Student employees working for the ISU Foundation’s annual giving office raised $1 million for the university in record time.

Brian Kish, assistant director of annual giving, said the $1 million mark was reached two months earlier than it was reached during last year’s campaign mark. October was a record-setting month, he said, raising nearly $400,000 and reaching over 11,000 alumni, parents and friends of Iowa State.

“We talk to more people than the president or the deans do,” Kish said. “Not only do we raise money, but we do P.R. for them, too.”

The campaign allows contributors to give to an ISU college of their choice or certain areas of campus such as the library or band. The funds are used for such things as scholarships, building renovations and special equipment.

“It’s a good program from the top all the way down,” Kish said.

He said the students learn a lot about the university through contact with the alumni. He has known students who have gotten job offers,and heard “hilarious” stories.

“Everyone sets their sights high and work hard for it,” Kish said of the donation campaign.

Bonus prizes such as sweatshirts are given to people who reach their goals. Recently, he said, a caller raised $5,000 in one night.

He said he likes to tell the students, “You just gave someone an education because you came into work tonight.”

Kish said 90 students are employed to call for donations seven days a week for four hours a night in the Durham Computation Center.