A Focused Leader

I’ve been working closely with President Susan Herbst since her arrival on campus a few weeks ago, and was thrilled to see the energy generated by the gift announced last week from the President and her husband, Douglas Hughes.

This wonderful scholarship will support so many deserving students, and it’s also making an exciting statement about her vision of the role of philanthropy at UConn. Certainly, President Herbst has always signaled that raising the levels of private support at UConn is a top priority for her. Here’s what she said with the announcement of her gift:

“In these difficult times, UConn desperately needs increased private funding of student scholarships, faculty research, and building projects in order to become the top flagship university the state of Connecticut and its citizens deserve.”

Now, she has backed this statement up with her own gift and has devoted time to travel with both myself and my Foundation colleagues to meet with top donors and get the message out about both increasing philanthropy at UConn and successfully completing our capital campaign.

As was widely reported over the weekend, President Herbst envisions a day when we have a $1-billion endowment at UConn, and we can all see that she wants to enhance several important facilities including the UConn Health Center, School of Medicine and School of Dental Medicine, the planned basketball practice facility and key academic buildings.

It’s always invigorating where there’s a focus on big pictures that we can get behind. Everyone at the Foundation is excited to be working with President Herbst, bringing UConn up to its full potential.

Looking back at UConn Alumni Weekend 2011

Reunion gatherings are important events at most universities across the country. The most successful are the ones when there is a core group of alumni that assume the responsibility to organize a gathering of their former classmates and friends. Having a university employee ask you to come back to campus is much less effective than having someone you lived with and went to classes with for four+ years ask you to come back and celebrate with others.

We were very lucky to have just such an event last weekend during UConn’s Alumni Weekend 2011. Across the University, groups of friends and old classmates got together and came to Storrs to see again in person all that UConn did for them, as well as celebrate more than a little bit of Husky Pride.

A wonderful example was UConn Men’s Rugby, which played an alumni game right in Memorial Stadium. Here’s a great note we received afterwards.

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Please give our thanks to the school and the UConn Alumni Association for allowing us to play our Alumni rugby game at Memorial stadium.  The day was a very special one for me because I’ve never had the opportunity to play a rugby game on campus, even though I’ve played around the world.  The stadium was a perfect venue for families, players and friends.  Thanks again and hopefully we can do it again!

Thanks

Pablo Perez ’95

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And you can view a slideshow of images from the entire weekend at the UConn Alumni Association Web site.

I was just talking to someone today and was telling them that from what I can tell from alumni, the 50’s and 60’s were a social time at UConn and that fraternities and sororities were popular and central to the social life on campus.  The late 60’s and early 70’s were unusual times for many college campuses. War protests, campus sit-ins, political assassinations and the anti-establishment movement made for an emotionally charged atmosphere at many. I’ve encountered many alumni who have shared frustration of their college experience during this period and have worked with them to help them understand what college life is today.

The late `70’s and `80’s ushered in a new area of college life, up to and during this period many students left the college campus on weekends and went home. Student government and club activities, as well as intramural sports began to take off, and this phenomenon began to change campus life.  More and more students chose to stay on campus to socialize with their friends on weekends rather than going home.

In the late `80’s, the university’s athletic success began to take shape on a national level and by the 90’s the social scene on campus was all about showing your Husky Pride. In the past decade it has been technology that has revolutionized the social scene on campus and the question I ask now is, what’s next?

I hope we are able to build on our reunion success here at UConn, and I would sure like to have you and your classmates at a reunion here on campus in the future!

A Great Development Team, Made Even Better

So much of the success of any fundraising effort is based on the quality of your development staff. We have a great team at the Foundation, made even better by several new hires and one very good internal promotion. Part of the reason that this blog has been sparsely updated recently is because of my involvement in recruiting several new members to the UConn Foundation.   I am pleased to welcome:

• Dewey Raymond
  Assistant Director of Development – Major Gifts
• Julie Pryor Bennett
  Associate Director of Development – School of Business
• Susan Davison
  Director of Development – Major Gifts and Honors Program
• Zach Goines
  Senior Director of Development – Athletics (link)

I am delighted to begin working with this group of talented people.

