ON OCCASION, MEETING A FUTURE donor with no known institutional ties simply involves being in the office to take a phone call. It happened to Scott Leisinger, vice president for institutional advancement at Wartburg College (Iowa), when in February 2007 his department got a call from Gerald Kleinfeld, founder of the international German Studies Association and a professor emeritus of history at Arizona State University.
That's a far reach from northeastern Iowa, and Kleinfeld had never been to campus or been in contact with anyone who had. Who could have guessed he'd be making a $1 million gift commitment by summer?
"He did mention right away that he may be interested in making a gift," Leisinger recalls, "but most of the initial conversation focused on the history of our college, our German studies program, what the college's commitment to German studies was."
Kleinfeld also mentioned a handful of other institutions he was considering as gift recipients. So Wartburg administrators faced a connection-building challenge.
"He wanted to find a home in which he could really make a difference," Leisinger says, adding that a two-day campus visit seemed to be enough to make Kleinfeld feel at home. Before leaving, he "hit the college bookstore and bought orange [Wartburg] sweatshirts, signed up for a Wartburg credit card, and even bought an orange watch." And the next time he set foot on campus, he left with the promise to fund a distinguished professorship in German history.
'We wanted to change the perspective from giving TO an institution to giving THROUGH an institution.' -Tamsen McMahon, Harvard Medical School
While alumni make natural gift prospects because of their emotional ties, soliciting non-alumni gifts-whether for $100 or $1 million-takes tactical tries. The rewards, however, can make the effort worthwhile. According to the Council for Aid to Education's latest Voluntary Support for Education survey, of the $28 billion given to higher ed institutions in 2006, $5.7 billion was given by non-alumni individuals-a 14 percent jump over the prior year. Here's what has worked in obtaining these gifts.
CASTING A WIDE NET
Share economic impact figures.
When locals learn of the millions that a college's presence brings to their area, they're more likely to want to give something back. Augustana College (Ill.) officials used an economic impact study to create a brief handout on community engagement, which notes the school's estimated $157 million annual impact on its metropolitan area. "Sometimes we make the mistake of assuming that people in the community know all this information. We live it every day," says Al DeSimone, vice president for development.
Follow up with event attendees.
Central Michigan University library's development team is staying in touch with friends made during a recent event for Ernest Hemingway buffs. Held about three hours from the CMU campus in Petoskey, where Hemingway lived as a youth, the August 2007 event featured pieces from the library's Hemingway collection and a tour of his family's cottage. With local libraries helping with promotion, "it sold out very quickly and was terrific fundraising for us," reports Brian A. Palmer, director of library development and community outreach. Development officers are following up with the 60 attendees (who paid $125 each for the dinner and tour) to see who might give to the library directly-or even just attend the next Hemingway event, planned for this spring in Chicago.
Create "friends" organizations.
Purchase College (N.Y.) has several such groups, from the Friends of the Neuberger Museum to the Friends of Humanities. Members pay $100 to $1,000 to support scholarships, student performances, and academic programs. Group members and each school's dean help recruit additional members, says Tom Schwarz, president of the college.
Form a planned giving council.
Think of it as a more formal way of networking for dollars. At Augustana, council members are attorneys, trust officers, insurance agents, and financial planners who may help influence the philanthropic efforts of their clients. The council, currently with about 20 professionals, meets on campus "a few times a year, so they're current on Augustana programs," says DeSimone.
