Hartford Business Journal

HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | July 4, 2022 23 students. Its annual tuition and fees are about $40,295. Brooks, the Shipman & Goodwin lawyer, said robust fundraising campaigns can improve a college's fortunes, but efforts that come up short can create significant financial headwinds. Brooks said not meeting fundraising goals can mean colleges "will have to find ways to cut costs," which can include faculty and employee compensation reductions and layoffs, reducing educational programs and extracurriculars, or delaying campus maintenance and improvements. "All of those measures can exacerbate pressures on declining enrollments if a college or university becomes less attractive to students due to cutbacks," she said. Precious funding sources Jake Lemon, president and CEO of the UConn Foundation, said the state's flagship university is preparing to launch a major fundraising initiative, although he wasn't ready to share details. Regardless, the foundation raises money on an annual basis. In fact, Lemon said, UConn has set fundraising milestones for three consecutive years and raised $93.3 million in 2021 with the hopes of surpassing the $100-million mark this year. Lemon said UConn — with about 18,700 undergraduate students — has 50 full-time, front-line giving officers tasked with keeping the money rolling into the university. "Funding sources are precious," Lemon said. "Philanthropy can be the margin of excellence at a university, and here at UConn we have done a good job in this area." Lemon said UConn has roughly 21,000 donors, including several businesses and corporations like The Hartford, Eversource, Pratt & Whitney and Travelers. Those businesses, Lemon said, give for several reasons including to enhance the future talent pipeline and partner with the school on research initiatives. While corporate giving is important, UConn's bread and butter comes from individuals and alumni, Lemon said. Over the past three years, the university has had more than 4,000 personal meetings — both virtually and in person — with donors, he said. "We consistently engage donors throughout the year in ways that would be meaningful to them," Lemon said. "That could mean inviting them to UConn events, having them meet students, and it could be us taking the alum to dinner or our sporting events." Smaller-scale efforts U.S. COLLEGE ANNUAL FUNDRAISING HITS $52.9B IN FY 2021 2020 2021 Total voluntary support $49.5B $52.9B FUNDING SOURCE Alumni $11.1B $12.3B Non-alumni individuals $8.6B $8.8B Corporations $6.6B $7B Foundations $16.4B $17.5B Other organizations $6.7B $7.4B FUNDING PURPOSE Current operations $30.5B $32.3B Capital purposes $19B $20.6B Source: Council for Advancement and Support of Education The University of St. Joseph, a much smaller private school with less than 900 enrolled undergraduate students, concluded its last comprehensive fundraising campaign in 2020. The six-year campaign raised $43.7 million, $5 million above its goal. The university has 6,300 unique donors and does not need to raise hundreds of millions to maintain its core academic programs, according to Maggie Pinney, vice president for institutional advancement. In an effort to raise money and the university's profile, USJ launched the Calhoun Legacy Fund in April. Calhoun spent most of his college basketball coaching career at UConn, and then helped launch USJ's Division III men's basketball program. He has since retired, but remains an advisor to the university. The legacy fund has raised about $1 million as of June. It will help fund things like tutoring and scholarships for students who might otherwise not be able to afford higher education, Pinney said. Annual tuition and fees at USJ are about $43,000, the school said. "We are tuition dependent," Pinney said. "Of course, we care a lot about raising money but we are also very attentive and careful on how we spend that money. We are always trying to make sure the investments are going into the student experience." Jake Lemon Maggie Pinney Your Local Business. Our Commercial Lending Solutions. ThomastonSB.com | 855.344.1874 Whether you're in the market to purchase or construct real estate for your business, or you're ready to refinance your current commercial mortgage at a lower rate, our team of local professionals is here to help. James Murdick Senior Vice President, Chief Loan Officer JMurdick@ThomastonSB.com | 860.283.3456 Trish Tomlinson Vice President, Senior Commercial Loan Officer PTomlinson@ThomastonSB.com | 860.283.3499 Member FDIC | Equal Housing Lender

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