Foundation 2016 Greg interview

Curt Bright Author

04/04/2016 Added

185 Plays

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Interview with NU Foundation staff

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[00:00:00.000](laughs)
[00:00:00.863]Wait, wait, wait let me put my shoe back on just in case.
[00:00:04.384]I'm only shooting you
[00:00:04.971]from here, up.
[00:00:05.663]And I'm looking, eyeball, eyeball.
[00:00:07.210]You look at her the whole time.
[00:00:09.429](laughs)
[00:00:11.050]I hope you're gonna edit this.
[00:00:12.586](laughing)
[00:00:13.365]I hope.
[00:00:14.464]I'm going.
[00:00:15.328](laughing)
[00:00:15.990]Are you running?
[00:00:18.602]Yeah.
[00:00:20.011]Give me a minute.
[00:00:21.931]Compose myself.
[00:00:24.651]So, tell us the story
[00:00:26.741]about how you came to know the Roose family.
[00:00:33.041]I can't remember exactly
[00:00:34.731]but it was north somewhere of 20 years ago.
[00:00:39.990]I really was just essentially making a cold call
[00:00:42.646]on some folks
[00:00:43.104]they lived out in Salt Lake City at the time.
[00:00:46.422]And we had a nice dinner
[00:00:48.042]and they had started popping
[00:00:51.530]for pretty, at that point in time
[00:00:54.411]pretty meaningful gifts.
[00:00:57.685]They were writing checks for $2500 a year.
[00:01:02.944]But they were going to general discretionary funds.
[00:01:07.030]Which is great, but ...
[00:01:09.931]So I planted a seed over that lunch, or dinner
[00:01:13.248]it was not an ask
[00:01:17.131]but I planted a seed
[00:01:18.187]and that was ...
[00:01:20.171]You might think about
[00:01:21.930]what your priority use of your gifts might be
[00:01:27.903]and let's talk about setting up an endowment someday
[00:01:31.370]with those gifts.
[00:01:32.447]At that level
[00:01:35.598]endowment level then was ten grand.
[00:01:38.506]So, in four years we've got a permanent endowment
[00:01:41.366]that there's your name
[00:01:43.787]if that's what you're interested in
[00:01:45.322]and allows you to focus your philanthropy
[00:01:49.206]on something that was really important to you.
[00:01:53.984]And as they have done many times over the years
[00:01:57.131]listened attentively and said
[00:01:58.742]"That's a good idea, we'll think about it."
[00:02:03.168]Very shortly after that, they responded
[00:02:05.302]and said, "Yeah, that makes sense to us."
[00:02:09.590]Because they have a son, he's 47 years old I think.
[00:02:12.950]Scott's his name.
[00:02:14.069]Great guy.
[00:02:15.605]Down Syndrome.
[00:02:18.827]So they were really interested in supporting
[00:02:21.184]the kind of work that goes on out at Barclay.
[00:02:24.863]So that became the focus of their philanthropy
[00:02:27.446]that has continued to this day.
[00:02:30.688]In addition to athletics of course.
[00:02:33.887]They meandered around the country for a while
[00:02:36.886]and eventually he retired
[00:02:39.062]and landed in Colorado.
[00:02:44.501]Over the years, I related to them infrequently
[00:02:47.050]because they were always some place
[00:02:48.106]other than where I was going
[00:02:49.366]but since they've been in Colorado
[00:02:51.882]really re-established that relationship.
[00:02:54.923]Over the years they continue to support
[00:02:57.622]that scholarship fund at Barclay
[00:03:01.909]and interestingly the numbers
[00:03:04.085]kept getting bigger every year.
[00:03:06.890]And I think the fund balance now
[00:03:09.269]is about $80,000 for that scholarship
[00:03:12.063]which is producing some nice scholarships
[00:03:14.965]and has for a number of years now.
[00:03:19.669]About two years ago now
[00:03:21.728]they were in town for a volleyball game
[00:03:23.487]and we had a Sunday breakfast
[00:03:25.706]and I planted another seed.
[00:03:31.264]And that seed was
[00:03:33.131]you're doing this really great work with your scholarships
