Hartford Business Journal

HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | OCTOBER 28, 2024 15 Amy Yancey, seen above with Jonathan the Husky, took over as the UConn Foundation's CEO and president in May. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO Raising The Stakes UConn Foundation has new leader spearheading ambitious $1.5B fundraising campaign, targeting $1B endowment foundation officials said. In one of her first major changes at UConn, Yancey said she reorganized her 165-member staff, increasing the number of fundraisers from 54 to 60. An average fundraiser brings in about $2.5 million in commitments per year, "so it's just easy math," she said of designating more employees to that role. "If we grow by 10 fund- raisers, we'd be able to grow by $25 million a year in commitments." Fundraising efforts at the foun- dation are taking on greater impor- tance as UConn continues to deal with budget constraints that require the university to trim expenses, Yancey said. The foundation operates on a budget of $13.5 million from the university, and none of the money raised goes toward operating expenses, she said. The new fundraising campaign, which runs through 2030, has already been underway for several years in its quiet phase. Early results will be announced in April, when the UConn Foundation goes public with the effort. Yancey said she's implementing an all-hands-on-deck strategy to meet its goals. That will include approaching all engaged philanthro- pists, alumni, parents, foundations and corporate partners with giving capacities that range from $1 to multimillion-dollar gifts. The majority of major gifts — over $50,000 — typically come from individual donors after engaging in one-to-one conversations with foun- dation fundraisers who share how their giving can impact students, patient care and research advances. "Major giving requires trust and the alignment of objectives," Yancey said. "For annual gifts and participation, we have a multi- channel approach. In keeping with the university's strategic initiatives around sustainability and carbon neutrality, we will also rely heavily By Hanna Snyder Gambini hgambini@hartfordbusiness.com T he UConn Foundation this spring will kick off the public phase of its most ambitious fundraising campaign to date. The goal: Raise $1.5 billion over a 10-year period to support a new strategic plan that aims to signifi- cantly raise the profile of the state's flagship university. The campaign, called "Because of UConn," will help fund research and innovation and sustainability initiatives — including the university's goal to be carbon-neutral, and then eventually carbon-zero — as well as the formation of an institute for healthy aging, among other things, school officials said. Leading the effort is Amy Yancey, UConn Foundation's relatively new CEO and president, who started in her role in May. Yancey, 57, brings decades of experience heading major fund- raisers. At UConn, she's also been tasked with growing the school's endowment to the $1-billion mark within five years. She has a ways to go to reach that benchmark. UConn's endowment was valued at $634 million at the end of fiscal year 2024, which ended June 30, ranking it 65th in value out of 236 public universities tracked in the 2024 NACUBO-Commonfund Study of Endowments. "(It) is actually a very ambitious goal for us," Yancey said of the school's fundraising efforts. "In fact, we've never had a formal campaign of over half-a-billion dollars." Trust and alignment Yancey is no stranger to major fundraising efforts. As associate vice president for development at the University of Virginia, she was responsible for raising approx- imately $1 billion in a larger $5 billion campaign, while overseeing fundraising, alumni relations and board development. Most recently, she served as vice president for development at Boston College, overseeing fundraising for financial aid, the student and athletic experience, and academic programs. She also led fundraising teams at Pennsylvania State University and the University of Tennessee. At the UConn Foundation, she oversees the organization's three main functions — managing alumni relations and engagement; fund- raising for the university, including both endowed and unendowed gifts; and managing and growing the endowment. The foundation has already been boosting its performance in recent years, raising $157.9 million in new gifts and commitments in fiscal 2023. That represented the fourth straight year of record-breaking fund- raising results, the organization said. Those gifts supported student scholarships ($55.5 million), academic programs ($47.7 million), and athletics ($27.9 million). Roughly one-third of funds raised in any given year are endowed gifts, while the rest support current-year scholarships, internships, research grants or capital improvements, 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 UCONN'S ENDOWMENT OVER THE YEARS ENDOWMENT VALUE *Each fiscal year is as of June 30. | Source: UConn Foundation $300M $400M $500M $600M $700M Continued on next page

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