VICTORIA UNIVERSITY OF WELLINGTON

University Development
Strategic Plan
2012 - 2014

DEVELOPMENT OFFICE MISSION:

To create and nurture strong, collaborative and mutually beneficial relationships with
alumni and supporters that will contribute to the reputation and success of the University.

VALUES:
The values we will adhere to, collectively and individually, in reaching our mission are as
follows:

Excellence promoting and delivering high quality outcomes, efficiency and

customer satisfaction.
Innovation always developing new ideas and applying best practice approaches.
Collaboration teamwork, partnerships and a pan-University approach.
Integrity valuing our relationships, treating our donors, alumni and colleagues with
professional respect.

PURPOSE
The purpose of the Development Office is twofold:
1. To raise private funds through the Victoria University Foundation for strategic
priorities of the University.
2. To engage with alumni and stakeholders in on-going, mutually beneficial
relationships that are supportive of the University.

AIMS OF THE DEVELOPMENT OFFICE:

To raise private funds, through the Victoria University Foundation for strategic
priorities.

To provide opportunities for alumni and other stakeholders to invest

philanthropically in Victorias mission and goals.

To engage and build relationships with alumni in on-going, mutually beneficial

relationships that will bring opportunities for alumni while also contributing to the
reputation and success of the University.

To build and nurture a collaborative, co-ordinated and integrated internal alumni

and development culture.

To provide knowledgeable and professional alumni and development advisory

services to Victorias internal and external stakeholders.

To provide efficient management and systems in support of fundraising, alumni

engagement, donation accountability and promotion of our successes.

To develop the Alumni database (Raisers Edge) into a vital tool that contains
accurate and complete data on alumni, donors, staff and stakeholders; and to be
able to research and identify successful alumni and prospects.

BACKGROUND:
As noted in the UK report prepared by Professor Eric Thomas, Vice-Chancellor of Bristol
University, Increasing Voluntary Giving to Higher Education, Task Force Report to
Government, fundraising should be approached systemically, professionally and strategically
and invested in accordingly. It notes that the main success factors for fundraising are:
(i)
(ii)
(iii)

those in leadership positions committing a substantial amount of time and

energy towards fundraising;
a professional office that follows established techniques well and is resourced
properly; and
Institutional acceptance over time that fundraising is an important activity.

Victoria University has been raising private funds in a targeted and co-ordinated manner
since the establishment of the Victoria Foundation in 1990. $45 million has been raised
through the Foundation over this time, with funds raised in recent years averaging $2 to $3
million per annum.
These results have been achieved with a very modest but consistent level of professional
fundraising staff, from a relatively small pool of donors, and with generally limited
engagement by academic staff across the University. Even more can be achieved in the
future with an increase in these three important components of university fundraising.
With increasing pressure on the Universitys finances, and a national financial situation that
is likely to continue to put the tertiary sector under pressure, there is an urgent need for
Victoria University to give greater emphasis to private fundraising. The role of fundraising is
changing from being nice to have to being essential. It was with this need in mind that a
restructure of the Alumni and Fundraising activities was undertaken in 2009/2010.
There is also a need to revitalise the Alumni Relations strategy at Victoria. While the Alumni
programme should offer benefits such as networking and services to alumni, the strategy
needs to be aligned with the overall goals of the University, celebrate successful and
influential alumni, and build relationships with other generous and philanthropic individuals.
The Development Office was formally established in early 2010 with the a malgamation of
staff from the Foundation and Alumni Relations and the establishment of three positions
an Executive Director of Development and the Foundation; a Development Database
Research Administrator and a two-year fixed-term Director of Strategy.
As a result of the increase in resources in the 2010 budget the Development Office has
increased engagement with alumni; connected more with Faculties and Schools; developed
the database and increased fundraising revenue for strategic priorities. In particular
engagement with alumni and faculties/schools on alumni strategies which was lacking for
several years has now been rejuvenated. It is important that there is ownership by Faculties
and Schools of alumni activities; we act as a facilitator and work in conjunction with them on
these activities.
The Global Philanthropic Advancement tour of Californian Universities and Health
organisations undertaken in July 2011 was an excellent opportunity to observe and learn
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from some very successful organisations. The consistent key messages we received that are
particularly applicable to us are outlined in appendix one. In particular it was demonstrated
that investment in resources in this area results in increases in donations and
contact/engagement with alumni, which in turn increases the prospect pool of donors.
Other key principles were that connection and communication with academic staff was
critical, that engagement with the academic leadership on their strategic priorities needs to
be continual, that they need to commit substantial time to fundraising and development
activities must be aligned with the Universitys strategic plan.
This three year strategic plan outlines key objectives and initiatives, and once approved, will
be supported by an annual operating plan which will have detailed strategies and targets to
be met. Key themes and priorities for fundraising are being developed in conjunction with
the case for support as outlined in Current Objectives: Fundraising, Objective 8.

