Fund-raising

Several private schools have received major gifts over the past several years. For purposes of this article, we shall define a major gift as one hundred thousand dollars or more. In addition to highlighting the generosity of the donors, we also want to illustrate how the gifts are being used. But before we begin looking at some examples of donors and their gifts, you are probably wondering why people would want to give large sums of money to their schools in the first place.

The main reason your wealthy graduates can and should give major gifts to your school is the simple fact that they know your school. They understand its mission. They appreciate the foundations which their school gave them for success in college and in their careers and adult lives.

The other reason why your graduates will be more sympathetic to your asking for a major gift is that you have kept in touch. Besides your Annual Appeal and the regular alumni events which you hold, you have sent out e-newsletters at least once a semester. Your potential major donors know that the hockey rink needs replacing. They understand the need for endowing teaching positions. They are sympathetic with your determination to develop a strong financial aid pool so that you can diversify your student body. They know that one of your fondest hopes is for the building of an arts center with practice studios and a theater. Well, you get the idea. Your wishlist is

Raising money for non-profit organizations such as private schools has never been tougher or more complicated. A series of major disasters both at home and abroad can have a negative impact on fundraising efforts, so connected has our global community become. However, the advantage private schools have is their built-in donor pool. Alumni and alumnae, parents, grandparents, and friends comprise this group of past, present, and future donors. The trick is to figure out how to get them to give consistently and in line with their financial resources.

For purposes of this article, our focus is not on the older, more established schools such as Exeter, Hotchkiss, Middlesex, and so on. These schools have long histories of successful fundraising behind them. Instead, our focus here is on the thousands of much smaller, much newer, less financially strong private schools which serve communities all over the United States. These are schools that rely heavily on their top administrators and small support staff to handle all the development and fundraising needs. These dedicated people are, for the most part, experienced professionals who believe in what they do. They also know that their donor base has significant potential, although just how large that potential is unknown. Even more, vexing is figuring out how to reach those donors capable of making major gifts.

First of all, let's break our fund-raising into three distinct sections and understand what it is that you are trying to achieve with these critical but separate fund-raising objectives.

The article in the New York Times sounds ominous. Certainly, as it points out, private school endowment funds have seen declines in their value as a result of economic and financial meltdowns. But there are other factors which the article does not address which make the impact on financial aid less of an issue than the writer would have you believe.

Let's look at the facts.

Conservative Investment Policies

The investment approach for private school endowments has historically been a conservative, cautious approach. Trustees and their advisors have generally been good stewards of their finances. They avoided risky investments such as derivatives and real estate despite calls from some quarters to maximize returns. The reason for the decline in their portfolio value is simple: just about every investment-grade instrument declined.

Sustainability

Back in the 90s, sustainability became an important principle in private school mission statements and philosophies. The National Association of Independent Schools has taken a leadership role in supporting all kinds of sustainability initiatives including financial sustainability with its 1,500 member schools.

From the Nais: "In order for independent schools to thrive in the 21st century, NAIS believes that they must be sustainable along five dimensions: financial, demographic, programmatic, environmental, and global."

As a result, schools with significant endowments (greater than $10 million) generally were well-positioned to weather the economic storm which 2009 brought on with a vengeance.

Financial Aid is a Priority

Financial aid goes to the heart of most private schools' commitments to diversity. It is not an option. It is

Keeping in touch with your graduates is not easy these days. In the old days, you sent a chatty snail mail letter to your graduates two or three times a year. It was full of news about marriages, grad school, jobs, and so on. Of course, it always had updates and information about goings-on at school, sports results and a word from your favorite teachers. Those kinds of newsletter mailings to alumni still go out. If you can afford them, your older graduates will most definitely appreciate them. The reality is that each generation of graduates needs a method of communication which suits its expectations.

Printed mailings have been largely supplanted by interactive school web sites where graduates can log on and keep in touch with their classmates whenever and wherever they choose.

Most alumni relations staff realize that their most recent classes don't stay in touch in the same ways their older graduates do. Snail mail and printed materials are fine for the class of '70 and earlier. Even Web portals may only be effective for the classes prior to '00. Our recent grads are a completely different beast.

The classes from 2001 onwards are the text, cellphone, YouTube, Twitter, Tumblr, and the Facebook crowd. They are all about social networking. Put a class reunion on YouTube and the response will be tremendous. When one of your alums creates a group on a social networking site, it will invariably draw other alums. They all love keeping in