Fundraising in tough times: award-winning fundraisers are locking in more dollars than ever—even in a recession. How do they do it?

University Business, March, 2002 by Nicole Rivard

How has higher ed fundraising been affected by the decelerated economy? The jury is still out until June, at least, but a preponderance of private and public institutions are reporting that they continue to attract dollars as if the country weren't in a recession.

According to Fred Wheeler, associate vice president for Development at Fairfield University (Fairfield, CT), "Our annual fund is running 12 percent ahead of last year; a positive sign. I admit I'm surprised, because there's been so much media attention focused on concerns about philanthropy, as a result of the economy and September 11. But college and university fundraising may be less susceptible to economic changes in the market, or to tragedies, because we have a built-in constituent base of alumni, corporations, and foundations."

Attitudes are positive, too, at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, where a $1.5 billion capital campaign will be announced in April The campaign is one of the most ambitious ever instituted by an American public university, and it's launching right on the heels of the worst economic environment the country has seen in years.

In fact, say many top college and university administrators, the ability to plan, launch, and properly implement strategically powerful fundraising initiatives has never been more essential. That's why college and university officials are hungering, more than ever, for successful fundraising models. To put it simply, "Who's doing it well and why?" is the question most often overhead at higher education industry conferences and seminars. Interestingly, many of the top models are not the ivy-covered private institutions you might expect, but state, community, and even technical schools that have become adept at isolating their most promising avenues of fundraising--and then pursuing those channels with innovation and determination.

FUNDRAISING AWARD-WINNER: Monroe Community College

Brenda Babitz, Foundation president and college chief development officer at Monroe Community College (Rochester, NY), reports the school's annual fund is up a remarkable 36 percent over the previous year, despite the recession. In fact, says Babitz, she actually used the tough economy in her "connect-the-dots" appeal to the private sector.

"Large corporations in Rochester are experiencing difficult times, but they know they need a trained workforce in order to come out of this economic slump," she says. "They also know that, unlike at other larger universities, go percent of our graduates remain in the community. So, we've made them understand that education at our institution offers a direct promise for the future of their workforce. We point out that to ensure the levels of instructional quality needed to maintain a skilled workforce--and our community's competitive edge--we must continually increase private sector investment." Recently named Professional Fundraiser of the Year by the American Fundraising Professionals (Genesee Valley Chapter), Babitz has helped her school's foundation raise more than $5 million during her tenure, and MCC is now ranked in the top 5 percent of community college foundations nationwide. But when Babitz arrived at the school 11 years ago, the sense that public institutions were not deserving of private sector support was pervasive.

"I was told I was crazy for taking the job," she recalls, "but I had heard that there were over 200,000 alumni who had never even been asked for support. I figured: How hard could it be? I didn't know there were no addresses," she laughs.

The power of the Board. Babitz knew she would need plenty of ammunition to convince the private sector of the importance of giving to a community college. So, the first thing she did was set about to build a highly effective Board of Directors to govern the MCC Foundation. "The effectiveness of the Board is the single most important driver in successful fundraising," Babitz states unequivocally. It wasn't easy, she now admits, but she dug in her heels, and finally found individuals who could help her get the school on the giving agendas of their own foundations and corporations.

"We were the last kids on the fundraising block," she remembers. "The larger private schools in our area had been in the fundraising business for many years. Initially, it was tough to get those `high profile' board members; they had already made commitments to bigger universities, and few had attended community college."

In attracting those individuals, the ability to describe a structured plan of board members' activities and responsibilities was crucial. Babitz followed guidelines laid out by the Guidance Council for Advancement and Support of Education (www.case.org) and The Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges (www.agb.org).

Internal "esprit de corps." Prior to joining the MCC Foundation, Babitz was a Development administrator for a private university. The biggest difference between public and private school fundraising, she says, is that faculty and staff at private institutions know how to be a part of the initiative--they've been doing it longer. "My hardest job has been to get the internal audience--both faculty and staff--to work with us." So her office has created internal fundraising events like the annual Gold Star Dinner, now a four-year-old event. At the Dinner, faculty skills such as French lessons, Web page development, even fly-fishing lessons, are auctioned off to 250 members of the community.