The Board of Visitors Committee on External Affairs held a meeting Friday regarding the status of the Development Office's efforts to raise $3 billion in the upcoming Capital Campaign. To help achieve that goal, the committee raised the amount of money required to endow professorships and deanships to the University as well as discussing the branding initiative and administration of the Development Office.
The committee approved a measure to double the minimum donation required to endow a named professorship to the University to $2 million as of next January. Donors seeking to give a professorship, also called a chair, are expected to provide funds that will yield returns covering a professor's salary, research grants and other expenses into perpetuity.
Although this is now the new minimum level for a professorship, schools will be encouraged to create higher minimum levels if they choose. A gift of $5 million establishes a deanship.
The committee also discussed the status of the University's branding initiative to best market the University to prospective donors.
Robert Sweeney, senior vice president for development and public affairs, said donors expect to hear a well-defined mission and vision for the University's future in order to give them the confidence to make a major gift.
"Branding is not deceptive," Publications and Development Communications Director William Sublette said. "It is a way of identifying, focusing and articulating a brand," to attract donors.
The University has hired McCann Erickson, a brand consulting agency best known for MasterCard's "Priceless" campaign, to spearhead the branding initiative campaign.
The Capital Campaign, whose quiet phase was launched Jan. 1, 2004 and will officially begin its public phase with a National Kick-off Weekend Sept. 30, 2006, is collecting funds ahead of schedule. The Campaign already has received $700 million during the quiet phase, or about 23 percent of the total goal in 20 percent of the time allotted (the Campaign is scheduled to run through 2011), Sweeney said.
Gordon Rainey, Capital Campaign chair and former Board rector, said he is confident about the progress of the campaign thus far.
"I feel very good about where we are," Rainey said. "We've got a very high mountain to climb, but we've got the equipment to do it."
Rainey commended many of the University's individual schools and units ---- such as the athletics department, Center for Politics and the University libraries ---- that are on task in reaching their goals. The Education School already has received 32 percent of its $50---million goal, the Alumni Association has achieved 94 percent of its $13-million goal and the athletics department has received 44 percent of its $300---million goal.
Campaign activities will include alumni events to present the University's strategic priorities and to generate widespread support, individual visits to prospective donors and various on-Grounds event opportunities, such as meet-and-greets with University President John T. Casteen, III.
Also vital to the success of the Campaign is the strength of the numerous alumni clubs located throughout the country, Sweeney's materials suggest. The Development Office has recruited alumni throughout the nation charged with raising funds in their area and who have agreed to personally make six-figure gifts.
Some committee members expressed concern about the possibility of a decrease of donor interest in the Campaign because of Hurricane Katrina. Sweeney said he doubts the hurricane will impact University fundraising efforts.
"As a social service agency, I don't see a slackening," Sweeney said. "After 9/11, we cut off solicitation to New York and D.C., but the giving has come back. I don't believe our success or failure will be determined by these natural disasters."
Sweeney also stressed the importance of getting the larger gifts out of the way.
"While there is plenty of time left, I think it's important to get closure on those larger gifts sooner rather than later," Sweeney said.
These "larger gifts" include the Campaign's goal of one $100---million gift, seven $50---million gifts and ten $25---million dollar gifts. There are several promising solicitations currently open, Sweeney said, several of which he anticipates will come into fruition shortly.
The Development Office is implementing a set of rigorous measures to track employee contact with prospective donors and foster employee development, Sweeney said.
The committee also reviewed the 2005 fiscal year earnings, reporting that philanthropic cash flow totaled $183.5 million, up five percent from the 2004 fiscal year. Alumni continue to be the University's largest source of gifts, exceeding 35 percent of all donations. However, the total amount of gifts from individuals, alumni included, decreased by 15 percent to $83 million in the 2005 fiscal year, as did gifts from corporations.
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