Campus Campaign 2003-04:
Advancement funds grow with faculty, staff support

The number of UW-Eau Claire departments and programs with Foundation advancement funds has increased by nearly 50 percent since the start of Fulfilling the Promise of Excellence, the UW-Eau Claire Foundation’s ongoing comprehensive fund-raising campaign.

Twenty-one department or program advancement funds have been started through the Foundation since the fund-raising campaign started in June 2000, bringing to 65 the total number of advancement funds supporting specific departments or programs.

Donald Nielsen, sociology department chair, said his department’s advancement fund has been used to pay for honoraria for outside speakers, equipment purchases, student award ceremony expenses, a department retreat and other departmental needs.

Nielsen said the advancement fund “has the added advantage of allowing emeriti faculty, alumni and current faculty to contribute in a more focused way to the programs they wish to support, rather than to a more general fund whose uses may be less clearly defined.”

In the psychology department, an advancement fund supports five annual cash awards for outstanding psychology students, as well as student travel to professional conferences.

“Both of these uses provide direct support for our students that otherwise would not be available,” said psychology department chair Larry Morse.

During February, faculty and staff wishing to participate in Campus Campaign 2003-04 can consider designating their contributions to start a department advancement fund or contribute to an already-existing one, said Heidi Fisher, the Foundation’s director of annual giving and donor relations. the official month for the UW-Eau Claire Foundation’s annual Campus Campaign

“Department advancement funds are a great example of how the campaign is having an impact, here and now, at the department and program level across the UW-Eau Claire campus,” Fisher said. “Advancement funds, started largely by faculty and staff Campus Campaign contributions and added to by alumni gifts, give departments the ability to seize opportunities they could not take advantage of with just GPR dollars.”

The process to establish a department advancement fund — or a fund to support some other university program — is simple, Fisher said. It starts by calling or visiting with a member of the UW-Eau Claire Foundation staff. (The Foundation office is in 214 Schofield Hall. A staff member can be reached by calling 836-5630.)

The Foundation staff member can set up an account, name the fund as requested by the donor or donors and deposit the contribution(s) to establish the fund. (While there is no minimum amount required to start a fund, the amount deposited should be enough to be considered a “good start” for the fund, Fisher said.)

One donor will be designated as the account contact person, and he or she will be asked to approve all requests for payments out of the fund. A Foundation representative assigned to the fund will be available at any time to answer questions and to assist with fund transactions.

While February is the official month for Campus Campaign, all faculty and staff who contribute to the UW-Eau Claire Foundation from July 1, 2003, through June 30, 2004, will be recognized as participants in Campus Campaign 2003-04.