RESULTS 2011 TO DATE

The investment of three new positions in Development over the past two years has had an
immediate impact on the engagement we have with alumni and the fundraising revenue
brought in. The appointment of the Development Database Research Administrator has in
particular resulted in an alumni database that is now rated by NZ Post as being 92.7%
accurate for the address records we hold (which is rated as excellent by NZ Post). Other
achievements in 2011 have been:

Fundraising:

As at 31 August 2011 fundraised $3.197 million in cash compared to $1.212 million

for same time last year.
Confirmed pledges for the future currently totalling $14.6 million since the
Foundation began.

Victoria Foundation total equity as at 31 August 2011 is $17.754 million. The following
graph shows the portion of total funds that are endowed and non-endowed.:
Endowed
Non-endowed

$11,712
$6,042

Total

$17,754

Total Trust Funds

Non-endowed
34%
Endowed
66%

Of the total funds of $17,754 million currently in the Foundation, 96% ($17,099 million) has
been given for specified purposes and 4% ($655,000) for unspecified purposes.
Of the total funds donated, the majority has been specified to be used in funding prizes and
scholarships (44%) with the next highest category of gifting being support for academic
positions, including fellowships (28%).
By Category

Total
$'000
7,768
5,014
3,648
655
347
221
95
7
17,754

Prizes & Scholarships

Academic Positions
Academic Programme & Institutes
General Unspecified
General Specified
Library and Art Collections
Building Funds
Student Services

Total Trust Funds

Endowed
$'000
6,493
2,779
1,734
348
240
118

11,712

Non-endowed
$'000
1,275
2,235
1,913
307
108
103
95
7
6,042

Total Trust Funds by Categories

1%
2%

0%
0%
Prizes & Scholarships

4%
Academic Positions
Academic Programme &
Institutes

21%
44%

General Unspecified
General Specified
Library and Art Collections
Building Funds

28%

Student Services

Key fundraising results in 2011 have included:

Chair of Public Finance
Chair in Business in Asia
Stephen Turnovsky Visiting Fellowship
Reserve Bank Macroeconomics funded position
Wade Thompson US$1 million donation for Malaghan Institute
Fundraising Campaign pre planning has commenced with:
Green paper on new fundraising initiatives approved by Council, SMT and
Foundation Board
Draft Case for Support being developed
Market Test of Case for Support Nov 2011
Alumni outcomes:
Total valid addresses increased from 53,025 to 57,120
Email addresses increased from 27,122 to 32,376
Total records increased from 83,73 to 91,956
10 international events and four NZ events held with 1085 alumni having attended
Five alumni e-newsletters issued, 10 alumni articles in each of three issues of
Victorious
Alumni representatives established in Beijing, Shanghai, Berlin, Kuala Lumpur,
Singapore and New York.
Alumni Facebook and LinkedIn groups established

CURRENT OBJECTIVES:
We need to continue to build on the progress we have made in the past year through the
following proven objectives: establishing effective and mutually beneficial relationships with
alumni and donors, increasing our prospect pool and donor pipeline and increasing the
annual fundraising revenue. The pre-planning work on a possible campaign has begun with
the developing of a draft case for support and market test of this draft case.

Alumni:
Objective
1. To engage alumni including
donors and Victoria staff, and
stakeholders so they feel
loyalty, goodwill, and pride in
being part of the larger Victoria
family

Initiative

Timeline
1. Develop guidelines for Faculty staff On-going

2.
3.

4.

5.

involved with Alumni programmes

including
database
sharing,
newsletters and events.
Develop an active body of alumni
in Auckland.
Increase
engagement
with
Wellington alumni particularly
targeting younger alumni.
Continue to develop relationships
with Vic Alumni Coordinators
overseas.
Increase visibility of alumni in
University
publications
and
increase the interaction between

On-going
On-going
On-going

On-going

alumni.
6. Support of overseas and domestic On-going
designated Alumni Contacts in
their communications with their
alumni cohort.
2. To identify and acknowledge
successful alumni.

3.To develop the Raisers Edge

database (RE) as the official
alumni and donor system that
contains accurate and complete
data on alumni including
donors and Victoria staff, and
stakeholders

4.To assist the University in

developing alternate revenue
streams through Alumni
Relations

5. To improve transition from

student to loyal and supportive
alumni

1. Acknowledge
and
celebrate
successful alumni.
2. Encourage successful alumni to
join
Victoria
national
and
international advisory boards.
3. Build the profile of the Alumni
Relations programme through a
strong presence at graduation.
4. Build relationships with alumni
through the Distinguished Alumni
Awards.
5. Work with Faculties to develop
Faculty-based recognition awards
or prizes for alumni and/or
scholarships for students.
6. Work with Careers Office to raise
profile of CareerHub with current
students and alumni and Leading
People programme.

