Alumni Council Executive Committee Meeting Minutes, January 19, 2007

Introductions and Welcome—Hope Palmer Bramhall ’56
Attendees: Kari Christensen Anderson ’98, Hope Palmer Bramhall ’56, William Cantley ’08, Mike Cuzzi ’98, David Fernandez ’89, Robert Hoopes ’89, Patricia Whittemore Jenkins ’67, Peter Merrill ’57, Janice Wood Parsons ’65, Jessica D’Ercole Stanton ’92, Chris Sullivan ’97, Chris Vickers ’87, Margaret Felton Viens ’77, Frank (Alex) Wilson ’73, Hilary Smyth Wirtz ’00, Henrietta Yelle ’86

Alumni Trustee Guest: Todd Halloran ’84 

Unable to Attend: Eric Rolfson ’73, Jay Scott-Harris ’98, Andrew Worthington ’85 

Staff: Richard Ammons, Meg Bernier ’81, Debbie Dutton, Todd Gordon, Cathi Lee, Karin Weston

Hope opened the meeting at 1:03 p.m. and gave opening remarks; introductions of all present were made.  She reported there had been a Task Force meeting that morning. Further information will be provided later in the meeting.

Motion
Hope asked for approval of the minutes of the October 7, 2006, meeting, which were unanimously approved as written. 

Update from Vice President for College Relations Richard Ammons

• The campaign is going well, so far. Some of its success has to do with planning, some with luck. In the strategic planning process we did a good job in being thoughtful about where college wanted to go, which has resonance with our donors. We knew what our donor base looked like, and luckily the economy has done well; some bequests have matured sooner than imagined. Campaigns have a life; early on you have an ability to reach the insiders, then momentum slows down. How do we now re-energize this campaign in the next fiscal year? We will focus on endowment, on remaining pieces of the campaign, and we will celebrate what we’ve done so far. What should we worry about? The economy, some major pieces still not in place yet, overestimating what some people can do, timing. We’re not out of the woods yet.
• Last year was Colby’s biggest fund-raising year ever with more than $34 million, including $4.2 million from the annual fund. Colby’s endowment is now more than a half billion. 
• The reaccreditation process happens once every ten years. The visiting committee will be on campus in the fall of 2007. Colby does not need to worry and can focus on issues important to the College, such as the transition to and from college. Professors Whitney King and Mike Donihue have been looking for interesting ideas to come from self this analysis.
• We are midway in financial planning and now must step back to discuss further the question “Where we go from here?” There are two major searches going on at Colby: one for career services and one in human resources.
• Jim Terhune has made a big impact as the new vice president for student affairs, and he will speak Saturday about student-related issues. His presence gives us new opportunities for college relations and increased interaction between students and alumni.
• Marketing continues to be an area we worry about. It occupies a great deal of our time, and most of us don’t think in marketing terms. Steve Heacock just joined us as associate vice president of communications. The trustees have a marketing subcommittee which meets to discuss issues. The Web is a large focus of attention, and we are working to decide how best to use it to drive people to learn more about Colby.
• Admissions is very strong: 4,600 applicants, the highest since the late 1990’s. The goal was 4,500, and we surpassed that. Colby continues to have some real strength in the marketplace.

Mike Cuzzi—Where does Colby fit in the Market?

• We are one of the best small liberal arts colleges. The marketplace is crowded, and we compare ourselves to 25 top institutions. We worry that we don’t get credit for being as academically rigorous as we are or as international as we are, and we need to market ourselves in a way that makes those points. We think being in Maine is a liability, when the reality is that it is our strength, and we need to talk about that. There are implications for things we can do academically—how to structure our service learning projects, the vibrancy of the arts community, and our many other strengths. Of our peer group, we are the northernmost. We aren’t as isolated as Williams, Hamilton, or Colgate, but we have been perceived that way historically. How do we help student sunderstand that there is richness in Waterville, Maine, which is part of their academic experience. We may work with groups of alumi to ascertain what has mattered to them in terms of their Colby experience.

Someone asked about the “New Ivies” Newsweek article that Colby appeared in—what would the impact be? What does it mean to us? What does it mean if we’re not on the list next year? Richard replied, “There is no real way of measuring the impact of Colby being named one of 25 new ivies.

Campaign Update—Debbie Dutton, associate vice president of development
Debbie reported on a couple of key points:
 

• December 2006 closed the calendar year at $144.2 million. A gift of $4 million came in toward the end.
• Next goal is $151.9 million for June 30, 2007, which leaves $7.6 million left to raise this fiscal year.
• Every calendar quarter we look at who we will be soliciting for that time period. The pipeline is looking good, but we have our work cut out for us.
• We are looking at what buckets we are trying to fill, such as faculty support and financial aid endowment as primary target areas of the campaign. In terms of annual giving, we are doing very well, planning on a 6 percent increase overall each year to meet target.
• The next buildings on the docket are the science building and the black box theater.

