Campaign Oregon has shot more than $100 million past its goal, but the Office of Development isn’t stopping there.
The University’s unprecedented $600 million fundraising campaign will still continue until spring 2008 as originally scheduled, and Associate Vice President for Development Shane Giese said it will be very much “business as usual within the campaign context.
“There are needs that have come to light as we’ve gone through this,” said Giese. “We are hoping we will be able to maintain the same pace to some degree that we’ve been able to meet in the campaign.”
The campaign has thus far garnered $717.5 million in private donations. Phil and Penny Knight’s gift to University athletics plus Lorry Lokey’s donation to academics makes up about a quarter of that. But Giese said the size of the gift isn’t what’s important.
“There have been absolutely wonderful gifts made of all sizes … meeting all kinds of needs,” Giese said. “And one of the things that we found to be so true in this campaign is that every gift makes a difference whether it’s one of $20 or a multi-million dollar gift. Every one of them has helped to make a difference.”
About three weeks ago Oregon State University announced the Campaign for OSU – its first major fundraising campaign and one similar to Campaign Oregon but with one key difference: the goal of an additional $25 million.
When the University of Oregon launched its campaign in January 2001, it was the largest campaign attempted in the state of Oregon. Oregon State’s campaign is for $625 million.
The Campaign for OSU actually began in July 2004, and has already raised $351 million. That “silent phase” is typical for large campaigns; it’s when campaign leadership approaches donors closest to the institution, determines priorities and builds momentum.
“You kind of go to your best friends first and get them on board, get them up to speed,” said Molly Brown, senior director of strategic communications at Oregon State. “And you sort of use that momentum and that buy-in to go to your close friends and the people you don’t know that well.”
Brown said the similar goal, determined with the help of an outside campaign consultant, is completely coincidental, and it’s not the number that matters but rather what the money will do for higher education in Oregon and for the state as a whole.
“It wasn’t a slam dunk sort of goal,” Brown said. “And our president wanted something that would be ambitious. It felt right for Oregon State University in terms of where we were in our development.”
Both campaigns’ larger goals are broken down into several smaller ones.
Campaign Oregon is 75 percent of the way to meeting its $100 million goal for student scholarships. It also more than doubled the University’s endowment to approximately $400 million. Alumni giving has increased – another campaign objective – and University programs, faculty support and campus facilities have each gained more than $100 million.
The Campaign for OSU is about halfway there in all area goals: Among them are endowment, facilities and equipment, scholarships and fellowships, faculty positions, programs and private grants.
In a donation drive like Campaign Oregon, the University doesn’t just sit back and let the donors do all the work. Securing a donation is a long process, beginning with conveying University needs to donors and ending with “booking,” or finishing up the extensive paperwork and actually planting the money in the UO Foundation’s account.
Typically the donors are alumni, businesses and corporations that are near or have ties to the University. If potential donors are interested in making an investment, the development office works with them to determine a dollar amount.
“In a way it is a negotiation,” Giese said. Lokey and the Knights’ donations, for instance, had actually been in the works for awhile.
And while many donors probably would have come forward with their gifts even without Campaign Oregon acting as a driving force, Giese said private donation campaigns are helpful because they raise awareness of the University’s needs and “bring some profile to the effort.”
Given the success of Campaign Oregon, prospects for a similar drive in the future seem inevitable. Giese expects an even larger campaign will be in the works at some point, but not anytime soon.
“I think there’ll be a lot of planning that takes place, and I don’t think they’ll do it quickly, but I would bet there will be another campaign in the future,” Giese said.
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