We've all received that phone call or letter asking us to contribute to a good cause, and no matter what the response has been, it's likely few of us has given much thought to the process that led to the contact. Having spent her professional life thinking about fund-raising, Jennifer Bates Lockley knows there's more to it than simply asking for money.
Lockley, an associate director of the annual fund, sees her work as helping people who are concerned about the College support it in ways that are important to them. She is constantly speaking with alumni and parents and finding out what they're thinking about the College. In turn, she fills them in on what's happening here. "That's really important," she says, "because it can help make a match between their interests and the College's needs."
Lockley is a member of a College development team dedicated to such efforts as academic funding, corporate and foundation relations, planned and leadership giving, the annual fund, and fund-raising for athletic programs. She works with director of the annual fund Walter C. Williams, associate director Camille Harrington, and assistant director Joseph Hammon to offer alumni and parents opportunities to make regular annual gifts that will help fund expenses including faculty salaries, lab equipment, athletic team equipment, student activities, and scholarships.
Lockley says that few young people plan a career in development. She says that professionals "happen into the field from all different directions," and that she's no exception. Having grown up in Endicott, New York, she had crossed paths with Ithaca College alumni-her first flute teacher, some gym teachers, a church choir director-long before she came to campus. In 1981 she graduated from Wells College with a major in theater arts. She considered, and later rejected, a notion to sing professionally. "It's a wonderful avocation [but] that really has to be the only thing you can picture yourself doing." She met her future husband, Michael, when she was a member of the chorus and he an apprentice tenor at the Tri-Cities Opera in Binghamton. She then "happened" into her career, serving first as administrative assistant to the director of university development at Harvard and next as assistant to the director of development at the Rippowam Cisqua School, a private elementary school in Bedford, New York. The Lockleys eventually moved back upstate, and Jennifer joined the Ithaca staff in October 1994.
Lockley divides much of her attention between helping with Reunion fund-raising and coordinating the parents annual fund. In preparation for Reunion she and her colleagues stay in touch with class agents over the entire year, providing logistical and office support so that alumni volunteers can execute the fund-raising plans of their choice. An outstanding class gift is not only good for the College, she says, it adds fun and excitement to Reunion weekend.
Since joining Ithaca's development staff Lockley has organized and trained volunteers for a new parents annual fund committee. Recruiting volunteers and raising funds among parents of current students is a special challenge, but she has found that many parents are eager to be involved in their children's college life in as many ways as they can. "They have entrusted their children to Ithaca College, and you've got to make sure that it keeps advancing and improving," she says.
Lockley believes that an essential quality for people undertaking development work is "devotion to the cause, a realization of how important it is." For her, it's always rewarding when proud alumni share their memories with her. "The College has changed drastically since these people were here . . . and you can't make those kinds of changes without fund-raising."
Front Page -- News Home Page -- Ithaca College Home Page