[00:03:37.461]the other priority one for the foundation
[00:03:41.291]and the University is faculty support.
[00:03:43.487]Student support, faculty support
[00:03:45.728]go hand-in-glove in terms of priorities.
[00:03:48.704]And along the way they had made an estate gift
[00:03:51.082]that we knew of
[00:03:51.861]that was a quarter million dollars.
[00:03:54.048]And I said, "Based on what you've already done
[00:03:56.490]"that scholarship fund is really self-sustaining.
[00:04:00.789]"You could put as much money into it as you wanted to.
[00:04:05.163]"What would you think about taking your annual gifts
[00:04:08.682]"re-directing them as expendable gifts
[00:04:12.022]"but to fund a faculty position
[00:04:15.030]"and back-stop that faculty position
[00:04:17.269]"with the estate gift?"
[00:04:19.807]"Yeah, that's a good idea, we'll think about it."
[00:04:24.223]Along the way and I was remissant
[00:04:26.005]saying this was not a solo effort on my part.
[00:04:28.864]There were lots of people that were involved in this
[00:04:31.125]from almost the beginning.
[00:04:33.611]Because the gifts have resided under
[00:04:36.544]The College of Education Human Sciences.
[00:04:38.710]Jane Heeney got to know them very well as well.
[00:04:43.541]We got them involved with folks out at Barclay
[00:04:46.208]on a far more personal basis.
[00:04:48.746]But after I made that pitch over breakfast
[00:04:51.306]that Sunday morning
[00:04:53.727]the next day, I think it was Monday
[00:04:54.966]the next day they called back and said
[00:04:57.803]"We really like your idea
[00:05:00.128]"but we don't think that
[00:05:02.965]"a quarter million dollars is enough
[00:05:05.942]"to support that faculty position.
[00:05:08.661]"So we've made plans
[00:05:10.485]"we're going to make plans to leave a half million dollars."
[00:05:14.207]It was exactly one day later
[00:05:18.411]that they called back again.
[00:05:20.310]"We've re-thought this again.
[00:05:22.250]"We're gonna include The University of Nebraska Foundation
[00:05:24.982]"and our fund and our estate plans for a million dollars."
[00:05:30.922]So the point of telling that story
[00:05:32.630]in my mind
[00:05:33.462]has little to do with zeros.
[00:05:35.926]It has a great deal to do with a very long-term relationship
[00:05:41.163]that began with very modest ...
[00:05:46.070]Their gifts were lovely.
[00:05:49.547]Relative to where they're at now
[00:05:50.826]they were pretty modest.
[00:05:53.430]Planting a seed of an idea.
[00:05:56.085]Understanding what drives them.
[00:05:59.701]Chancellor's discretionary funds are great
[00:06:04.342]but their passion was Barclay.
[00:06:07.626]And nurturing those relationships
[00:06:11.702]from campus side, from our office
[00:06:15.146]the multiple people that are involved
[00:06:16.565]in producing reports
[00:06:18.485]and all of those kinds of donor activities
[00:06:21.824]that are important to them.
[00:06:25.067]It was just the right time
[00:06:28.907]to ask them if they would be willing to step it up.
[00:06:31.903]I'm not convinced that they're done.
[00:06:34.230]But the other thing that happened
[00:06:36.661]was that there were lengthy periods of time
[00:06:40.224]over this journey
[00:06:41.343]where they got comfortable with where they were at.
[00:06:45.462]And then rather than throwing another ask on them
[00:06:50.325]on top of the last one that they just made
[00:06:53.302]they had to time to adjust.
[00:06:54.603]They had time to understand better
[00:06:56.629]their own fiscal realities
[00:06:58.646]and to ultimately say yes to something
[00:07:02.582]even bigger than we'd asked for.
[00:07:04.811]Are they done?
[00:07:06.763]They're pretty young.
[00:07:07.926]I don't know that they're done.
[00:07:09.685]But I know that they will continue to be very good friends
[00:07:12.447]of The University of Nebraska Foundation.
