Gaining MomentUM

Capital campaign surpasses $50 million goal for UMMC

In a four-year capital campaign that ended last December, $61.4 million was raised for the University of Mississippi Medical Center. And for at least some of that time, the Medical Center had no development office to lead the charge.

“When you start a campaign before having a development office, you’re taking a bold step,” said Matt Isch, executive director of development. “In retrospect, it worked to our advantage. We had pretty clear goals for what our priorities ought to be for the future.”

The fund-raising was a component of the MomentUM Campaign, a comprehensive capital campaign for the University of Mississippi that began on Jan. 1, 2005. The effort raised a total of $240 million for the University, exceeding the original goal of $200 million. The total for the Medical Center also surpassed its target of $50 million.

Isch emphasized the term “comprehensive campaign,” explaining that the funds raised were not just for brick-and-mortar projects.

Among its achievements, the campaign raised more than $10 million for endowed positions, including five new endowed chairs; completed construction of the new University Hospital and the Arthur C. Guyton Research Center; and raised more than $15 million in scholarship support for students at the Medical Center’s five schools.

In fall 2005, Dr. Tom Pitt, a consultant for the Medical Center, was brought on board as the first director of development. “Pitt served for about a year and got the office off the ground,” Isch said.

When Pitt left the Medical Center, Trey Porter served as interimdirector until Isch arrived in 2007 to replace him.

Originally from Batesville and a graduate of Ole Miss, Isch spent much of his career in Louisiana, including 12 years at Tulane Medical School, followed by five years at the University of Cincinnati, before getting the opportunity to return to his home state.

Isch says working in development is all about building relationships and trust with donors and potential donors.

“I love talking to people about their hopes and dreams and goals for the Medical Center. It’s a pretty great way to get out and meet a lot of interesting people.”

Development officer Yolanda Williams was a project manager working with then-vice chancellor Dr. Wallace Conerly before helping to start the Office of Development four years ago. She agreed that meeting a variety of people and forming friendships makes the work special for her.

“I love getting to know the donors and hearing their life stories,” she said. “I guess I found my niche; I really love it here.”

In addition to being a young department on campus, the Office of Development also makes do with a small staff by comparison. Currently, the team consists of 10 staffers plus one part-timer.

Development officer Sheila Henderson said during a recent conference she encountered representatives from a university development department that was 80-employees strong. That’s expertise she’s happy to tap into and learn from.

“I’d like to see us progress to the point where we are frontrunners in terms of development,” she said.

After serving as the executive officer of a nonprofit shelter for women, Henderson joined the Medical Center just as the Office of Development was taking shape. With a background in social work, she said she takes that service approach to fund-raising.

“The way I look at it, whatever we do here, someone’s going to benefit from it at the end of the day,” she said.

The most recent addition to the team, Joshua Cogswell, joined the Medical Center last August just as the economic crisis was flaring up. Switching careers from journalism to development was a challenge for him – but in a good way, he said. His experience as a newspaper reporter helped prepare him for his new role of developing the MIND Center – a center for researching neurodegenerative dementia.

“As a reporter, I learned how to tell a good story,” he said. “That’s a skill that’s been helpful for me to fine-tune our message.”

He admits that trying to raise money during the current economic climate requires a lot of patience.

“But I see this as an opportunity to raise awareness with the right peopleso that when the economy recovers, we’ll be in a better position,” he said.

-  Your chance to help out  -

The Office of Development is launching an employee fund-raising campaign later this month. All Medical Center employees will be asked to consider supporting one of 57 UMMC programs, either by a one-time gift or through a payroll-deduction plan. Details will be e-mailed campus-wide in mid-May. For more information, call the Office of Development at 4-2300 or visit the development Web site (dev-info@dev.umc.edu).

-Matthew Westerfield

2009-05-11 00:00:00 18913