University Business - January 2007 - (Page 44)

Warning : session_start : The session id contains invalid characters, valid characters are only a-z, A-Z and 0-9 in /mnt/data/www.nxtbook.com/fx/config_1.3/global.php on line 9 Warning : session_start : Cannot send session cache limiter - headers already sent output started at /mnt/data/www.nxtbook.com/fx/config_1.3/global.php:9 in /mnt/data/www.nxtbook.com/fx/config_1.3/global.php on line 9 Warning : Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by output started at /mnt/data/www.nxtbook.com/fx/config_1.3/global.php:9 in /mnt/data/www.nxtbook.com/fx/config_1.3/global.php on line 10 Donations at work: The future business school complex at Florida International University is being constructed in part with corporate gifts. Excuse Me: Can You Spare a Million? she says. Currently, her department has raised $10 million of the school’s $15 million goal to construct a new building on campus. Her approach, while it can work, makes consultants cringe. “Way, way too many organizations say, ‘Here’s what we want to accomplish,’ and they throw a proposal at the corporation. In our experience, that’s not very effective,” says Grossnickle. Instead, the groundswell approach today is to center the conversation on what’s in it for the corporation. Lawyers call it quid pro quo. After 30 years in this field, George Engdahl, vice president for university advancement at the University of Dallas, labels the switch from a philanthropic to market-driven mindset “a dramatic change.” Still, from his vantage point in Irving, Texas, university officials have embraced the new conversation rules far faster than, for example, the arts community did when sponsorships first washed over its niche in the 1980s. So Engdahl had no pushback bringing Amgen on board to sponsor an annual speaker series read: marketing visibility when he worked at California Lutheran University. Roger Jenkins, dean of the Richard T. Farmer School of Business at Miami University Ohio , walks into brass-and-glass conference rooms armed with opportunities for endowed professorships and fellowships. “The supply-and-demand curve has gone the opposite direction now for several years, so corporations understand that in order for them to hire good graduates, our business school must have strong faculty,” he says. It’s his most successful pitch, but not his only weapon. Jenkins also encourages corporate partners and potential donors to enroll senior executives who would be willing to speak in classroom situations in the school’s database. When risk management became the buzzword after 9/11, Miami University seized the chance to establish a center devoted to that specialty. Jenkins naturally called on corporations to help—extending offers to become a sustaining or charter member to core players, such as those in the insurance and actuarial industries. The offers included access to research coming out of the center. Partners of the Center for Governance, Risk Management, and Reporting, which launched in April 2006, also attend an annual conference boasting an impressive marquee of executives speaking on hot topics. “But in every option, the driving motivation has to be business,” Jenkins emphasizes. “There is no more ‘give because it’s good to give.’ ” And that’s why Robert Pallone has his hands full. As director of corporate and foundation relations at Bates College Maine , he knows the college lacks the kind of programs companies often want. This liberal arts college doesn’t even have a business school. Furthermore, it competes with the Ivy League for students, so folks consider it a rich man’s campus. Playing with those cards, Pallone has been known to turn to Bates vendors for donations, since that’s who he enjoys a business relationship with. Pallone has established a scholarship endowment for local students longing to attend Bates. “We can choose from anywhere in the world, so it becomes harder for us to admit students who might have a large financial aid bill,” he explains. Local companies grasped the marketing benefits to this emotional case and jumped onboard with the Alonzo Garcelon Society, as Bates refers to this donor group. In just over a year, Pallone secured half of the anticipated $1 million endowment. Amos Drory’s task is still more daunting. The executive vice president of American Associates has been charged with fundraising in the United States for Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, in Israel. Yet his spiel reels in who he needs to reach: international companies like Motorola, IBM, Microsoft, and Exxon that do business in that country and would like to team up to support specific research projects in their fields. He even persuaded a German-Dutch telecommunications company to open a development center at his university. “A good football team or basketball team raises visibility and gives you more access, but, bottom line, it’s your academic pro- 44 | January 2007 universitybusiness.com Advncmt.indd 44 12/15/06 11:29:34 AM Warning : Unknown : The session id contains invalid characters, valid characters are only a-z, A-Z and 0-9 in Unknown on line 0 Warning : Unknown : Failed to write session data files . Please verify that the current setting of session.save_path is correct /var/lib/php/session in Unknown on line 0 http://universitybusiness.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of University Business - January 2007

Contents
College Index
Company Index
Advisory Board
Editor's Note
Sense of Place
Stats Watch
People Watch
Viewpoint
Human Resources
Money Matters
Marketing
Financial Aid
Community Colleges
Missed Connections
Escuse Me: Can you Spare a Million?
The Associate
Media Relations Boot Camp
Admissions Administrators Speak Out
Business Technology
What's New
Calendar of Events
Direct Connect
End Note

University Business - January 2007