On-going

1. Systematically research lost alumni

with a focus on graduates of 1950
onwards.
2. Add and maintain a register of
Victoria staff on RE.
3. Collect business details and other
information on all alumni and
volunteer groups.
4. Collect email addresses and where
are they now information.

On-going

1. Support
sales
of
Victoria
merchandise through VicBooks.
2. Identify fundraising opportunities
through
engagement
with
international alumni.
3. Identify successful alumni who can
be prospective donors.
4. Undertake the annual appeal to
alumni.

Q1 2012

1. Facilitate participation of
appropriate alumni as speakers
at graduation ceremonies and
other appropriate events.

On-going

On-going

On-going
Held every
2nd year
On-going

On-going

On-going
On-going

On-going

On-going

On-going
Annually

2. Facilitate opportunities for

students to interact with
alumni.
3. Open some alumni events to
current students.

On-going

On-going

Fundraising:
Objective
Initiative
1. To increase University
1. Develop and implement internal
participation in Development
communication strategy.
activities.
2. Develop and implement a
Development training and
education programme for senior
staff and Foundation Trustees.
3. Engage Faculties and Schools
through a shared responsibility
model for Development.

Timeline
Q4 2011

2. To establish an effective
governance and
management structure for
fundraising and get the right
people involved.

1. Ensure Development Steering

Group (DSG) meetings are held
every month to discuss and
monitor strategy.
2. Ensure Victoria Foundation Board
and sub-committee meetings are
scheduled and effectively
managed.
3. Ensure fundraising is supported
by robust policies and procedures

On-going

1. Receipt and thank all

donors/sponsors promptly.
2. Receive and disburse all project
funds in the timeframe agreed
with donors and sponsors and for
the purposes specified and to
communicate with donors the
impact of their contribution.
3. Ensure that the UK and USA
charities are well managed.

On-going

3. To provide appropriate
project monitoring,
accountability, public
recognition and stewardship
to donors and sponsors.

4. To grow revenue through

major gifts

Q2 2012

On-going

Quarterly
from
2012.
On-going.

On-going

On-going

1. Develop with academic leaders On-going

approved projects of potential
interest to prospective donors
and sponsors.
2. Initiate targeted and proactive On-going
cultivation
and
solicitation
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3.

4.

5.

6.

strategies
for
identified
prospects.
Submit applications regularly to
grant
making
trusts
and
foundations for projects.
Identify
top
international
prospects for significant gifts (i.e.
NZ$100,000 and over).
Identify and solicit support from
corporations and public sector
organisations for the University.
Grow the prospect pool and
pipeline of donors.

On-going

On-going

On-going
and as
needed
On-going

5. To grow support from

current donors through
effective stewardship.

1. Produce an annual report that Annually

showcases our successes.
2. Engage selected donors and Q1 2012
significant alumni with senior
leadership of University through a
VC and PVC business luncheon
programme.
3. Provide ongoing and effective On-going
communication with donors on
the value of their gift.

6. To grow the number of

bequests to the University.

1. Identify potential bequestors and

solicit
bequests
for
the
University.
2. Engage and provide ongoing
stewardship
to
committed
bequest donors through the
Victoria
legacy
Club
and
individual stewardship.
3. Promote bequest giving to retired
staff through the Hunter Club and
hosting of five Club meeting per
annum.
4. Advertise in University and
external publications to target
primary (alumni and former staff)
and secondary (legal and financial
advisors) audiences.
5. Present one seminar per annum
for legal and/or financial advisors.

7. To develop an annual
giving programme to
increase donors and to
strengthen the culture of
philanthropy.

On-going

On-going

On-going

On-going

Annually

1. Improve the annual giving On-going

strategy by better segmentation
of the database, messaging and
delivery.
2. Increase support for annual giving On-going
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from within the University.

3. Achieve good results including a On-going
high renewal rate of donors.
8. To work on implementing
the structure, mechanism
and a conducive
environment to enable the
University to undertake a
major fundraising campaign.

1. Work with VC, SMT, DSG and

Foundation Board to develop key
themes and priorities for
fundraising and alumni activities,
including targets and timelines.
2. Work with Ocean Design on
drafting and presenting a
compelling and inspirational draft
Case for Support.
3. Market test the draft Case for
Support to receive feedback on
the key themes and priorities and
ascertain Victoria Universitys
readiness to undertake a major
fundraising campaign.
4. Analyse results of market test and
finalise Case for Support in the
light of the feedback received.
5. Start to build an internal
fundraising and asking culture as
widely as possible.
6. Build and engage with the pool of
prospective donors, including
building on past and current
activity.

