Direct mail is usually your bottom-rung method for fund raising. But it's the least expensive way to reach the largest segment of your audience. |
More and more, we're partnering with the state to do things the state normally would have funded on a regular basis but now is requiring some private resources. It requires the state to put less money into projects and, in turn, makes it more likely to be supported. |
Those national percentages are pretty reflective of (giving to) UWS. Our most productive strategy is to reach out to individuals. One of my main responsibilities is traveling throughout the United States talking to alumni, cultivating relationships and asking people to contribute to the university. There's kind of a rule in fundraising that 90 percent of your support comes from 10 percent of your donors. The greatest return is really from those individual relationships and from those individuals who make those major gifts. |
With state funding declining significantly, it's becoming more and more important for us to look to our alumni and friends to provide support for things that we wouldn't normally be able to do. |