I also want to congratulate longtime Foundation employee Becky McEnery on her promotion to Director of Development for the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.  Becky has been with the UConn Foundation for seven years working in the Annual Giving Program and Major Gifts.   She has distinguished herself as a good fundraiser and relationship-builder and it is always a prideful moment when you can honor someone who has devoted themselves to their work.

Interested in joining our team? Visit our Employment Opportunities page for current open positions. UConn is at a historic moment; help us make it as good as its potential!

It’s Beyond Electric in Houston

It’s been a fantastic experience watching the men’s basketball team at the Final Four in Houston, and here’s hoping for an incredible Husky win tonight! Some of the most gratifying times in my position at the Foundation are moments like this: spending time with our donors, alumni and fans across Husky Nation.

It’s an understatement to say that the atmosphere in Houston feels electric. It’s really unlike anything else, and I wish every UConn alumni could experience it in person. That heart-pounding-in-your-chest feeling when you watch the men and women play on TV is about 1,000 times more intense in person.

And believe me, UConn is here, deep in the heart of Texas. I’ve run into countless people with UConn gear and pride showing, no matter where I go. I can just sit in the lobby having a cup of coffee and UConn fans I don’t even know will start coming up to me, with a sense of overwhelming pride and enthusiasm for the University.

It’s more than just excitement in the specific game. As I mentioned in a story that appeared in The New London Day yesterday, these great UConn moments do translate back into support for the University;  they’re an opportunity to finalize philanthropic ideas that donors may have, or to introduce new donors back to UConn. Being a fan of a basketball game may not seem like it would have a direct correlation to funding a scholarship for science research, for instance, but it does in many direct and indirect ways. Just drive around any residential neighborhood in Connecticut and you’ll see the UConn flags flying outside front doors. Athletic success translates into increased pride and recognition of our University.

So, when you are watching the UConn men or women play, they’re not just playing for the “W”–they’re really playing for the entire University and all it can accomplish.

Now, it’s time to hopefully win a championship. LET’S GO, HUSKIES!

Working for the UConn Foundation

I’ve been a fundraiser for more than two decades, and think I have a pretty good feel for the skills and knowledge needed to do well in that role. However, arriving at the University in 1998 with fundraising experience at a comparatively small preparatory school was a bit of shock! You can’t appreciate the size or depth of UConn until you are here. It’s a vibrant, always-moving place. However, as large as UConn is, it is a close family as well, and the contacts and relationships I made in my first position, as Assistant Director of Development for the School of Business, have stayed with me to this day.

I meant the word I just wrote: family. I’d like to invite you to join ours. I recently attended a CASE conference and was approached by someone who read this blog and inquired about employment opportunities. It makes sense, then, to use this space to tell prospective fundraisers about the type of people we’re looking for and what it’s like to work here.

Continuity is one of the most important components to managing a successful fundraising campaign, so finding and retaining the right people who want to grow and develop professionally at UConn is a top priority for every manager at the UConn Foundation.  If you take pride in the University, enjoy a challenging work environment, like being part of a team, are comfortable with calling on new people and want to enhance the quality of a student’s learning experience, then you really should consider a fundraising position with us. While resumes that highlight experience in fundraising will get our attention, we also take a whole-person look at what could work for a given position. After all, some individuals with outgoing personalities who care passionately about UConn have turned out to be some of our best fundraisers.

Throughout the duration of our campaign, we are looking to take UConn’s fundraising programs to new heights ($50M – $75M) each year. It’s an exciting and challenging place to work, today more than ever. If you think you might be interested in being a part of this journey, please let me know. I’m not going to sugar-coat the work; our fundraisers have ambitious targets to reach, and are held accountable for reaching them. It’s not a desk job; you’ll be out and about nearly every weekday. And some nights. And occasionally on the weekend. This is an organization with lofty-but-achievable goals, and we need people who think big to help achieve them.

However, it’s also a very rewarding place to work. Even if you’re not an alumni, you’ll be energized by our donors, challenged by their visions for the University and driven by the passion for what goes on in Storrs and on the regional campuses. UConn has tremendous name recognition across the state and nation, and you’ll be representing all the hope that people have in the University.

