Foundation 2016 Randall & Kim interview

Curt Bright Author

04/04/2016 Added

184 Plays

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Interview with NU Foundation staff

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[00:00:00.171]Get the mics set for your voices.
[00:00:01.430]Randall, say your first and last name
[00:00:03.446]and spell it for me.
[00:00:04.342]Randall Roberts.
[00:00:05.728]R-A-N-D-A-L-L
[00:00:07.328]R-O-B-E-R-T-S
[00:00:09.568]Okay, and now Kimberly
[00:00:11.264]let's have you do the same thing.
[00:00:12.406]No, don't say her name.
[00:00:13.611]Oh, okay thank you.
[00:00:14.550]I was concerned.
[00:00:16.086]Kimberly Bilder.
[00:00:17.110]K-I-M-B-E-R-L-Y
[00:00:19.926]B-I-L-D-E-R
[00:00:22.443]Okay.
[00:00:23.904]So you just look at Kristin the whole time.
[00:00:26.048]Talk to her.
[00:00:26.945]Don't look at me or the camera.
[00:00:28.225]Okay.
[00:00:28.768]We're rolling.
[00:00:30.048]And I probably won't have a lot of reaction.
[00:00:32.652]She's not allowed to speak
[00:00:33.803]while you're talking.
[00:00:35.030]So she's not being rude.
[00:00:39.883]Here we go, we're going.
[00:00:44.630]So, you two
[00:00:47.862](laughing)
[00:00:49.024]worked on a project together
[00:00:52.448]and
[00:00:54.784]with Sam Freed.
[00:00:57.888]And there's a lot of back and forth
[00:01:01.366]with the fund agreement
[00:01:03.104]and you had to use your powers of team-work--
[00:01:07.126]Yes.
[00:01:07.766]To make it happen.
[00:01:08.726]Can you tell us a little bit about
[00:01:10.848]how it started
[00:01:12.203]how it went
[00:01:13.292]what the outcome was?
[00:01:14.667]Sure.
[00:01:15.447]So I can give the background
[00:01:16.812]and then you can jump in, does that sound good?
[00:01:19.168]Sure.
[00:01:20.023]Alright so, I had the pleasure of working with a donor
[00:01:23.702]who has given to U&O to for quite a long time.
[00:01:27.351]He had originally established a fund outside of U&O
[00:01:30.889]and gave through that fund
[00:01:32.670]for many years.
[00:01:34.270]And the program that he helped establish
[00:01:36.072]is very well received
[00:01:40.317]very robust
[00:01:41.288]and pretty well known in the community.
[00:01:45.673]At one point he decided to go ahead and move his fund
[00:01:48.754]over to the foundation
[00:01:50.557]to be used fully at U&O.
[00:01:53.875]And for various reasons
[00:01:55.848]kind of had a falling out
[00:01:57.150]with the foundation in that process.
[00:02:00.649]Started to develop some trust issues with us.
[00:02:03.913]But also with campus and some other folks
[00:02:07.273]related to his interests.
[00:02:11.134]So got to be a little bit difficult
[00:02:12.637]and he kind of just threw up his hands and said
[00:02:14.217]"Okay, I'm gonna be done with this for a while."
[00:02:17.950]But with Kimberly's help
[00:02:19.315]we kind of worked together on the fund agreement.
[00:02:23.230]He asked for some kind of quirky things
[00:02:26.089]to be added to it.
[00:02:28.489]And Kimberly was so gracious
[00:02:30.089]and helped me kind of find a middle ground
[00:02:34.952]maybe not so much middle ground
[00:02:36.478]as his ground
[00:02:38.590]but it was something that was agreeable to him
[00:02:41.598]it was agreeable to campus
[00:02:42.910]and didn't necessarily effect the overall
[00:02:46.537]spending of the fund.
[00:02:48.211]She was very willing to work with me
[00:02:50.569]and get it established.
[00:02:53.395]And that's what's kind of fun for me
[00:02:54.515]is I've never met this donor
[00:02:56.809]probably won't, that's okay.
[00:02:59.113]But I get to help you move your relationship along
[00:03:01.971]with him
[00:03:03.155]and can support you in that role
[00:03:04.894]and that's really meaningful to me.
[00:03:06.675]And it was wonderful.
[00:03:08.115]It went really smoothly
[00:03:09.097]once we kind of
[00:03:10.994]got on the same page.
[00:03:13.470]Kimberly and I
