jr, this isn't something that's going to change over night. Part of the problem is the size of our endowment. For a long while, UR didn't really feel it was necessary to go after the "small donor." You had families giving extraordinary amounts, so who cares about the 100 alums per class that give $50?
The first part in changing this is by educating the alums as to why it's necessary to give, despite the large endowment. The second is to create a culture of giving. This has begun to happen.
My senior year was just the second year for the revamped senior gift campaign. Our 5 year reunion was last year. We aimed at setting a new record for participation by reaching 30% participation. This was a record that stood for 18 years. We ended up, in the middle of the "Great Recession" with a new record of 36% (or 20% higher than the previous record). That record was then smashed by the class of 2006 this year (I do not have that number on hand, but their senior year, 61.5% of them gave). For comparison sake, in 2007, the record participation for the 20th reunion class (people in prime earning years, prior to a recession) was also 36%.
Some info I could find on UR's senior class gift had it starting in 2000 with just over 10% participation. The class of 2007 had more than 68% participation. W&M's senior campaign typically has ~65% participation. JMU's most recent one that I could find had a goal of 13% participation. Georgetown's young alumni participation is only 25%, so UR seems to be doing much better on this front.
As the educational process continues, and UR continues to make positive strides academically, the alumni support will continue to increase. The participation percentages among the young alums certainly is encouraging.