Need-based financial aid fund raising is quite successful. We have secured many gifts toward it. Faculty support gifts need to be worked on. We are donor centered, but the focus from now to the end of the campaign will be on endowment, major gifts, and planned giving prospects. We need to make sure people know endowment is a high priority for us.

ACEC Retreat —Hope Bramhall ’56
Hope said that the committee chairs were asked to prepare action plans for the following year. The ACEC Task Force was assigned to look at structure of the council and has had two meetings since end of November 2006. We are excited about where they are at this point. She called on Jess Stratton and Robert Hoopes to bring the rest of the ACEC up to date on the findings of the task force.

Jessica D’Ercole Stanton reported that Margaret Viens had indicated that the size of the Alumni Council is not really an issue, and there appears to be no need to downsize the council, but we do need to make volunteering stronger and connect volunteers to Colby in a more significant way. We discussed the timing of our meetings and agreed different committees need to meet at certain times of the year. The idea is to host a volunteer leadership weekend, the details of which still need to be hammered out. The last weekend of September (28th) in 2007, has been selected. We want to try to find a way to bring in additional volunteers for the College. There are about 3,000 who volunteer in some way, whether in admissions, career services, Alumni Fund, or Regional Clubs, etc. We need to identify who we want to target. This year we will focus on career services and Alumni Fund volunteers to re-energize them to get through the end of the campaign successfully.

The agenda for the weekend: We will ask people to come to Colby for a weekend, and we need to involve faculty and coaches. We will try to pull together an agenda with a formal Friday night, and on Saturday morning have a session where Bro will speak about the state of College. We want to educate volunteers also about how they fit into the bigger picture at Colby and then break out into individual working groups and committees. There will be a fund-raising component with a clear understanding that this is a new and different weekend with opportunities to connect alumni and students. It will include a career extravaganza, staff and faculty on campus, and students telling us what is of value to them. This weekend incorporates everything we have been talking about. Things we are required to do as the Alumni Council will be built into the weekend, but career services will be a component so we can draw on the expertise and experience of all those involved. We need to market it differently. We chose September so it won't be too close to Family Homecoming Weekend, which would be a distraction for students and their family members. The task force recommendation is to go forth with a volunteer leadership weekend on September 28-30, 2007, and to start small, rather than make it too large to be effective, but involve as many people as we can, so people will come away enthused by how they can help Colby and current students.

Motion
Hope asked for a motion to support the decision and accept the date of September 28 and 29, 2007, for the Alumni Volunteer Leadership and Alumni-Student Networking Weekend. The motion passed unanimously.

Alumni Trustee Updates—Todd Halloran ’84

Todd shared that he appreciated the work of the ACEC, having participated in it himself as chair of the Alumni Fund Committee and then as an overseer. Now that he is a new trustee, he is in the learning process. He sits on four trustee subcommittees—investment, nominating, development, and marketing—and is amazed at the work and complicated effort by all people involved in solving problems, addressing issues, and organizing initiatives for Colby. It is great to see that at this level engagement is terrific. The campaign is a major endeavor and is tied to the strategic plan put in place years ago. Highlights have been five new faculty positions, the Goldfarb Center, physical plant updates, new buildings opening, and great strides in student life. A lot has occurred within the goals of the strategic plan. Demands for investment and time are incredible. There are many new challenges and opportunities, and funds are not unlimited.

A big theme of this trustee weekend is that admissions applications are at a record level, and the board is constantly looking at investments, marketing benchmarks, and information coming out of the media. We are trying to refine the message we are trying to get across. What programs do we strengthen for a more competitive education? Colby is successful, but other schools also are striving and making progress. We are competing each year for the best and brightest students. The board is focusing on how to provide the best facilities, faculty, etc., yet the dollars are limited. A big emphasis has been on marketing. The College has come around to promoting Colby more, getting the message out on what we have to offer. Additional resources are being spent to improve marketing, and we are better articulating our strengths. Studying how to communicate effectively is a good use of time and resources. We need to continue to strengthen and diversify the applicant base and attract the best professors, and these are articulated in the strategic plan and are key to the success of this campaign.

Committee Reports/Updates

Admissions and Financial Aid—Jan Wood Parsons ’65 and Kari Christensen Anderson ’98
The committee has been looking at how they can use technology to their benefit, just as admissions does with prospective students. They want to make committee members more active and make connections demographically with prospective students to get the highest caliber of students, to aid in the interviewing process, and to raise visibility and awareness of the Alumni Council and alumni relations. Diversity is a recurring theme. We want to help students on campus learn about alumni relations and the alumni council through mentoring, building leadership, and developing biographies of alumni who are involved. The admissions event in Falmouth was well attended (50 to 60 people), and attendedees were impressed. Peter Vose ’72 volunteered to organize the event. Judy Brody, associate director of admissions, led the session. 

