When the University of Southern California announced its current capital campaign back in 2011, the fundraising world gasped. The private research institution’s goal of $6 billion was unprecedented and audacious. Furthermore, the Campaign for USC broke the rules of big drives: It went public after a short quiet phase, with less than 20 percent of its goal raised, about half as much as in most campaigns.
The risks, however, are paying off. It’s on track to raise $6 billion 18 months ahead of schedule, says Albert Checcio, USC’s senior vice president for university advancement. More than 322,000 donors have contributed, and only a third are alumni.
Last month the university announced that it was extending the campaign, originally slated to end next year, until the close of 2021.
The university won’t set a new goal for the campaign, which is supporting financial aid, faculty recruitment and compensation, research, and facilities, Mr. Checcio says. (He dismisses the eye-popping $9 billion figure that’s been bandied about in the news.) But in an interview with The Chronicle, he was happy to share some of the secrets of USC’s fundraising success. This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.
When did you conclude there would be more opportunity if you extended the campaign?
About a year and a half ago. President [Max] Nikias and I sat down, doing projections over the next several years. According to the data, a couple things were obvious: that the campaign still had momentum and that we were still attracting new donors all the time. And we still had needs we wanted to address. We decided to watch it over the next year to see if that held up.
Where were those new donors coming from?
The new gifts are coming from friends, parents, grateful patients. Some of the biggest gifts we’ve received in the past two or three years have come from nonalumni.
Are you spotting any trends among the donors?
They’re a little younger than the traditional major-gifts prospects. We’re receiving gifts from more women than ever before.
When nonalumni make gifts, it’s not because they’re committed to dear old USC. They’re committed to something USC is doing that is important to them and is going to have an impact well beyond USC — whether it’s addressing a societal issue or a disease. Our reputation is spreading as an institution that gets things done, that does what it says they’re going to do. Now that sounds simple, but you’d be surprised the number of people who have accepted gifts and not delivered on the promise that they’ve made to the donor.
Capital campaigns often rely heavily on a small subset of wealthy donors. Has that been the case for USC?
A lot of times in a campaign of this size not enough attention is paid to what we call the middle of the pyramid. But that’s where we put our resources.
We do two things, and I think they’re both a little bit different. First, USC has always had a history of big gifts at the top. But those gifts are driven by trustees and the president and relationships that have been built. Where we see our biggest opportunity is in the middle, in staff-driven gifts. Someplace like USC, with its 370,000-plus alumni, with a medical enterprise, with prime-time athletics, we have prospects galore in that area.
We’ve paid attention to everything and so we’ve had growth at every level of the pyramid. Now, yes, the big gifts get all the attention. Thirty gifts of $25 million or more; that’s stunning. Five gifts of $100 million or more. But we also have 280,000 gifts of $1,000 or less. Which to me, is just fantastic. We pulled our alumni participation rate up from 34 percent before the campaign to 42 percent last year.
All gifts matter. All gifts are important. A lot of the big gifts we’ve received from our alumni are from people who gave to the annual fund 20 years ago.
The other thing we do: USC really builds relationships as good as anyone I’ve ever seen. And we see so many repeat gifts, for different aspects of the university. Because when the gift is made, the work really is just beginning.
What are some of the things you do to make donors feel appreciated?
We’re a very open and welcoming place. I know it sounds cliché-ish, but once your son or daughter enrolls at USC, you’re part of the Trojan family. We take it very seriously.
So we have a lot of events. And the president hosts a lot of dinners and receptions. We invite parents to the president’s home for special parents’ nights. We do more than a lot of institutions in making the leader available. The deans at USC are very involved in external relations. We celebrate gifts, and we invite people to activities on campus. And they bring their friends.
It starts at the top. Our president and first lady, they probably entertain 3,500 to 4,000 people at their residence every year: students, faculty, alumni, donors. I mean, not many people open their home up like that.
What are some of the other strategies and tactics that have made the campaign successful?
We have greatly increased the advancement staff. Six and a half years ago, there were about 230 in university advancement and alumni affairs. We have about 470 now. This is a labor-intensive business.
We take the long-term approach to fundraising. We didn’t just want to launch a campaign, we wanted to build a fundraising staff. And because we’re properly staffed, we can keep the campaign going.
I’ve seen so many universities make the mistake of ramping up for a campaign, and when they come near the end of it, they sort of de-emphasize advancement. Advancement is not as much of a priority and therefore resources are not as readily available. This may cause high-producing staff to look elsewhere for career satisfaction. And then talented people leave. And you’ve invested five, six, seven years in this staff, and you lose them just when they’re most effective for your institution.
We weren’t going to let that happen here. We created the USC Fundraising Institute, internally, where we do training. If, say, someone’s in planned giving but is interested in learning about corporate and foundation relations, we train within our own teams. So people can have career paths within USC.
You’ve heard people say, “In order to move up, you have to move out.” Well, why is that? Why can’t we create upward mobility in an institution as large as ours?
If someone leaves because they want to run their own program, great. But I don’t want anyone to leave because they can get $20,000 more somewhere else.
Will you need more staff for the campaign’s last push?
One of the main priorities is our medical enterprise. If there’s going to be any growth, it could certainly be there.
There are more than 40 capital drives ongoing at colleges and universities with goals of $1 billion or more, according to the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education. With all these big campaigns, are you hearing any concern among fundraisers about donor fatigue?
I haven’t heard anything. Have you noticed how many big gifts are being announced these days? It’s amazing. A rising tide lifts all boats. People see a big gift made to Chapman University, and they think, I could make a gift like that to University of California at San Diego.
I can only speak for myself and what I see on the West Coast. I don’t think there’s fatigue at all.
