We needed someone new in there. Hope he is the right guy.
Who used to have that position? I still feel like the AD really hasn’t changed much from 5 years ago when Judy was here, still see the same names… though I’m not involved as much as you guys.
Development moved out of the AD and is in development with the rest of the school fund raising.
So our EDD for Athletics doesn’t report to the AD but to the University Development Office?
Not ideal.
No actually it is a great idea. The folks in fund raising - that is their world. It works much better having athletics fund raisers sit with other fund raisers than it does them sitting in their silo in athletics. Until fairly recently athletics even used an entirely different database for fundraising than the rest of the school - which meant an old out dated system. Now they are all on the same page we have had major donations come into athletics via other non-athletic sources because of this design and its assisted with funds being raised for the academic side as well. I am sure Brandon will have a dotted line relationship with Mike while working closely with Beth and her team.
We have done much better with this design than we did with previous design.
Okay, I’ll take your word for it. Just sounded like the AD would not have direct input with them being outside the AD.
AD absolutely has input and leadership of the strategic direction of the AD fundraising. This change was made back before covid, but I think there was a delay in getting it set up. They actually moved their offices out of Halton and in with the rest of development, so they all sit together. Beth and her team are more prepared to manage the tactical side of the role. People forget that fund raising is a profession no different than any other profession and there is a science to it and a way to be successful, be it every day giving or major capital campaign giving. Anyone that has had to go raise money knows it isn’t easy. This move surrounds AD fund raisers with other people doing that work and are good at it rather than athletic staff.
Who does Kelley W report to now?
Pretty sure she still reports up through AD staff. She handles a lot of the game day logistics.
This is spot on and understands the fact that donors do not have singular interests. Since this change, my wife and have felt more engaged than in the past. We have a scholarship in Arts & Sciences and are long time donors to Athletics so when we talk to our rep, we talk holistically about our giving objectives rather than before when I had multiple people trying to hit me up from various angles. The singular approach is intended to be donor centric and will drive more dollars over time.