Voluntary Subscription Fund 2008

This annual letter has two purposes this year. One is a 30-year-old tradition -- to ask you for the financial support to continue producing a quality publication. The second is unprecedented in the history of Notre Dame Magazine -- to ask you to participate in a readership survey. (The survey is available in paper for only; it arrived in the mail with the VSF letter.)

Notre Dame Magazine is now 35 years old, and we have long enjoyed doing a magazine that serves its readers and the University so successfully. We know very well that this publication is a common enterprise that involves many creative people as well as the readers who contribute so generously, who provide information and suggest article ideas, who bring their stories to our pages, and who tell us what they think about each issue. It's a collaborative effort, and the funding from our readers is essential to its quality.

So again this year, we ask for your financial support. Even though you will continue to receive the magazine free, we suggest a gift of $25. We will send you "Winter: Today and Tomorrow," the second in our poster series of the four seasons, for any gift of $35 or more. Your donation to the magazine is applied to the annual contribution necessary for the football ticket lottery.

The response we get to this annual appeal is extremely gratifying, and other avenues of communication help us keep attuned to our readers' desires. But we also thought it time to do a more formal study to more specifically gauge your needs, wants and expectations.

So please, whether your response is positive, negative or some of both, take a few moments to let us know what you think we're doing right and what you'd like us to change. Answer the questions, send us your comments, or at least use the paper and envelope to drop us a note.

Notre Dame Magazine is a University publication done for you -- to keep you informed, engaged, entertained and close to the institution it represents. It would not exist without your generosity. We want to continue meeting your wishes and needs. So help us out -- with a contribution to a long-standing tradition and thoughtful answers to a first-ever questionnaire.

Gratefully yours,

Kerry Temple '74
Editor

P.S. Returning the paper survey makes readers eligible for one of 10 $100 gift certificates to Notre Dame's Hammes Bookstore.

Remember, Donations are tax-deductible, and your gifts may be safely charged to a credit card through a secure link on our web site here or by calling us at 574-631-5335.

(February 2008)