You can always find the complete listing of employment opportunities on our Web site. And since many of these positions ultimately report to either Frank Gifford or myself, please feel free to e-mail us with any specific questions you may have! I look forward to hearing from you.

Donor Voice

I am reminded regularly that my primary job as a fundraiser is to assist the University of Connecticut in strengthening the teaching and research roles of our faculty, as well as helping students gain access to a college education, establish a meaningful professional career, and learn to thrive in a diverse world.

Donor support plays a substantial role in advancing the quality of services provided by the University.  It also magnifies the importance of closely matching the University’s strategic needs with a donor’s interests.

We care deeply about what our donors think, and understand that our best prospects for future support are our current donors.  In fact, our goal is for donors to contribute annually to UConn in support of the mission, ask them to make multi-year pledges to important campaigns or projects, and get them to consider recognizing the University in their estate plans.  Clearly, there should be a long life-cycle to any donor’s involvement with UConn, and that is what my staff and I are committed to.

Development is an occupation ultimately centered on relationships, and every relationship is ultimately centered on dialogue. You could even say, in an abstract sense, that every philanthropic contribution is something like a voice of support for a particular part of the University. In my years in development, I have heard many voices sharing many personal experiences of their time at UConn.  By matching that feedback with an opportunity to invest in the University, we’ve been able to generate support for areas that the donor might not even have been considering.

Some actual examples I have worked on include:

Donor: “The University is not diverse enough.”
Foundation Response: Asked donor to fund need- and merit-based scholarships.

Donor: “The University did little to help me get a job.”
Foundation Response: Asked donor to consider a seven-figure investment in expanding the University’s Career Services function.

Private donors to UConn can play a transformative role in strengthening education, teaching, research and job creation, and that role is best served when fundraisers can match the donor’s interests with an opportunity for their generosity to help the University’s own goals and intent.

What is your vision for UConn? I look forward to hearing from you.

- Brian

Recruiting the Future of UConn

HELP WANTED: Star performer and leader of teams to build on established UConn excellence and repeatedly take program to national level.

No, we’re not just talking about replacing Randy Edsall; we’re talking about bringing the next great economist to UConn. Or political scientist. Or engineer. Or plant scientist, social worker, artist or any of the hundreds of faculty specialties at the University.

In talking with our deans recently, I’ve come to appreciate a unique opportunity. Now is a particularly exciting time to be recruiting faculty, because although UConn has been impacted by the financial crises of the past few years, our comparative situation is good. As a result, every search for faculty yields candidates of the very top quality. The University is currently hiring and the intellectual talent that exists in the marketplace is superb. With these faculty often come their research teams, their potential for grant support and their relationships and reputations in the field.

That’s not to mention the impact that great professors have on their students, often for a lifetime!

How can private support help? By coupling philanthropic dollars with approved faculty searches, the University can see great returns. A fellowship award supporting a faculty member’s teaching or research for their first three years can give them a good start and tip the scales in our favor when that prospective hire is considering UConn or another school. And believe me, every other school knows this.

So, while we’ve got our hopes for a great new football coach—and another BCS game—we’ve also got our eyes out for some intellectual headliners to raise the bar at UConn higher than it already is! Support from donors, alumni and friends, in concert with the academic plan, can define UConn’s future.

- Frank Gifford

New Year, New Opportunities

What better way to celebrate the New Year than with many of our donors and friends who attended the Fiesta Bowl game in Glendale, Arizona? On Thursday, December 30th, I went to a wonderful UConn reception at the new Musical Instrument Museum (link) hosted by the museum’s president and director, Bill R. DeWalt CLAS ’69, Ph.D. ’76. The museum houses instruments from almost every country in the world and was quite fascinating.  I do not have a musical bone in my body, but at the museum I could see from countless exhibits that music transcends race, religion, wealth and poverty. Music is truly the language of our soul.

I had dinner on New Year’s Eve with Jim Garvey BUS ’85 and his wife, Lynn, who flew in from Hong Kong, along with 23 other spirited alumni and toasted good health and happiness for 2011 to everyone. On January 1st, I joined thousands of Husky fans at the Fiesta Bowl Fan Fest and game; what a fun day!  No, we didn’t win, but regardless of the outcome, it was a proud moment for our university.

