How do you raise $27 million? Interview with Shelby Radcliffe, Willamette University’s VP for Advancement

Shelby Radcliffe has been Willamette University’s Vice President for Advancement since 2016. Prior to coming to Willamette, Shelby held increasingly complex development positions first at Bucknell University and then at Occidental College where she served as Vice President for Institutional Advancement.
 
Willamette University, located in Salem, OR, was founded by Methodist missionary Rev. Jason Lee in 1842 and is considered to be oldest university in the West.
 
I had a chance to sit down with Shelby last Friday to talk with her about her work and her insights about tips and trends in the field of development. Much of the information she shares is transferable to those of you who work for the church or in smaller nonprofits.
 
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
 
Cesie: What does it mean to be the “Vice President for Advancement”?
Shelby: To be the “V.P. for Advancement” literally means to advance the institution by working with alumni and parents and friends of Willamette. I like to say that my job is to “create an environment that’s ripe for philanthropy.”
 
We have a team of 38 people who do all that work. That sounds like a lot of people but to me it feels small. At Bucknell we had 98 on staff and at Oxy there were 54. There are a variety of reasons for that but to raise more money, you need more people out there working on behalf of the institution. Gifts don’t just walk into the office; you need more people on your team to reach out and to do excellent donor relations. It’s efficiency of scale.
 
You had an amazing year in 2023 and raised a record $27 million. Congratulations! How in the world did you do it? What’s the secret?
My team works very methodically. There are three types of gifts we look for:
 
1. Annual Funds: these are unrestricted (or loosely restricted) gifts, meaning that the University can use them wherever the need is greatest. These gifts help balance the budget. These are gifts you have to go after every year. Annual gifts are an attractive way to keep people involved in philanthropy in your organization…as long as you make it a joyful, meaningful experience and report back on the impact of their gift.
 
2. Restricted Outright Gifts: these are for specific projects or capital items that the University needs. They are gifts that come over the course of several years. These also include non-governmental foundation grants.
 
3. Deferred Commitments: these include estate provisions (legacy gifts), annuities and/or trusts. This is where the majority of the money was raised.
 
This is how we made that $27 million. We also had some great million-dollar donors and several larger than normal legacy gifts.
 
Ministers and lay people could be really effective talking about deferred gifts with people in their congregations. When you start talking to a donor about their estate plans you are talking about life’s big questions. What do I want my life to mean after I’m gone? What is most meaningful to me? What problems in the world do I care most about? What do I want to leave to my children? Do I want to leave it all to my children?
 
The church is the perfect place to have these deep and meaningful conversations about where people want their assets and financial resources to go after they pass. This is deeply personal. I’ve had donors say, “I’ve never had this conversation with anyone.” Not even their spouse.
 
What do you like most about your position?
I love meeting with donors and working with them. I love being part of their philanthropic journey. I feel a little bit like a trail guide. Interacting with students and faculty is also inspiring.
 
What frustrates you about your work?
I don’t like the amount of travel. When I travel, I’m often working from 7am-7pm (or sometimes 10pm) and then doing it again the next day. While I could do more on Zoom, there’s nothing like a one-to-one in-person meeting with a donor.
 
Is there a story about a donor that particularly stands out to you?
This is a story about how to say “no” for the right reasons. When I worked at Occidental, we received a call from someone who wanted to donate 180,000 seashells (he had detailed notes on every shell). It was an exquisite and important group of seashells, but he wasn’t willing to pay for their shipping, storage, or to digitize the cards or maintain the collection – other institutions had wanted an additional $2-$5 million to do that. So, we had to say “no, thank you” to his collection. But we kept in contact with him. We ultimately negotiated with him to give Occidental an additional $200,000 to support the shipping and storage of his collection. We made a really big deal of his donation and there was a lot of publicity about it.
 
We took a chance accepting his (relatively) small initial gift. But because we said “no” for the right reasons, we set up a situation where the donor was ultimately happy. We celebrated the donor and we celebrated as though it was a $2-$3 million dollar gift.
 
And…we later found out that the donor made a seven-figure provision in his will to Occidental to support the work of the professor who oversaw those shells.
 
What are three tips you’d give to people who must do development work (like clergy people) but also have a million other things they need to do? What should they focus on?
 1. Put it on your calendar. You have to schedule time to do this work every week, even if it’s only an hour. You have to put it on your calendar and treat it like it’s an important meeting.
 
2. Put your personal relationship to money completely aside. It’s not about your sense of wealth or security or what a big number donation is for you. Money is relative. You asking me for $100 is like me asking some of our donors for $25,000. Once again, it’s relative and…it’s not about you.
 
3. If you call and ask for a meeting with a potential donor make sure you’re upfront about the purpose of the meeting. Make sure your donor understands why you're meeting. Make your conversation with the person about philanthropy. “What would you do with your money that will give you joy?” People will surprise you and be grateful that you are asking. They want to have the conversation about their values. They want you to ask.
 
What trends you are seeing in the development field?

• Continuing impact of 2008. We are still seeing fallout from the financial downturn of 2008. Donors do not want to give up their principal. In other words, donors are reluctant to give up cash/stocks now as they worry about an economic downturn and then not having enough. So, they are much more comfortable (post 2008) talking about estate gifts versus outright commitments from their assets. 
  

• Upcoming election cycles. No matter what side of the aisle you’re on, people are giving more to candidates and giving more to candidates that live out of state. They are deciding, “Will I give to my candidate of choice or to the annual fund?”
  

• Post-COVID giving is down. During COVID people were giving to a variety of frontline nonprofits (e.g., foodbanks and homeless shelters). Now folks are paring that list of donations down because of inflation and the stock market. Who will they take off their list of philanthropies? Their university? The church?
  
  That’s why it’s so important to keep having conversations with donors – to say “thank you” personally. Saying thank you personally lets donors know that their gift matters. And as an aside, in the church, the pastor does not need to be the only person thanking people. Get your leadership involved.

Shelby, you can have the last word…anything else you’d like to share?
 I think the work you’re doing is really cool. There is a huge divide between development professionals who are working in more complex organizations and people working hard to do good work in smaller organizations where they don’t have a team. You’re trying to close that gap and that’s fantastic.
 
We are all trying to make the world a better place especially for people who have less. The collective work of this profession is quite profound.

Cesie Delve Scheuermann (pronounced “CC Delv Sherman,” yes, really) is a Stewardship Consultant for the OR-ID Annual Conference. She is also a Senior Ministry Strategist with Horizons Stewardship. For 25 years, while working as a volunteer and part-time consultant, she has helped raise over three million dollars for numerous churches and non-profit organizations. She thinks it’s only appropriate to share the Willamette University promo video (with a few fab shots of Salem, OR as well).
 
You can reach Cesie at inspiringgenerosity@gmail.com, at CesieScheuermann.com, or at cesieds@horizons.net. Want to schedule a meeting? She’s got you covered!
 
Schedule a meeting now.
 
If someone has forwarded this to you and you would like to subscribe to "Inspiring Generosity," click here.  Miss an issue?  Click here.