When more than 800 seniors signed the Lehigh Promise in 2025, they proudly wore their Lehigh Promise cords at Commencement, a visual symbol to their peers and the greater Lehigh community of their commitment to stay connected, involved, and invested.
Since that day, they have followed Lehigh Alumni on social media, signed up for Lehigh Connects, attended Sendoffs, joined regional clubs for happy hours, and cheered on Lehigh football at Rivalry telecasts.
With Giving Day + March Mania approaching, those Promise signers will be asked to fulfill their first investment: a $20 gift, with $10 going to any Lehigh passion (team, college, department, program, scholarship, or club) and another $10 supporting the Lehigh Promise Fund.
Establishing the fund required $10,000. Thanks to gifts from James Smith Bancroft ’68 and Greg Scaven ’85, the fund is now in place and ready to grow.
Why They Give
Both alumni are motivated to pay it forward, knowing how Lehigh created a substantial starting point in their lives and in those of their classmates.
Bancroft attended a very different Lehigh, one that was fairly homogeneous. But his life has shown him the power that comes from diversity of thought and understanding the perspectives of others.
“A college education is a privilege that many can’t afford or might not want to seek. When we acknowledge that, it is imperative for us to help others who are striving for what that education can make possible,” he says. “My wife and I created a scholarship at Lehigh. Supporting the Lehigh Promise is an extension of that commitment and an investment in young alumni who are developing the important habit of supporting Lehigh.”
Scaven knows that Lehigh students are like him: interested in innovation.
“Lehigh graduates build connections and shape outcomes,” he says. “The Lehigh Promise Fund allows them to become architects for Lehigh’s future — what it can be and where it can go. Being part of something new like this is very powerful.”
While Bancroft has built a life on the West Coast since 1971, Scaven is often back on campus working with chemical engineering students and ROTC cadets. For him, commitment to Lehigh is both involvement and investment.
“Young alumni should know that giving back starts small. While it can be easier when more established and deeper into a career, small investments accumulate and become a resource that can help future students on their journeys.”
As both noted, Lehigh has distinguished professors and accomplished alumni who provide vital counsel, mentorship, and guidance. Together, those mentors invest in the success of students who will one day complete the circle, returning to guide the next generation of innovators and leaders.
That is the Lehigh Promise in action.