[00:03:14.174]but also with the donor
[00:03:15.273]and he started to realize
[00:03:16.456]"Okay, well they do have my best interests at heart."
[00:03:20.553]And that we're willing to do what we can
[00:03:23.273]to make sure that his wishes are going to be honored
[00:03:26.333]no matter what.
[00:03:27.475]Because that was his big intent
[00:03:29.714]is that nothing is going to happen
[00:03:32.435]to this fund
[00:03:33.993]that would allow it to be spent on something
[00:03:36.435]that he does not approve of or agree with.
[00:03:40.094]And Kimberly made that happen.
[00:03:45.118]Can you talk a little bit about
[00:03:48.690]the parts of
[00:03:51.337]for people who may not know the process
[00:03:54.610]that you go through with a donor
[00:03:56.211]and how other departments likely are involved.
[00:03:59.977]Can you talk a little bit about what ...
[00:04:02.472]I know there aren't a lot of typical processes
[00:04:04.329]but just kind of the general process
[00:04:07.656]for people who may have really no idea.
[00:04:09.352]Yup.
[00:04:10.568]So every donor is different.
[00:04:13.417]That's why it's so great that we have
[00:04:15.049]such a flexible legal team
[00:04:16.872]because you just kind of never know
[00:04:18.569]what they're going to want
[00:04:19.955]in their fund agreement.
[00:04:21.714]And Kimberly can talk about this more
[00:04:24.434]but there's a standard language.
[00:04:28.393]But standard's not standard for everybody.
[00:04:34.270]Donors have some weird requests
[00:04:35.891]and they need some edits sometimes
[00:04:39.934]to that standard language.
[00:04:42.611]Well I think that speaks to the ...
[00:04:44.670]We're not making widgets.
[00:04:46.130]It's philanthropy.
[00:04:47.197]It's really meaningful to people.
[00:04:48.713]And so to be able to give them something
[00:04:51.795]that's a starting point for a conversation
[00:04:53.629]and then really
[00:04:55.518]through their development officer
[00:04:57.597]I have an idea of what it is
[00:04:59.113]that they really want to accomplish with their gift.
[00:05:01.438]And then find a way to do that.
[00:05:03.571]Sometimes that requires us to be a little more creative.
[00:05:06.409]A little more outside the box
[00:05:08.595]and that's kind of fun.
[00:05:11.049]And then to be able to see that work on campus
[00:05:14.035]it's very fulfilling for us
[00:05:15.390]it's very fulfilling for the donor.
[00:05:18.590]And I should mention too
[00:05:20.328]that once this donor signs that fund agreement
[00:05:25.150]he has now pledged a larger planned gift
[00:05:29.438]to that fund.
[00:05:30.494]So it doesn't just stop
[00:05:33.129]with the fund agreement.
[00:05:35.273]That feeling and that trust
[00:05:38.249]that you create with that donor
[00:05:39.954]will last.
[00:05:41.651]I think we're seeing that now with him.
[00:05:46.697]And without going into too much detail
[00:05:48.637]or as much detail as you're comfortable.
[00:05:52.492]What was the meaning for you
[00:05:57.854]and for the donor
[00:05:59.753]in the process of rebuilding that relationship?
[00:06:02.953]He's a very special donor to me.
[00:06:06.611]He gives for a cause that he knows first hand.
[00:06:13.192]He's a survivor of the holocaust
[00:06:16.510]and the fund that he's created goes to holocaust
[00:06:20.233]and genocide education at U&O.
[00:06:23.357]And he gives because he never wants to see the holocaust
[00:06:25.875]happen again.
[00:06:29.490]To get in the way of that
[00:06:31.198]would be devastating to me.
[00:06:34.174]He makes you
[00:06:37.673]through his generosity
[00:06:39.497]and his willingness to tell his story
[00:06:43.230]he gets you on board with him.
[00:06:45.118]It's like oh
[00:06:45.993]I want to be a part of his cause
[00:06:47.933]because he's just a wonderful person.
[00:06:56.051]Okay.
[00:06:57.193]To the mic here, we're rolling.
[00:07:00.829]So you have
