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To continue thriving, Ithaca
College needs donations, plain and simple. But alumni don’t seem to
realize how important their contributions are.
by Ellen Potter and Maura
Stephens
"In 1992 I came back
to campus for the first time in 22 years for the College’s centennial
celebration," says Diane Frankle Storck ’70. I’m not sure what happened,
exactly, but it reconnected me so amazingly. Ithaca College is something
to be proud of. How can you not feel great about this place? Since
I came back that first time, I’ve been elected to the alumni board and
was asked to join the board of trustees."
In those capacities,
though, Storck has often been frustrated. Becoming aware of the College’s
financial situation, as an alumni board member and a College trustee must,
makes her think more about how to best go about raising money from her
fellow graduates. "I think it’s partly that there has been a culture of
shyness about asking for money and talking about giving," she says.
 A
culture --- whether it belongs to a nation, an ethnicity, or even a college
--- is a subtle thing, created over generations and full of deep-seated
mythologies and conventions. At some institutions there is a strong "culture
of giving." Students understand that their relationship with the institution,
in the form of alumni donations, will continue long after they have graduated.
At Ithaca College, however, the culture of giving is still a pretty new
idea, despite the fact that the College is over 100 years old.
With only an 18 percent
rate of alumni participation last year, a modest endowment, and a limited
capacity to borrow from outside agencies, Ithaca College is at a critical
point. The institution needs greater financial flexibility in order to
maintain and expand its resources --- high-quality faculty, buildings
and grounds, financial aid to students, academic and residential life
programming, equipment, and so forth. To this end, the Office of Development
is trying to determine the best ways to cultivate a tradition of philanthropy
--- because philanthropy is crucial for the financial security at any
institution, but especially at one that, like Ithaca College, is highly
tuition-dependent and is strategically planning for the long term.
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A few major
gifts aside, the College has a long history of solving its own problems
through borrowing rather than soliciting outside sources. Gifts
to endowment (large gifts that are usually invested so that their
income will continue in perpetuity) have been few and far between.
As a result, Ithaca has relied mostly on student-generated income
--- tuition, room and board fees, and other costs of attendance
--- for its funding, to the tune of nearly 90 percent. The College
marked its centennial in 1992 with a fund-raising effort and has
raised money for specific capital projects, but it has never instituted
a large-scale, comprehensive, College-wide fund-raising campaign.
Alumni were solicited, but in a relatively rudimentary manner ---
mostly direct mail canvassing and phone-a-thons.
In recent years
Ithaca College has made a stronger commitment to its development
program, now under the enthusiastic leadership of vice president
for institutional advancement Shelley Semmler. The alumni database
is being updated, the Annual Fund is making strides, and the major-gift
and planned-giving programs are being strengthened. But creating
a culture of giving takes years; results don’t quickly become apparent.
Ithaca College still lags behind many other institutions (see graph
1, below) in alumni giving.
Colgate University,
for example, has a 51 percent alumni participation rate and a $427
million endowment ($151,000 per student), while Hamilton College
has a 56 percent participation rate and $485 million endowment ($279,000
per student). These colleges aren’t necessarily in competition for
the same students Ithaca tries to attract, but their fund-raising
efforts can certainly be compared to Ithaca’s. By way of contrast,
in the past 10 years Ithaca College’s alumni participation rate
has never risen above 25.9 percent and, in fact, has been generally
declining. Its $175 million endowment is not large enough for real
comfort, especially for an institution with more than 6,000 students
($30,000 per student; see graph 3)
and especially in a volatile market. To make matters more pressing,
as part of the strategic long-term planning process, the College
recently identified more than $300 million in potential capital
needs. They include facility expansion; technology upgrades; and
endowment needs for financial aid, endowed professorships, and diversity
initiatives. But the College has been raising only about $3 million
to $4 million a year, excluding "exceptional gifts" (e.g., numerous
large Park Foundation grants and the James B. Pendleton bequest
to the Park School).
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Annual Fund: an organized
effort to secure contributions on a yearly basis, most commonly
by direct mail, phone, or personal solicitation. This money is used
for current programs and needs of the College and its schools.
Capital giving: funds that help finance major
building projects, augment endowment funds, and meet other capital
needs.
Charitable trust: a fund set up by donors
that benefits them during their lifetime and then benefits their
heirs and/or a charity at their death.
Endowment: a permanent fund that is invested
to provide the institution with a regular income, which comes from
interest earned on principal. Part of the income is used for either
restricted or unrestricted purposes; the remainder is reinvested,
and the principal is retained to earn interest indefinitely.
Gift in kind: a contribution of equipment,
supplies, services, or other property for which the institution
has a current use.
Major gifts: a gift or pledge of a certain
level and above
made over a certain amount of time (at Ithaca College
right now it is $10,000 over three years or less).
Planned giving: a deferred gift, generally
from one’s assets other than cash. This could come from a donor’s
estate, such as a bequest, or it could be real estate or other property,
a trust agreement, or an annuity.
Restricted gift: a gift given for a specific
purpose, designated by the donor.
Unrestricted gift: a gift the institution
may use wherever it is most needed.
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