One of the difficulties with large donations from a single source, say $50m, is that the money doesn't always come all at once. Some might come early with the rest coming later, possibly even after the donor dies (estate donations, etc.) Wondering how that plays in here? How much of that 75-100m needs to be available right away? Seems like a great story? Have you reached out to media? How much have you raised? Seems like if you got a large donation, 1m+, with a well formed press release, outlets might jump on it, which would help get the word out. By the way, Malcolm Gladwell has a really good episode on university development/philanthropy from perhaps the first seasons of his podcast Revisionist History - it addresses inequities in donations and is super interesting. Might be worth checking it out.
Yeah, something that got cut from the first blog post was a discussion of estate pledges. I think these pledges would be great for Hampshire's long-term future but they don't work well for the immediate situation. Much of the money needs to be available right away and all of it is expected to be spent at the end of the first 4 years of rebuilding enrollment.
I agree that a large cornerstone donation or pledge would be a useful kick-off to build both media attention and to encourage donations from other individuals and foundations. If there's a donor at this level who's reading, please reach out, we can write the press release together!
One of the difficulties with large donations from a single source, say $50m, is that the money doesn't always come all at once. Some might come early with the rest coming later, possibly even after the donor dies (estate donations, etc.) Wondering how that plays in here? How much of that 75-100m needs to be available right away? Seems like a great story? Have you reached out to media? How much have you raised? Seems like if you got a large donation, 1m+, with a well formed press release, outlets might jump on it, which would help get the word out. By the way, Malcolm Gladwell has a really good episode on university development/philanthropy from perhaps the first seasons of his podcast Revisionist History - it addresses inequities in donations and is super interesting. Might be worth checking it out.
Yeah, something that got cut from the first blog post was a discussion of estate pledges. I think these pledges would be great for Hampshire's long-term future but they don't work well for the immediate situation. Much of the money needs to be available right away and all of it is expected to be spent at the end of the first 4 years of rebuilding enrollment.
I agree that a large cornerstone donation or pledge would be a useful kick-off to build both media attention and to encourage donations from other individuals and foundations. If there's a donor at this level who's reading, please reach out, we can write the press release together!