for
the Amherst campus of the University of Massachusetts
Nov.
10, 2000
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Committee to examine mission and chart future of foundation by Barbara Pitoniak, News Office staff  embers
of the University of Massachusetts Foundation at Amherst have decided
to form an ad hoc committee to examine the foundation's role and determine
its future direction in support of the campus. The decision to establish
the committee came at the foundation's fall meeting Nov. 3 on campus.Nominating committee chair Barry Weiner, who will also head the ad hoc committee, pointed out that the Amherst Foundation has been in existence for just over two years and the time has come to examine its mission and determine how best to assist the University and its administration in the years ahead. Among the issues to be considered, said Weiner, are the foundation's organizational structure, and its relationship to the system-wide UMass Foundation, as well as to the Board of Trustees. He said, "Our objectives remain threefold: to sustain and grow a first-rate fundraising program; to provide executive counsel to the chancellor and his administrative team; and to support broad-based advancement efforts." Accomplishing those aims, Weiner said, requires the foundation to be "an effective, dynamic group" with a clear direction for the future. Members of the ad hoc committee will be appointed by foundation chair Jack Flavin within the next few weeks, and the committee is expected to recommend a formal plan at the foundation's meeting next May. The foundation meeting opened with a presentation by Chancellor David K. Scott of highlights of his six-year retrospective of his "Strategic Action" plan. "The University has been moving forward," Scott said, "and is better and stronger than it would have been without such a planning effort." Focusing on the goals of "Strategic Action" related to advancing the University, Scott announced the total raised for Campaign UMass as of that morning, was $122.6 million. By Dec. 31, he said, "We will have exceeded our campaign goal of $125 million, and we will have done so a year early." Scott praised the schools and colleges for their "significant achievement" in establishing numerous faculty endowments to increase the University's ability to attract topnotch professors. He said the campus has strengthened its image with a new logo and a continuing presence in the national press, and has enlisted numerous advocates through the Ambassadors Program and by increasing its numbers of alumni volunteers. The chancellor also reported successful efforts to contain student costs; the campus's investment in information technology; outreach efforts across the state; more study-abroad opportunities for an increasing number of students, and improvements to the campus's infrastructure. Scott noted the work of the Commission on the Future will help to position the University to achieve its mission in the 21st century and he said the support and guidance of the foundation in the future is essential. Gordon Oakes, campaign treasurer, provided a summary of fundraising activities for the fiscal year that ended June 30, and Joseph Cofield, executive vice president and chief operating officer of the system-wide UMass Foundation reported the University's endowment currently stands at $128 million, with $55.5 million of that total for the Amherst campus. In his report, Vice Chancellor for University Advancement Royster Hedgepeth pointed to a number of "indicators of success," including the completion of Campaign UMass a year ahead of schedule; an increase of gift funds by 84 percent in five years; $35 million in new endowments and $9 million in financial aid; increased membership in the Alumni Association; a new spirit of philanthropy and volunteerism; an award-winning image, themes, logo and graphics; and Web-based communications. Hedgepeth dubbed the challenges for Advancement ahead as "UA 2X '06." He said that by the year 2006, Advancement must double fundraising productivity; develop a high level of congruity between fundraising goals and academic priorities; double grassroots support; mobilize regional volunteers; double alumni association membership, and double communications effectiveness. Volunteer leadership, said Hedgepeth, including that of the foundation as the principle fundraising vehicle for the campus, is key to the success of meeting those challenges. |
