From the fall 2007 issue of UConn Momentum
The fourth annual Close to Home campaign kicked off in late October with a goal to raise $800,000.
A new change this year extends the campaign, which has traditionally run for only a few months, to be a year-round effort. Strong support over the last couple years has demonstrated a culture of giving among UConn faculty and staff. Lengthening the campaign will thus capitalize on the momentum and enable the Foundation to increase fundraising for students, faculty and programs.
“We are seeing more faculty and staff participating in the Close to Home campaign. The year-round opportunity to be involved should increase participation even more,” says campaign committee member M. Kevin Fahey, senior associate director at the Department of Student Activities. “It is a great way for us to show our involvement and commitment to our professions, our departments and our University.”
Since the program’s inception in 2004, fundraising has increased by 23 percent. Last year, 1,068 faculty and staff members contributed a total of more than $745,000 to benefit a variety of academic, research and cultural programs around campus.
The campaign offers faculty and staff committed to UConn an opportunity to provide an additional measure of support to the areas with which they have a connection, as well as to lead the fundraising effort.
“It is important for the faculty and staff to support UConn, not only in gratitude for the extensive support we have received and not only to buttress our programs, but also in order to lead by example,” says Stuart Sidney, Ph.D., professor of mathematics, who has been a committee member since 2004.
He adds, “When the University or the Foundation makes its case for support—to the state legislature, to corporations, to individual donors—that case will be ever so much more convincing if it is known that we feel strongly enough that we are allocating personal resources to the cause.”
The focus of the campaign is primarily on unrestricted gifts, which provide the most immediate and effective sources of funding. Unrestricted gifts are used at the university’s discretion to address critical and timesensitive needs, such as funding undergraduate scholarships, graduate fellowships, and academic and cultural programs. Additionally, gifts toward programs, schools and colleges are encouraged.
“You’re giving to yourself when you give to the Foundation. You should do that in the same way that you invest in the community,” says University President Michael J. Hogan.
