September 27, 2005

By Dan Heuchert

U.Va.’s latest $3 billion capital campaign won’t officially kick off for another year, but you wouldn’t know it by attending the Sept. 23 meeting of the Board of Visitors’ External Affairs Committee.

Committee members heard numerous reports on the progress already made during the “quiet phase” and the planning for the rest of the campaign, currently slated to close in 2011.

The immediate aim is to raise $1 billion in time for the public kick-off on Sept. 30, 2006. Campaign chairman and BOV member Gordon F. Rainey Jr. reported that $699.4 million had been counted toward the campaign total as of Aug. 31.
That total represents 23.3 percent of the goal, with 21 percent of the campaign’s planned time span elapsed.

Some elements of the campaign are doing extremely well, Rainey reported. The Alumni Association and U.Va. Fund already have raised $12.2 million, or 94 percent of the $13 million goal. Athletics has raised more than 44 percent of its $300 million goal; the Health System, 35 percent of its $500 million target. The Curry School of Education has raised 32 percent of its $50 million aim.

Rainey expressed optimism that the campaign would reach its targets. “Our ultimate goal is to raise more than $3 billion,” he said. He added that the campaign leadership is working to secure several momentum-building major gifts in advance of the public launch.

Asked whether the charitable outpouring in the wake of Hurricane Katrina would have any effect, Robert D. Sweeney, U.Va.’s senior vice president for development and public affairs, said a temporary downturn might be expected.

“I don’t think there will be as much impact as on a social service agency that really depends on grassroots support,” he said. Comparing Katrina’s effect to that of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, he noted, “We actually found that after a temporary dip, after a couple of months things started to come back.”

The committee heard several reports on various components of the campaign.
The U.Va. Alumni Association earlier this year signed a memorandum of understanding, the basis for what is being called a “constituent engagement effort.”

The agreement explicitly divvied up various outreaches to the University’s alumni and friends, and representatives of the University’s Development Office, the Alumni Association and University-related foundations have been meeting regularly since, reported Mary Blair Zakaib, who is leading the constituent engagement effort.
In addition to clarifying existing outreach efforts, new ones are being created, including a “Virginia Alumni Academy” that will provide continuing education and travel opportunities to alumni, Zakaib said.

“It has really been better than anybody expected,” Sweeney said.

Another effort expected to aid the campaign gathered steam with the unveiling of a new consultant to help U.Va. define its “brand.” The University has selected one of the nation’s top advertising firms, McCann Erickson, as its brand consultant.

McCann Erickson has developed ad campaigns for General Motors, ExxonMobil, Unilever and Verizon Wireless. It also was the creative force behind MasterCard’s “priceless” campaign and Microsoft’s “Your Potential, Our Passion” message.

McCann’s U.Va. team will be headed by Eric Keshin, a 1980 graduate of the McIntire School of Commerce, where he has also taught as a visiting professor of advertising. The firm will provide some of its services free of charge, Sweeney said.

The effort is to identify the University’s chief attributes, then hone and focus them, said William Sublette, development communications director. “This is not about slick salesmanship. It is not about trying to position ourselves as something we are not.”

McCann Erickson began its meetings with University officials earlier Friday morning. The University expects to see some results by late January or early February.
The committee also voted to increase the minimum donation needed to establish an endowed professorship from $500,000 to $2 million, a level that is consistent with that charged by many of the University’s peer institutions.

Additionally, the minimum endowment for a deanship was set at $5 million; at that level, there is already one gift to endow the Arts & Sciences deanship. A gift of $1 million will allow a donor to name a “faculty fund for excellence” in a given field, and a $500,000 gift establishes a named “research fund.”

“Recruitment, especially in the sciences, is becoming unbelievably expensive,” said Gene D. Block, vice president and provost. Some labs cost more than $10 million to set up, Sweeney noted.

A few of the University’s schools, including Law and Darden, already plan to ask more than the $2 million minimum to establish an endowed chair. Others may allow a smaller figure to endow a chair, but on a case-by-case basis, Sweeney said.