October 1994
Philanthropy Journal of North Carolina • 13
Duke
Continued from page 1
President Nannerl 0. Keohane. An
endowment “provides that cushion
for when you have to make those
bleak choices between cutting funds
for programs or cutting funds for
facilities. You can either respond to
that creatively, or make one of those
decisions.”
To remain competitive in the
21st century, Duke realizes it must
increase its endowment.
ENDOWMENT PARADOX
In the Southeast, Duke’s endow
ment is impressive. Only the
University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill, with an endowment of
$440 miUion, approaches Duke’s.
Davidson College in Davidson
has a $113 million endowment, and
N.C. State University in Raleigh has
a $97 million endowment, according
to the Council for Aid to Education.
“We have this paradox,” Burness
says. “In this region, our endowment
looks huge, but when you compare it
with the institutions we compete
with, it’s tiny.”
Duke already is one of the most
effective universities in the U.S. at
raising corporate and foundation
dollars, ranking among the top five.
And the university recently complet
ed a $550 million capital campaign.
Yet Duke faces several chal
lenges in order to maintain its spot
among the nation’s top universities.
It recently identified $900 nultion in
long-term needs. And, in the past
year, it lost two of its best fundrais-
Grs
A PRESIDENTS ROLE
Fundraising has become an
essential responsibility for universi
ty presidents — a fact not lost on
Duke’s trustees when they selected
a new president.
Keohane, who was inaugurated
a year ago, is a fundraiser’s dream,
As president of Wellesley College
near Boston, she led a widely-
regarded capital campaign drive
that surpassed a $150 million goal
by $18 million. It was by far the
school’s most successful fund drive.
When Keohane talks about
Duke’s future, she talks about rais
ing more money.
“Advancement challenges are
the biggest challenges that face any
Institution,” Keohane says. “This is
a time of great financial restraint.
We need support in order to
advance in a time when a number of
corporations are cutting back on
employees and institutions are look
ing at cutting back.”
One of Keohane’s major tasks as
president will be preparing Duke’s
development operations for a sub
stantial capital campaign drive.
For that, Keohane has the bene
fit of an outside consultant’s recent
assessment of Duke’s development
structure. The consultant, Carol
O’Brien of Durham, studied the cen
tral development office and the med
ical center development office.
Last spring, the report landed on
Keohane’s desk.
Not all of it was flattering.
O’Brien, a former director of devel
opment at Cornell University, high
lighted several areas in which
Duke’s development operations
could stand improvement. Primarily,
she pointed to streamlining the
development operations’ structure
and modernizing its computer and
communications systems.
Often, consultants’ reports -
especially when critical - are not
warmly embraced. However,
Keohane and Duke University lead
ers are using O’Brien’s report as a
veritable blueprint for change.
“All of us are looking at some
key structure choices,” Keohane
says. “We’re assessing major needs,
goals, getting the team in place.”
O’Brien, who also has done con
sulting work for Harvard and
Columbia University, commended
Keohane and others for their
courage to change.
“Duke is really looking at how to
maximize its central office and how
to work with the program offices,”
she says. “It’s asking, ‘How do you
make this work?’ Every university
has to deal with this. D^e is in the
early stage of doing that, and they’re
looking very much at it everyday.”
KEY POSITIONS
Directly related to Keohane’s
challenge to revamp Duke’s develop
ment operations is the task of fiiling
several top development positions.
Last year, Duke was hit by two
key resignations. Joel Fleishman,
who was first senior vice president
and chairman of the capital cam
paign, left to become president of
Atlantic Philanthropic ^rvice Co. in
New York. And Michael Rierson,
who headed corporate and founda
tion giving, resigned to become
associate dean for external affairs
at the Kenan-Flagler Business
School at UNC-Chapel Hill.
Then, more recently, Jeff Clark
resigned as executive director of
development at the Medical Center
to help found a venture capital firm.
On top of that, last spring, two
key development officers were reas
signed to special development pro
jects: Linda Gerber, formerly associ
ate vice president for development
in charge of running Duke’s develop
ment office, was put in charge of
special projects for future fundrais
ing. And R.C. “Bucky” Waters, for
merly vice chancellor for develop
ment at Duke University Medical
Center, was handed the new posi
tion of vice chancellor for special
projects.
Their new assignments affect
Duke’s development structure in
two ways.
First, Gerber and Waters can
focus their skills. Gerber will con
centrate on training development
staff and volunteers while Waters,
who was Duke University’s basket
ball coach before becoming a
fundraiser, will concentrate on culti
vating gifts from medical center
alunmi. O’ Brian’s report indicated
that both these areas need more
attention.
Second, their shifts leave two
key vacancies which Duke now
hopes to fill with the best develop
ment officers the nation has to offer.
Keohane says the search tor the
central office’s development director
has been narrowed down to eight
finalists.
“We hope by the winter the posi
tion will be filled,” she says. “Once
the team is in place, we’ll look at
what to do next.”
