfredo Alvarez ’21 in one of its impact videos. Alfredo received financial assistance from The Association after his mother passed away and his father was injured in a car accident, greatly altering his family’s financial situation. The financial assistance provided was critical to allowing Alfredo to stay in school and remain a part of the Aggie Band, but it provided something even more important: hope. 

“To The Association of Former Students, I don’t know how I can thank you enough for giving me hope that for anything that goes wrong, something good will happen out of it,” Alfredo said in a letter to The Association in 2019.

The Association thanks Aggies everywhere for their role in providing support to thousands of students like Alfredo during the Lead by Example campaign.

The 1922 Fund

In July 2015, the 12th Man Foundation launched the 1922 Fund to endow scholarships for all Texas A&M student-athletes. Aggie Athletics was changed forever on Jan. 2, 1922, when E. King Gill ’24 was called from the crowd to put on a uniform and stand ready for his team. It was a transformative moment for Texas A&M, and Gill’s actions still resonate as new generations of Aggies stand in support of their teams.

Following in Gill’s footsteps, 12th Man Foundation donors are making an indelible impact on Texas A&M Athletics with their transformative contributions to the 1922 Fund. Donors committed $2.7 million to the 1922 Fund in its inaugural year and, as of Dec. 31, 2020, the fund balance has grown to approximately $14 million. This generous philanthropic support of scholarship endowments represents a direct investment in the long-term viability and success of Texas A&M Athletics.

Texas Aggie Corps of Cadets Association

Supporting the “Keepers of the Spirit.”

The Texas Aggie Corps of Cadets Association (CCA) was founded in 1993 to further the recruitment and retention of high-caliber cadets who possess intrinsic qualities that permanently secure the Corps of Cadets’ time-honored legacy at Texas A&M University. CCA’s sole and unwavering mission to “promote, preserve and perpetuate the Texas A&M Corps of Cadets by supporting former, current and future Cadets” is instrumental in upholding the Corps as Texas A&M’s “Keepers of the Spirit.”

Since inception, the CCA has provided millions of dollars in support to the Corps. CCA’s funding reaches every cadet, every year, through facilitating equipment needs and sponsoring activities and leadership programming that build camaraderie.

Support for incoming cadets begins with Freshman Orientation Week through supplying physical training gear and continues each year until the senior cadet celebrates his or her time in the Corps at Senior Dining Out, a formal military-style banquet hosted annually by the CCA. Upon a cadet’s graduation, the CCA has invested a minimum of $220 in each cadet. In most cases, this amount is substantially increased with a cadet’s participation in the numerous annually sponsored CCA programs. 

During the Lead by Example campaign, CCA’s funding impacted 9,400 cadets through direct support and sponsorships totaling $13.3 million and more than 50 programs, including: 11 Corps Athletic Teams, Ol’ Army Boot Dance, Fish Drill Team, the Fightin’ Texas Aggie Band, ROTC detachments, Parsons Mounted Cavalry, and the addition of a CCA store on the Quad for cadets to obtain ribbons and insignia at their convenience. This was made possible by more than 9,000 former cadet donors. Additionally, $290,500 was directed to cadet recruiting during the campaign.

"The impact the CCA made for the Corps of Cadets during the campaign was monumental,” said Andrew Christjoy ’21, the 2020-2021 Deputy Corps Commander. “On top of its continued financial assistance in various formats, the CCA’s presence around the Quad is a huge support for all of us.  Additionally, the support the CCA provides for recruiting means that we continue to enjoy a steady volume of high-caliber cadets.”

While the CCA’s financial impact is essential to the Corps, numerous opportunities for former cadets to stay connected and foster camaraderie with current cadets further strengthen the Corps experience across multiple generations. The CCA’s annual Rally to the Guidons event consistently reunites more than 650 former cadets to form up and fall in behind the Corps for march-in at a home football game.  Most notably, the CCA has had the distinct privilege of hosting the Corps of Cadets Hall of Honor Gala for the past four years. The annual black-tie event pays tribute to former cadets who have represented Texas A&M, the public/private sector or the nation in a prestigious manner and who possess the values upon which the Corps was founded.

The CCA is proud to offer its support and will continue to be a driving force for cadets for years to come, thanks to loyal members who know that the “Corps experience…lasts a lifetime!”