It’s not that Orange County’s top three universities don’t emphasize that every dollar can help their fundraising efforts,it’s just that every $1 million can help faster.
Or so has been the case for California State University, Fullerton, Chapman University in Orange and the University of California, Irvine, in recent years as gifts from businesses and alumni have easily topped that million-dollar mark.
And the universities are just fine with that as they strive to form alliances with the county’s business leaders as a key factor in attracting donations.
Chapman University is OC’s smallest major college with less than 6,000 students. But the private school boasts the largest endowment fund in the county, which stands at some $260 million.
Charitable gifts and wise investments have helped the school grow its endowment fund over the years, according to Sheryl Bourgeois, executive vice president of university advancement.
“We’ve had great support from different entities including corporations,” Bourgeois said.
A noteworthy factor in Chapman’s healthy endowment is president James Doti’s strong ties to OC, which has helped the school garner support from executives and philanthropists, Bourgeois said.
Chapman trustees include Paul Folino, executive chairman of Costa Mesa-based Emulex Corp., Hadi Makarechian of Newport Beach’s Capital Pacific Holdings Inc. and alumni George Argyros of Costa Mesa’s Arnel & Affiliates and Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez.
“It’s critical to have alliances and relationships with the corporate community because they know what is needed and they can offer advice that helps us adjust our curriculum,” Bourgeois said.
Chapman’s relationships within the local business community has helped it attract gifts such as the $8 million Marion Knott donated to build the $41 million, 76,000-square-foot Marion Knott Studios and the $10 million gift from developer Robert Hobbs to build the Roger C. Hobbs Institute for Real Estate, Law and Environmental Studies.
“The key to attracting donations is stressing to donors that they’re making an incredible investment for the future of our community and higher education,” Bourgeois said.
Thomas Mitchell, vice chancellor of university advancement at UC Irvine, shares the sentiment.
“We’re focused on proving to the community that they have a world-class university in their own backyard,” Mitchell said.
For the past five years, Chapman has been focused on growing its number of endowed chairs and endowed professorships, which are distinctions given to individuals for contributions to a specific academic discipline, to enhance the school’s quality of education and reputation, Bourgeois said.
The university’s endowed chairs have grown from seven to 30 in the past 10 years and its endowed professorships have increased from six to 17 since 1997.
Nobel Prize winning economist Vernon Smith, its most recent recruit, is expected to help bring in $20 million in endowment funds in the next two years, Doti said in an earlier interview.
UC Irvine
UCI, like Chapman, is forging strong ties with OC’s business community as part of its fundraising efforts.
The public university, which counts about 25,000 undergraduate and graduate students, grew its endowment fund from $117 million to $234 million in the past five years, according to Mitchell.
The school plans to grow its endowment fund to $500 million by 2015.
“As a public institution, the larger your endowment, the more able you are to weather the storm with budget cuts,” Mitchell said.
UCI is determined to attract more gifts and gain higher returns on the money that it’s invested, Mitchell said.
“The strategy that has worked for us is working closely with our investment and finance committee, which is chaired by many business and finance leaders,” Mitchell said. “We’re going to continue doing that.”
Forming relationships in OC’s business community should help the university attract private donations, Mitchell said.
The school has had its share of private donations in the past.
Recent gifts include a $6.6 million gift to the Paul Merage School of Business from Don Beall, who led Rockwell International Corp. during its days in OC.
Longtime benefactor Donald Bren of The Irvine Company donated $20 million to help the university to form the Donald Bren School of Law. Bren has donated more than $60 million to the university.
Earlier this month, Mark Robinson, OC’s prominent trial lawyer, also donated $1 million to UCI’s law school.
Annual events such as the 2007 Medal Awards held earlier this month are helping the university attract donations, Mitchell said. This year’s event raised more than $1.8 million and honored longtime university contributors including businessmen such as Gavin Herbert, founder and chairman emeritus of Irvine-based Allergan Inc. and late architect William Pereira.
CSUF Catching Up
Although Cal State Fullerton is OC’s largest university by students, it’s a newcomer to the fundraising game.
The school, which counts some 36,000 students, has an endowment fund of about $19 million and is trying to grow that number.
“We haven’t been in the fundraising business that long, only since the early 1990s downturn when we were told to go out and raise money,” CSUF’s President Milton Gordon said in an earlier interview. “So we’re at a great disadvantage. We don’t have a culture of alumni who give money back.”
Finding money to grow is the school’s biggest challenge today. Earlier this year, university trustees approved a 10% increase in CSUF student fees.
“Funding is still an issue we face today,” Gordon said. “It’s good but it needs to be better.”
That’s led Gordon, Dean Anil Puri of the College of Business and Economics and others to reach out to alumni to help fund key projects.
The university kicked off a 50th anniversary celebration last month to attract donations from business and community leaders.
“The hardest part is getting that first gift. Many times, people don’t see a state or public institution as a worthy recipient. We’re trying to change that,” said Paul Carey, associate vice president and chief financial officer of Cal State Fullerton’s philanthropic foundation.
But the school has had its share of notable donations in the past few years.
Alumni benefactors include Steve Mihaylo and Dan Black.
Mihaylo, a 1969 graduate and founder of Arizona’s Inter-Tel Inc., pledged $4.5 million to the College of Business and Economics to build its new school in 2004. At the time, it was one of the largest cash pledges in the university’s history.
Black, president of Reno-based ProThera Inc., graduated in 1967. Since 1999, Black has been giving money to start the Dan Black Program in Physics and Business. Most recently, he gave $4.5 million to the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics. The money is going to refurbish laboratories, buy equipment and finance student scholarships.
The university is trying to network with OC’s businesses and is relying on word of mouth to attract donations, Carey said.
Building ties with alumni, hosting special events and planned giving events are strategies the university is putting into place in order to grow its endowment fund, he said.
“If we do all of the little things right now, all of the big things will come,” Carey said.