Throughout the trip, I talked to scores of alumni who were proud of UConn and its accomplishments. We discussed the exciting announcement of a new President, Susan Herbst, the UConn women’s basketball setting a consecutive win streak at 89, topping the UCLA’s men’s basketball streak, and the disappointment of losing a $100M Health Center grant to Ohio State.

In 2011, we look forward to: welcoming President Herbst and, upon her arrival, continuing the success of our $600M capital campaign and evaluating the Health Center’s needs within our campaign goals; thanking President Phil Austin for his interim leadership as we searched for a new president; and saying goodbye and thank you to our football coach Randy Edsall for accomplishing what many thought was impossible. We brace for a challenging budget process as the state legislature and new governor began to deal with deficit projections, and we seek to establish more private funding opportunities for key student services such as career placement.

It will be a challenging and exciting year, and we’ll need the help of our donors and friends to make great things possible. I look forward to working with all of you in 2011 in beyond.

Student Giving

We recently celebrated our first Philanthropy Day at UConn, educating and involving students so that they understand the role of private giving in their own education. The event was a huge success, with more than 500 students in Storrs writing thank you notes to our donors. The day was planned and run thanks to our great new Student Philanthropy Committee (link), comprising more than 70 students who are trying to spread the word about why giving back to UConn matters. More about that in a bit.

The chairman of the Foundation’s $600-million campaign, Our University. Our Moment. The Campaign for UConn, Denis McCarthy ’64 ’65, was so impressed with the student efforts that he donated several iPads, to be entered into a drawing for students who took the time to write a thank you note.  A stuffed Husky Dog was also offered as a prize.

The lucky students were:

Husky Dog
Hayley Dunnack – Freshman, Exploratory Nursing

iPad
Sean McGuffin – Senior, Mechanical Engineering
Brett McDonald – Junior, Biological Sciences

Thank you, Hayley, Sean, Brett  and, of course, Denis! And a special thank you as well to David Barton ’61, who has made an incredible challenge gift to UConn students that he highlighted on Philanthropy Day. He’s pledging to match gifts made by students this school year, up to a total of $25,000 (for a total gift of $50,000 from students and himself). The SPC recently made a fun video highlighting David’s generosity:

The response so far has been great.

Read this recent e-mail sent to us by donor and student Nathan Kastner ’14:

“I give to support the Chemistry Department so they can continue to enrich people’s lives! Also, I was motivated to give by the Barton Challenge. I wanted to have a bigger impact on the community by having my donation doubled.”

So, why are we focusing on student giving, particularly when students are already paying tuition to attend UConn? It really comes down to awareness of how a UConn education is funded. The remarkable growth of the University since 1995, culminating in the UCONN 2000 and 21^st Century UConn projects, physically transformed this University. The basis of our entire campaign, and the student-giving component of it, is to now help support what goes into those new buildings: our talented faculty, staff and students.

The chart on the right shows roughly how a UConn education is funded. Without that vital piece of “private gifts and other sources,” tuition would be higher, classes larger, opportunities fewer.

It’s my belief that from the moment people come for a tour of the University, they should see that UConn didn’t get to where it is by luck. It happened because of the generosity of its alumni and friends. David Barton actually hit the nail on the head recently when talking about why he’s offering this challenge:

“The day [UConn students] start, they are recipients of philanthropy from people who have gone before them.”

We don’t expect to raise millions of dollars from students. We do hope to impress upon them that their time at UConn, and their success as alumni, is dependent on the generosity of others. If they can start thinking with that philanthropic mindset today, UConn will have an even better tomorrow.

I think our student philanthropy efforts are off to a great start, and would love to hear what you think about them.

Accountability

The month of October ended with our annual meeting of the Foundation Board of Directors.  This distinguished group of roughly 50 alumni and friends of the University meets several times a year to review and discuss the Foundation’s fundraising, investment and management performance. Witnessing this group in action is extremely inspiring because the passion and energy they bring to their work as volunteers makes our efforts so rewarding. You can view a listing of our Board of Directors here. Our 2010 annual report is available online as well!

As an alum myself, I am grateful to this group for raising the bar of excellence for what the University of Connecticut and its students, faculty and staff can achieve!