When she was a student at Middlebury College, Ansally N. Kuria learned that raising money is no cakewalk. Working as a phone-athon caller for the annual fund, Ms. Kuria occasionally received rude responses, she says, and spoke with alumni who felt uncomfortable giving, since they could offer only a small contribution.
But through a program that Middlebury started last spring, she has also seen how generous the college's network can be...