WESTFIELD – The Advancement Committee of Westfield State University’s Board of Trustees held it’s inaugural meeting Wednesday afternoon.
With goals of providing oversight of university advancement and facilitating board and boardmember participation in advancement, resource development and fundraising activities, the committee distributed a memorandum of understanding and discussed ways to further engage their vast network of alumni throughout Massachusetts, New England and beyond.
“We, as a brand new committee, are in a unique position to help the university build upon the framework that has been established,” said Committee Chairman Robert Johnson, one of the newest members of the university’s Board of Trustees.
The advancement committee consists of five trustees – Johnson, James Hagan, Madeline Landrau, Robert Martin and Kevin Queenin.
Vice President of Advancement and University Relations Kenneth Lemanski, Executive Director of University Advancement and Director of the Westfield State Foundation Michael Knapik and Director of Alumni Relations Kathi Bradford spoke to the committee about advancement and university relations, laying out initiatives, goals and future plans for AUR.
“A lot of people on campus don’t understand that advancement includes not just the development and fundraising piece, but the community, alumni and government relations,” said Lemanski. “Every one of those areas contributes to our success or failure in fundraising.”
Knapik added to that, stating that fundraising is “not just five people raising money” for WSU.
“It’s the partnerships that are accrued from every level – the trustees, the foundation board, the faculty and staff, our vendors and so many other people,” he said. “That’s how we’ll generate going forward.”
Knapik spoke of the need to continue to evolve in the ways the school cultivates relationships with alumni in the 21st century.
“The last (phone-a-thon), we had 1.2 percent of alumni giving here. The national average for colleges and universities is closer to 10 or 12 percent,” he said. “You don’t move those percentages overnight, but you do it with long, hard steady work with engaging all the legs of the stool and the campus.”
Bradford updated the committee on an ongoing phone-a-thon which will run until the end of December, that has already completed 37 percent of their calls in the past three days to 28,000 prospective donors.
So far, the phone-a-thon has raised about $4,000 in pledges and $800 through credit cards.
“Our overall trend is positive with a sprinkling of non-support because of the actions of the past president. Many people are asking us what types of things they can donate to,” she said.
Bradford stated that the average pledge per person has been $62 and said that when the last process ended two years ago, the average pledge was $51. She added that there will be another phone-a-thon running in for eight weeks in the spring.
“The first group we’re targeting are ‘non-donors’,” said Bradford of alums who have never donated before. “It doesn’t mean everyone we call is a non-donor, but that’s the predominant group.”
Knapik also spoke of the University’s 175th anniversary gala that was held on March 29, which ended up becoming the single largest fundraiser in the school’s history, which allowed the school to provide $124,000 in internship assistance matched by the state. He also added that the school has plans to hold an alumni event in Boston on December 12.
“60 percent of our students and alumni come from Worcester east,” he said. “We’re bringing students down to talk about their experience – some student-athletes, some student-musicians – because we know some of the alums want to be exposed to the next generation of alumni.”