Domestic
Continued from page 12
have been very receptive,” says
Boyd. “The biggest difficulty is
people power.”
Another major supporter of the
Century Challenge was Wilmington
radio station WGNI. One week in
August, WGNI broadcast from the
roof of a local Harris Teeter for
100 hours to raise awareness
about domestic violence and take
pledges for the shelter.
“It’s because of them [WGNI]
that this town knows what’s going
on,” says Boyd.
More than 20 businesses spon
sored one hour of broadcast for
$100 per hour. And, during the
week-long effort, many businesses
donated money and challenged
others to meet or beat their
pledges.
Also, a local television station,
WECT Channel 6, joined in and
broadcast the weather report from
the grocery store. Prizes were
offered to those who called in with
the highest pledges of the day. At
week’s end, $18,500 was raised tor
the shelter.
“It was a wonderful week,” says
Boyd. “The amount of public sup
port was really nice.”
$900 MILLION IN NEEDS
What is next for Duke is clear: a
major capital campaign. The orga
nizational and personnel changes
are simply a prelude to that.
“Before the year 2000,” O’Brien
says, “Duke wiU be in some sort of
campaign drive. Be it university
wide or programmatic, it’s in
Duke’s near future.”
Any campaign drive will come
on the heels of the $550 million
campaign that Duke completed in
1992. But huge needs remain —
$900 million as the university cal
culated. Meeting them requires
raising more money.
The university’s endowment
grew from $220 milUon to $700 mil
lion between 1982 and 1993 under
the collaborative effort of
Fleishman and John Piva, senior
vice president for Duke’s alumni
affairs and development. But Duke
needs an even larger endovment
to build up its programs; increase
faculty salaries and student ser
vices; and construct new facilities.
Once a new development team
is in place, their work will be cut
out for them: They need to increase
Duke’s alumni giving.
While Duke is skilled at raising
corporate and foundation dollars,
it has barely tapped into the deep
pockets of its 90,000 active alumni.
“Giving has risen dramatically
in recent years,” says Laney
Funderburk, Duke’s director for
alumni affairs. “But we’re low on
the individual giving side when we
compare ourselves to our counter
parts.”
Duke doesn’t rank among the
top 20 colleges and universities in
the nation in the category of dol
lars raised per alumnus, according
to the Council for Aid to Education.
During the last academic year,
alumni giving accounted for only 8
percent of $144 million that was
raised. But that likely will change:
Wellesley, Keohane’s former
employer, tops that list.
According to Funderburk, the
mean household income of Duke’s
alumni is $93,000, marking the
midpoint between the highest and
lowest household incomes. The
potential for increasing individual
giving is great.
“There’s a lot of potential that
hasn’t been tapped,” Keohane
says.
O’Brien says that individual giv
ing depends largely on the quality
of the undergraduate experience.
“Fortunately for Duke, that’s
very good,” she says. “Duke now
needs to make sure its graduates
retain their loyalty and give back
to the university.”
Corporate Contributions
Managers
Network with the managers of corporate giving pro
grams and foundations from 12 states at the
Southeastern Council of Foundations Annual
Meeting at the Charlotte OMNI Hotel,
Charlotte, NC, November 9 - 11.
Getting Down
to Business
This year’s theme of
“Getting Down to
Business’ includes discus
sions of legal and tax updates for
corporations, education reform,
health reform, the media, ethics and
chariotte, NC more!
November 9-11, 1994
Call the SECF office for program information:
404-524-0911
Southeastern Council of Foundations
Smart
Continued from page 12
does the.role played by the
young bankers who are involved.
In Raleigh, for example, Scott
Anderson, vice president and
city executive for Southern
National Bank, has taken on the
task of raising awareness about
Smart Start in the business com
munity.
“Everyone in the community
needs to be aware of what is
going on with children so they
can apply themselves and do
something about it,” he says.
“We want to help get civic groups
behind the [Smart Start] effort.”
In other communities, young
bankers have helped streamline
the process that local agencies
must follow to obtain Smart
Start funding, or they’re provid
ed contacts and information to
help community leaders assem
ble their applications for Smart
Start funding.
Stan Meihaus, vice president
and city executive in Statesville
for Branch Banking & 'Trust Co.
and president of the Young
Bankers division, says the divi
sion will support the program by
functioning as an information
resource to help communities
manage Smart Start programs
and successfully apply for Smart
Start support.
In addition to its work with
Smart Start, the division also is
looking into other ways to sup
port early childhood develop
ment. Division members have
discussed helping the federal
Small Business Administration
put its new lending programs for
women and minorities into
effect. These lending programs
will benefit the many day care
centers owned by women
throughout the state.
In the future, the division will
continue to create new districts
and recruit district chairs as
more communities are selected
to receive Smart Start support.
“The Young Bankers Division
will be involved with Smart Start
as long as it is needed,” Meihaus
says. “We are committed do
whatever is necessary to help the
program be successful.”
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