University of Minnesota, Morris

Campus Resources and Planning Committee

 

October 4, 2007

 

Members Present:            Pete Wyckoff, Jenny Wermerskirchen, Brook Miller, Jennifer Rothchild,

                                                   Sarah Mattson, Dave Swenson, Michelle Page, LeAnn Dean, Matt Abbott,

                                                   Maddy Maxeiner, Sharon VanEps, Ken Hodgson

 

Guests:                                   Jacquie Johnson

 

 

Minutes from September 27, 2007 meeting approved as presented. Motion made by Dave Swenson, second by Michelle Page.

 

Upcoming Meetings

 

Pete distributed a Master Planning work plan and schedule. He also mentioned some of the agenda topics for the next month: at the October 9 meeting Jacquie will share her PowerPoint presentation on the Strategic Plan that will be presented to the Regents next week; on October 18, Gary Strei will give an update on the budget; on October 25, Maddy will be back with follow-up questions about her presentation today (Pete needs to attend the Curriculum Committee meeting at the same time and is seeking a volunteer to serve as chair on that date); on October 30, Tom McRoberts will be here to talk about international students and resources.

Initial report on External Relations

Maddy reported that she periodically makes reports to this committee and this year will be especially important as we begin planning for the next campaign. We will align our fundraising priorities linked to our Strategic Plan. March 1 is the deadline date for a list of priorities. She views CPRC as the key committee to partner and work with as we prepare for the campaign. She distributed two handouts: one showing UMM’s growth in endowments and one showing UMM gift production. She also mentioned two new important and key positions in her area: our new majors gifts officer, Susan Schmidgall, will identify and qualify new major gift prospects over $25,000; and our program associate position in Alumni Relations and Annual Giving will work on yearly support, generally falling under the $25,000 level. She also mentioned that scholarships have always been a high priority and that will continue. Some of the fundraising initiatives for this year focusing on visibility, resources and capital improvements include: 1) market research; 2) working on campaign; 3) renovation of the Community Services Building; and 4) in 2010, UMM will celebrate its 50^th anniversary which will coincide with the 100^th anniversary of West Central School of Ag.

 

Joe inquired about the percentage of alumni giving and wondered if there is a formal process for naming opportunities. Maddy responded that annual giving is well over 50%, probably closer to 60-70%. There is a University-wide policy on naming rooms/buildings. Pete asked if UMM still does its own direct soliciting or if that had moved to the Foundation office. Maddy said all the solicitation is now done by the Foundation office; however, we do thank you follow-up phone calls. Jacquie added that one of the interesting challenges is that within the University system, there is competition for some of the potential donors. Brook asked if there are plans to rewrite our current solicitation pieces after the branding process. Maddy responded that we will as we develop our visual identity.

 

Chancellor’s Advisory Group

 

Jacquie reported that the first meeting of the Chancellor’s Advisory Group will be Friday, October 26. She reminded CRPC members that this is an advisory board, not a governing board. The focus of this meeting will be to discuss the meaning and role of liberal arts education in the 21^st century. There are about 20 members of the group and we are currently gathering biographical information about all of them and will share that information with this group soon.