Cal State Presidents Seek A in Fund-Raising

By ZANTO PEABODY

March 19, 2001 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

Jolene Koester, president of Cal State Northridge, takes rich men and women to dinner, meets with them on weekends and persuades them to mention her university in their wills.

Her efforts are part of a new game of high-stakes fund-raising that has consumed the 23 California State University presidents since they were told in 1998 that their performance would be evaluated in part by their ability to woo money from individuals, corporations and foundations.

Koester and presidents from 12 other campuses worked nights and weekends to set fund-raising records in the 1999-2000 academic year as Cal State trustees encouraged them to offset recession-era state budget cuts.

“I knew coming in that a big part of the job was going to be bringing in additional funds to maintain high quality educational programs,” said Koester, who took over last July from Blenda J. Wilson. “But it doesn’t really feel like burning the midnight oil, because I like these kinds of activities.”

Some campuses are just realizing how a weekend pasta dinner can become a student activities building. All the presidents made strides in the last academic year toward the state system’s goal of funding 10% of its budget through gifts, Cal State spokesman Ken Swisher said. But they fell short.

The idea of tying money to the presidents’ evaluations was introduced by former Chancellor Barry Munitz. He said he wanted to put fund-raising at the forefront of each president’s agenda.

“It has worked very well,” said Munitz, who left the Cal State system in 1998 to become president of the Getty Trust.

In all, a record $882 million, including grants and contracts, was raised systemwide. San Diego State led with $163 million in what is called external support, which includes research grants, contracts, personal and corporate gifts.

Of the Cal State total, $252 million came in cash and in-kind gifts, compared with $441 million raised in those categories by the nine-campus University of California.

A failure to meet fund-raising goals will not necessarily end a president’s career, but it could tarnish the administrator’s reputation within the system and cost him or her a raise, Swisher said.

Cal State San Marcos President Alexander Gonzalez became one of the first university chiefs whose evaluation took donations into account.

“His community relations, including media relations and fund-raising are improving measurably,” read a February performance review.

When the state cut the system’s budget by $208 million from 1991-94, not many campus officials were accustomed to playing the classroom-to-boardroom game. But recognizing the growing importance of private money to finance public education, the system has paid for 70 new fund-raising positions statewide in the past six years.

With less than a decade of experience in fund-raising for survival, the presidents dared not go it alone.

They beefed up their development staffs by recruiting professional fund-raisers from established charities, such as the Jewish Home for the Aging, California Science Center and United Way. In addition, some professors cross-trained to become fund-raisers.

The “development teams,” as fund-raisers are called, buttress their presidents’ evaluations with higher and higher donations. They use niche marketing and personal visits to big donors “to overcome a culture that frowned upon soliciting additional money from taxpayers,” said Ron Simons, associate vice president for development at Cal Poly Pomona.

The development staffs had to overcome inexperience and self-doubt.

“We had to convince ourselves first that we are first-rate,” said Dick Tyler, acting vice president for development at Northridge. “We’ve come a long way on that, and now we are starting to convince the givers.”

With its newfound confidence, the development team at Northridge raised $7.8 million in the last academic year--a 13.8% increase over the previous year. And with four months to go in the current fund-raising period, the team expects to match last year’s level.

Although older universities have generations of alumni they can count on for annual donations, the first graduates from Cal State Northridge are just reaching the age when many donors start considering their legacies, said Suzanne Hackett, director of major gifts. Cal State Northridge celebrated its 40th anniversary in 1999.

Bob Bersi, vice president of development at Cal State Long Beach, said fund-raising banquets, such as one held for the athletic program, can net $150,000 in a night. But they also can cost about $200,000 to stage. A more efficient use of resources was the university’s phone-athon, in which students called alumni last year to raise $1.1 million, he said.

Repeat gifts come on the golf course or at family picnics at the beach, Bersi said. Last summer, he secured a $1-million gift from a Seal Beach physician.

“It’s ching-cha-ching-ching when you do a good job with personal contacts,” Bersi said.

His staff has raised $173 million in private donations since 1993, outpacing the other Cal State campuses in the Los Angeles area. Cal State L.A. raised $59 million, Fullerton $49 million, Northridge $44 million and Dominguez Hills $22 million over the same period.

Channel Islands, scheduled to become Ventura County’s first Cal State campus in 2002, already has set up its fund-raising arm and launched two support campaigns. The university posted $726,857 in gifts for 1999-2000, but the total does not include a $5-million irrevocable trust pledged by Oxnard developer Martin V. “Bud” Smith to pad the endowment, a report from the chancellor’s office shows.

Campus officials have found that niche marketing attracts donors. Cal State L.A. worked to establish itself a few years ago as a cultural arts center for the inner city. Donors responded with $4 million in pledges last year for construction of the Luckman Fine Arts Complex Intimate Theater Project. Cash gifts contributed to the school’s total of $9.6 million in private funds that year.

Cal State Fullerton, a perennial baseball and softball power, was denied a chance by the NCAA to host the regional playoffs because its stadium was inadequate. Supporters rallied and raised $3.5 million in nine months to expand and improve the renamed Goodwin Field. The sum helped bring the campus’ total last year to $11 million in private funds.

Only Dominguez Hills raised less money in 1999-2000 than in the previous academic year. Alphonce Brown Jr., vice president of advancement, said the school serves one of the most diverse and poorest student bodies in the state system. It has not yet launched a major capital campaign.

Of the $2.8 million raised last year, $335,263 came from individuals--primarily alumni and parents of students--at 12%, the smallest percentage of that category in the system.

“We are learning you have to do things differently here in the South Bay,” said Brown, a former UCLA fund-raiser who joined the Dominguez Hills staff six months ago. “Finding the money is going to be more entrepreneurial. When you’re dealing with the community we have, it’s not going to come from a parents’ club. The students are parents and first-generation immigrants and working-class people going back to school.”

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The Rise of College Fund-Raising

The 23-campus California State University system attracted more money through private sources in the 1999-2000 fiscal year than ever before, bringing in $882 million from individuals, corporations and foundations.

Cal State 1999-2000 outside fund-raising, in millions

VOLUNTARY SUPPORT: $251.5

Other Organizations: $14.9

Corporations: $66.5

Foundations: $58.9

Other Individuals: $77.2

Parents: $4.6

Alumni: $29.3

SPECIAL REVENUE: $630.1

Endowment & other income: $37.6

Property transfers: $6.7

Grants: $272.8