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Q & A with Leonard Raley, Vice Chancellor for Advancement and CEO of the University System of Maryland Foundation, Inc.

 
 

 

Leonard Raley came to the University System of Maryland in December 2005 after eight years as executive director of The Ohio University Foundation and vice president of advancement at Ohio University. Before joining Ohio University, Raley served as Interim Vice President for University Relations and Executive Director of at the University of Maryland, College Park Alumni Association and Director of Alumni Services at Towson University.
  

What brought you back to the USM after being away from Maryland for several years?

The opportunity to rejoin the USM at a point when its star is on the rise and the State of Maryland is reinvesting in higher education, combined with the promise of Chancellor Kirwan's vision for the system made the offer to return too good to pass up. As an alumnus of Towson University and the University of Baltimore, I am a product of USM institutions myself, so, at this point in my career, it is a privilege to be able to do work that allows current students to obtain the same quality education from which I have benefited.
 
As vice chancellor for advancement and president and CEO of USM Foundation, you wear two hats. How would you describe the difference between the roles of the USM Office of Advancement and the USM Foundation to an outsider?

The common goal for both the Office of Advancement and the USM Foundation is to provide quality customer service to the full range of our constituencies, which include donors, board members, and other friends of the USM in addition to our member institutions and their communities.

The USM Foundation is the repository for gifts given to some of the USM institutions and also manages the endowment assets for those and many others of the USM institutions. The Foundation holds $700 million in endowed and $ 110 million in operating funds, in thousands of accounts. We are responsible for upholding the guidelines that donors stipulate in their gift agreements for many of those accounts. Endowment funds generate spendable income which provides revenue for our member institutions to better fulfill their missions.

The USM Office of Advancement offers strategic leadership for fundraising initiatives for the system and its institutions. We are in a unique position to provide professional training to development officers at our institutions and to help them learn through each other's successes. We also provide planned giving and donor research services.

What types of projects are able to be funded primarily through donations?

Private donations make the margin of difference between what is provided for through state funding and student tuition and fees and an institution's needs. There are a range of scholarships, endowed professorships, and endowed chairs throughout the USM that were provided through the generosity of our donors. Private donations also allow our institutions to make substantial capital improvements. One of the more recent examples of this is the $8 million gift by the Arthur W. Perdue Foundation to Salisbury University that will contribute to a new building for Salisbury's Perdue School of Business.

The University System of Maryland just announced the beginning of a six year fundraising campaign. What role does your office play in the campaign?

In January, the USM kicked off a campaign to raise $1.5 billion by 2012. Some of the institutions already announced their fundraising goals for the campaign and the others will follow beginning in the fall. The primary role of the Office of Advancement in this campaign is to help the development staffs at our institutions, especially the smaller ones, build the necessary capacity to execute their campaigns. We will also be assisting the institutions with their efforts to solicit major gifts and cultivate future fundraising prospects by mobilizing the influence and broad respect held by Chancellor Kirwan.

We are fortunate that in Maryland there is momentum to make funding for higher education a partnership between private and public interests. By earmarking special funding for the campaign, Governor Ehrlich and the General Assembly demonstrated their belief in the USM's ability to attract donors and use its funds effectively. There is also a great deal of enthusiasm at the institutional level with new volunteers stepping up to take part in this campaign. There is a very real sense that this campaign is not just about raising money but also about developing a culture of philanthropy in support of higher education state wide. Philanthropy supports development of our workforce, strengthens Maryland's economy and ensures our continued leadership in the global marketplace.

Are there other types of targets that have been set for the campaign besides the total $1.5 billion goal?

Through this campaign, one of our most significant goals is to expand the base of our alumni giving, especially among young alumni. A strong foundation of alumni giving will sustain our fundraising efforts well beyond the end of this campaign. Likewise, another goal is to cultivate corporations and foundations to become active supporters and donors for the USM and its institutions. Corporations, in particular, directly benefit from the education and research the USM provides to the state of Maryland.

Our primary goals for the funds raised are to increase the size of the USM institutions' collective endowments to provide additional scholarships for students and to enhance learning opportunities at all our institutions. These are goals that directly impact the quality of education offered throughout the USM by expanding opportunities for current students as well as providing for the future.