On-going

Oct/Nov
2011

Feb 2012

March
2012
On-going

On-going

FUTURE OBJECTIVES
We need to continue to build on the progress we have made in the past year: establishing
effective and mutually beneficial relationships with alumni and donors, increasing our
prospect pool and donor pipeline and increasing the annual fundraising revenue.
Consideration is also being given to a major fundraising campaign, including a thematic
endowment fund, and planning is well underway on this strategy. A key activity which will
determine what the campaign will look like, and targets to be achieved, is the market test of
the draft case for support (see objective 8 of Current Objectives: Fundraising above).

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Fundraising:
Objective
1. To implement a
campaign to raise
substantial funds for
agreed themes,
priorities and
endowments.
Note: the market test
will provide guidance
on priorities for
fundraising, targets
and duration and
timing of campaign.

2. To establish a
structured and
strategic system for
prospect research and
management.

Proposed Initiative
1. From the agreed Case for Support
and analysis of market test
feedback, develop a detailed
campaign plan.
2. The campaign plan will include key
themes, priorities, targets and
implementation timelines.
3. Enlist volunteers to work on the
campaign.
4. Increase donor identification and
cultivation
5. Provide internal communications
and training to ensure support from
academic leadership.
6. Develop events and publications.
1. To actively work on tracing lost
significant alumni and updating
details on current.
2. Prospect rating system implemented
to identify major gift prospects.
3. Comprehensive prospect profiles
developed for top University
prospects including international
and top 5 prospects for each faculty.
4. Initiate targeted and pro-active
cultivation and solicitation strategies
for identified prospets.

Resource
Implications
Provide
adequate
resources
(staffing and
budget) for
campaign,
benchmark is
15% cost.

Timeline
April
2012.

April 2012

Q2 2012
On-going
Q2 2012
Q2 2012

Dependant
Q1 2012.
on budget bid
for new
prospect
Q2 2012
research role
Q2 2012

Q2 2012

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Alumni:
Objective
1. To implement
Raisers Edge Net
Community in 2012 to
increase online
communication with
alumni and donors,
provide online event
registrations and
online donating and
payments.
2. To establish an
Alumni Hall of Fame
that can be profiled on
RE, website, Victorious
and other University
publications
4. Educate all students
at Victoria about the
Alumni programme so
they are already a loyal
and supportive alumni
body.

Proposed Initiative

Resource
Implications
1. Work with IT on the project plan for Capex
the purchase and installation of Net funding from
Community.
IT confirmed.

Timeline
Q1 2012

Project
leader and IT
resources
confirmed.

1. Acknowledge and celebrate successful Part of the

alumni.
role of
2. Provide up to date and accurate requested

Q1 2012

information on significant alumni to new prospect

faculties and schools.
research
3. Identify significant alumni as position.
prospective donors.
1. Educate all first year students about
the term alumni and the concept of
being part of the Victoria
community of scholars as a lifelong
experience.
2. Engage students in alumni activities
such as career expos and seminars,
and other relevant events.
3. Cement the Alumni relationship
through engagement before, during
and
following
graduation
ceremonies.
4. Develop a mentoring programme
where alumni host students for
dinner or a day trip.
5. Raise awareness of CareerHub and
other career services.
6. Investigate successful models of
receiving donations from current
students to instil loyalty and culture
of giving.

Work with
student
services and
VUWSA

April
2012.

Work with
CareerHub

April 2012

Work with
the Events
team

Q2 2012

Engage
alumni
volunteers

Q2 2012

On-going
Research
other
university
models

Q2 2012

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APPENDIX ONE
WHAT WE LEARNT FROM GLOBAL PHILANTHROPIC ADVANCEMENT TOUR:
Key messages that we consistently received were:
Investment in resources in this area results in increases in donations and
contact/engagement with alumni.
Development and planning of case for support cannot be rushed.
Need to reconnect with the Academic Leadership about what we have heard from
them, and through VC, these priorities need to be challenged and tested, and other
strategic priorities need to be also considered.
The importance of the quiet phase, sometimes called the "leadership" phase in
campaign planning.
Active involvement by academic leadership in building relationships with top
prospects needed to be successful.
Need to connect/communicate with academic staff on development initiatives.
VC needs to commit substantial time to fundraising.
Most fundraising has activity goals and not income goals i.e. number of prospects
contacted, number of donors stewarded, number of relationships in pipeline.
Donors want to be asked their opinions, kept informed and engaged continuously.
Use of volunteers is time consuming but worthwhile.
Academics need to be able to articulate with passion the vision and case for support.
Prospect pool has to be large enough to have a successful campaign.
Continuously tell your stories and communicate your successes.

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