[00:07:02.473]what I consider to be kind of a unique story
[00:07:04.850]about one of our committees
[00:07:07.454]The Grants Committee.
[00:07:10.078]And something that they came together to do
[00:07:12.489]that was a unique experience that you got to witness.
[00:07:15.977]Would you tell us a little bit about it?
[00:07:17.533]I would.
[00:07:18.558]So, we had a Grants Committee meeting
[00:07:21.555]January, 2014
[00:07:23.550]late afternoon
[00:07:25.513]conference call
[00:07:27.336]I was the secretary.
[00:07:29.170]And what the Grants Committee does
[00:07:31.134]is the foundation allocates a sum of money
[00:07:33.630]and in the past few years
[00:07:35.433]the President's office has allocated a sum of money
[00:07:37.950]and then this committee takes that sum
[00:07:40.798]and reviews proposals that the campuses submit.
[00:07:44.435]And then they fund those proposals
[00:07:46.291]or not
[00:07:47.134]or they get to consider them and make those decisions.
[00:07:51.410]So, one of our proposals
[00:07:53.853]was kind of a scalable proposal.
[00:07:55.635]So it was kind of presented as a, you know
[00:07:59.657]it costs X amount to send one student
[00:08:02.291]on this particular experience
[00:08:04.157]and so the committee could sort of adjust that up or down
[00:08:07.614]as they might need to.
[00:08:09.534]And we got to our deliberations
[00:08:12.413]and we were $7000 short
[00:08:15.113]of fully funding this proposal.
[00:08:18.355]And so it was where do we cut
[00:08:20.509]or what do recommend they cut?
[00:08:22.793]And nobody could really come to a consensus.
[00:08:25.214]And then one of our members on the phone spoke up
[00:08:27.976]and he said
[00:08:29.693]"I'd be willing to give half
[00:08:30.878]"if somebody else on the committee would give half."
[00:08:34.291]And another member spoke up
[00:08:35.454]and said, "I'm in."
[00:08:37.074]Sealed the deal.
[00:08:38.931]It was $7000.
[00:08:40.617]Around here, that's not a lot of money.
[00:08:44.553]But to be able to witness that act of loyalty
[00:08:47.710]that they just stepped up
[00:08:49.310]and did what they felt needed to be done
[00:08:51.678]and fully funded a proposal.
[00:08:53.833]I got to see that.
[00:08:55.571]That was really exciting for me.
[00:09:00.318]Can you speak a little bit about
[00:09:02.953]the different volunteers?
[00:09:04.670]Yes.
[00:09:05.257]That we have here
[00:09:06.195]and their roles
[00:09:06.910]and their commitment
[00:09:09.438]to the foundation.
[00:09:10.377]Sure.
[00:09:11.177]So
[00:09:13.330]by virtue of having been selected to be a trustee
[00:09:16.169]or sit on a committee
[00:09:18.088]or on our board
[00:09:19.678]these are people who are highly invested in the foundation.
[00:09:23.177]They have given their financial resources obviously
[00:09:27.369]and then we get the opportunity to work with them
[00:09:30.953]when they share their time
[00:09:32.691]and when they share their expertise.
[00:09:34.195]In governing the foundation
[00:09:36.318]in helping us develop policies
[00:09:39.017]considering grants
[00:09:41.128]and really just advising us
[00:09:42.909]on being the best organization we can be.
[00:09:45.757]And so to be able to see them in that capacity
[00:09:49.758]so someone who's an accountant or a CPA
[00:09:52.378]to see them do that
[00:09:54.473]as opposed to interacting with them as a donor
[00:09:58.014]which seems more social, less business.
[00:10:01.757]That's the experience I get with a lot of our volunteers
[00:10:03.977]on the boards and committees.
[00:10:05.577]And they're a phenominal group.
[00:10:07.635]They really care about the foundation.
[00:10:09.897]They really care about the University.
[00:10:12.137]And it's a privilege to get to work alongside them.

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Foundation 2016 Randall & Kim interview

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