[00:07:15.030]Then the next steps are
[00:07:16.543]once that faculty position is secured, person's been hired
[00:07:20.976]then I intend in any way I can facilitate
[00:07:23.786]to make their professor
[00:07:27.402]their new best friend.
[00:07:32.630]Looking back at that relationship
[00:07:33.910]and that experience
[00:07:35.307]of you being here
[00:07:37.706]for quite a while at the foundation.
[00:07:39.850]If this were to be shown to someone
[00:07:45.074]a group of people who had just started
[00:07:47.669]maybe development officers
[00:07:50.250]maybe in gift planning
[00:07:52.150]maybe in gift processing
[00:07:53.366]maybe in legal.
[00:07:55.467]What would be one, two, or three things you would say?
[00:08:00.811]Pieces of advice
[00:08:01.931]or tid-bits you would offer
[00:08:04.949]in how we all touch the donors that we work with?
[00:08:10.550]I can answer that best with my development hat on.
[00:08:15.702]But that's a no-brainer.
[00:08:18.528]Learn, it takes a while
[00:08:20.203]but learn to trust your instincts.
[00:08:23.583]These are human beings just like we are.
[00:08:26.464]They have real lives and real issues
[00:08:28.608]and real joys and real sorrows just like we do.
[00:08:33.749]But trust the fact
[00:08:35.306]that you probably wouldn't be in front of that person
[00:08:40.726]in the first place
[00:08:41.963]if they were not interested in the mission
[00:08:44.383]of The University of Nebraska.
[00:08:47.862]The job is to figure out, under that umbrella
[00:08:50.771]what is that thing
[00:08:52.928]that really is closest and nearest and dearest
[00:08:56.566]to their hearts.
[00:09:00.223]There's no formula.
[00:09:01.407]It's as different as every person on this planet is.
[00:09:04.767]There's no formula.
[00:09:06.667]But it's learning to trust, understand yourself first
[00:09:11.861]and then to trust your instincts
[00:09:13.547]about relating to folks
[00:09:16.149]that will ultimately be able to make
[00:09:19.820]a substantive difference
[00:09:21.470]in other people's lives.
[00:09:23.328]Piece of advice number one.
[00:09:26.005]Piece of advice number two is
[00:09:27.541]let things happen in their time.
[00:09:31.349]It's not our money.
[00:09:35.402]It is not our money.
[00:09:36.587]We are not entitled to a donor's dollars
[00:09:41.589]just because we exist.
[00:09:45.003]Take the time necessary
[00:09:47.382]to let the relationships gel.
[00:09:49.750]Because at the end of the day
[00:09:51.648]whoever it is that's relating
[00:09:54.282]whether it's someone like me in their living room
[00:09:58.687]or someone over the phone answering questions
[00:10:00.822]or someone that's presenting
[00:10:02.463]preparing and sending fund reports
[00:10:06.463]and expecting to get the phone calls back
[00:10:08.566]if that's necessary.
[00:10:15.328]Just be very certain
[00:10:18.624]that you're taking the time with people
[00:10:20.949]to let them ...
[00:10:25.046]God, this is terrible.
[00:10:25.983]I'm just drawing a blank in the middle of this whole thing
[00:10:28.182]and you are gonna cut this out.
[00:10:31.263]But it's all about timing
[00:10:35.542]and giving people the tools that they need
[00:10:38.848]to understand
[00:10:41.087]the options that are available
[00:10:44.107]and maybe most importantly of all
[00:10:47.691]at the end of the day
[00:10:51.403]they deserve the right to
[00:10:55.531]see, experience
[00:10:57.707]the difference that their dollars have made
[00:10:59.370]in some sort of a tangible way.
[00:11:02.005]Maybe that's as simple as a fund report.
[00:11:05.451]Maybe it's not that simple.
[00:11:06.827]Maybe it's having lunch with a student
[00:11:09.887]who's life has been transformed
[00:11:11.989]because of their gift.
[00:11:19.723]Great job.

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Foundation 2016 Greg interview

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