Alumni Fund—Jessica D’Ercole Stanton ’92
Jessica reported that the Alumni Fund has $1.7 million cash in hand toward the $4.25 million goal. We are up 12 percent compared to last year at this time.

Jessica reminded the ACEC about the anonymous Alumni Fund challenge. It is being marketed to all alumni. There is a group of donors who will match all increased gifts and new gifts one for one up to $250,000.

The participation goal is still a challenge. We are only at 15 percent toward our 53 percent goal. The Alumni Fund takes in 25 percent of its total gifts in the month of June alone, so the second half of the year is more important than first half.

Jessica talked about the need to re-engage Alumni Fund volunteers, and the new leadership weekend will be a great opportunity for that. Kelly Dodge and she had a conversation to re-engage volunteers. There is a volunteer event tomorrow from 3:30 to 5:30 at the Sheraton in Wakefield, Mass., sponsored by the Office of Annual Giving. Bro will speak, along with Chair of the Board of Trustees Joe Boulos. We are expecting about 60 people. We want to build on this at the volunteer weekend in September.

The Alumni Fund Committee met last year and had conversations about eliminating the lowest gift club and increasing the level of the President’s Club from $1,000 to $1,500. Preliminary information shows that if you raise your sights, alumni will follow. We are now waiting to hear how it nets out from the end of the year. It seems that people are increasing their gifts to stay at President’s Club level. The older classes keep our participation levels up, but the younger classes need more work.

Athletics —Chris Vickers ’87 and Flannery Higgins ’99
The Athletics Committee has created three subcommittees to concentrate on their action plans:

1. Mentoring and faculty liaisons —led by Art Brennan ’68
   
2. Fund raising and how to participate in the capital campaign—Karl Dornish ’54
   
3. How to increase involvement and membership in the C Club—Alex Wilson ’73
   

Awards—Chris Sullivan ’97
Chris Sullivan was pleased to announce the following awards to be presented at Reunion 2007. The nominees have been contacted and will be available to receive their respective awards. The list will be announced tomorrow at the January 20, 2007, Alumni Council meetings.

Colby Brick Award
Barbara Bone Leavitt ’52
Peter Merrill ’57
Lou Richardson ’67
Jessica D’Ercole Stanton ’92
Alan van Gestel ’57

Outstanding Educator Award
Ruth-Marie Griswold Fincher ’72

Distingushed Alumnus Award
Alan Taylor ’77

Ernest C. Marriner Distinguished Service Award
Carl Wright ’47

The Charles W. Bassett Faculty Award and the Edson V. Mitchell Distinguished Service Award will not be awarded in 2007. The committee will begin reviewing candidates for 2008 and are already looking ahead to 2009.

Career Services—Patricia Whittemore Jenkins ’67 and David Fernandez ’89
Patty Jenkins reported that three subcommittes will be focusing on the following areas in 2007:

1. Increase networking opportunities for students both on and off campus, a "mega career event” with alumni networking events throughout the year at homes of alumni in targeted major areas and on-campus panel discussions. A goal of the career weekend in September will be to go beyond traditional subjects such as law, investment banking, and government careers.
   
2. Establish a viable online community of alumni and students. Do we want to just get on Facebook with the students or use the Colby alumni directory? A subcommittee of two alumni office staff is working with students now to look at this—Todd Gordon and Buffy Higgins. They are participating in a Webinar and will have discussions with the Career Services Committee. Also, several young-alumni focus groups will take place in New York, San Francisco, and at Colby to determine the needs of young alumni.
   
3. Provide greater visibility of the alumni network on campus, The Student Alumni Association will highlight how alumni connections help students and alumni with job opportunities. They plan to get more alumni on campus to speak regarding how the alumni network helped them. They also plan to have a current student on the Career Services Committee.

Nominating—Peter Merrill ’57 and Mike Cuzzi ’98
Peter reported the committee needs to fill the young alumni trustee position. They have a list of 12 outstanding candidates and will cut it down to five or six interviewees, then one nominee. Class representatives are needed for the classes of 2000 and 2004. Two alumni council members-at-large terms are ending, and the committee will be selecting candidates for those positions. One trustee position eligible for renewal and one trustee position not eligible for renewal are being vacated. Nominees will be presented at the next meeting.

Robert Hoopes reported that a subcommittee will look at accountability and check on council members not completing their tasks.

Jacqueline Wynn ’75 prepared a draft of an exit interview for  members leaving the council to better gage their volunteer experience.


Hope Palmer Bramhall ’56 wrapped up the meeting by reminding Alumni Council Executive Committee members to submit their reports to Margaret within two weeks after the meeting and to remind committee members of the need for 100 percent participation in the Alumni Fund. She reminded them to urge their committee members to attend the general council meeting at lunch on Saturday and to remember to write their class representative letters. She thanked the committee members and adjourned the meeting at 5 p.m.

Next Alumni Council Meeting: Friday, June 9, 2007