January 26, 1995: Vol26n14: Investment in alumni pays off, Evitts tells FSEC

By STEVE COX
Reporter Staff
An investment in alumni relations can reap important rewards, William
Evitts, executive director of alumni relations, told members of the
Faculty Senate Executive Committee at a meeting Jan. 18. Credited by
Provost Aaron Bloch with having a very positive impact on the
department, Evitts showed the FSEC just how much potential still is
unrealized in terms of finance.
	"Seventy-five percent of outside support for higher education
comes from three primary sources," explained Evitts, "alumni, friends
of alumni who are usually heirs of alums, and corporate foundations
accessed via alumni." That's the reason that Evitts has spent so much
time tracking down the nearly 150,000 living graduates of UB and
designing programs they would find attractive.
	"We recently conducted a poll of our alumni," said Evitts,
"and we learned that 98 percent of alumni indicated that they were
either 'proud' or 'very proud' of having graduated from UB. That's
phenomenal." However, Evitts went on to explain that those alumni did
not feel very well informed about UB and they did not feel close to UB
any more.
	Evitts compared UB's alumni program to those of 22 comparable
public institutions with alumni bases of over 100,000, to demonstrate
that the alumni program at UB is "grimly underfunded." He found that
the average alumni program had an annual budget of $1.9 million,
compared to less than $600,000 at UB, and, more importantly, the
average school's cash endowment was $3.2 million. In fact, endowments
at these other universities ranged from $13.3 million at Penn State to
$550,000 at Florida. UB's $91,000 endowment was far and away the
lowest.
	Although the universitywide alumni program lags behind its
peers, many individual schools at UB, such as law and pharmacy, have
well-developed alumni programs, Evitts said. "Those programs that are
already in place get the right to first solicitation of the alumni,"
he said, "and some make membership in the universitywide alumni
organization either optional or mandatory with the paying of dues to
that particular school program."
	Although he said the $12 million raised by the alumni program
last year was a vast improvement, Evitts believes focusing on
particular projects could improve that figure dramatically. Just
looking at other institutions where Evitts has worked, such as the
University of Pittsburgh, which raised over $30 million, and Johns
Hopkins University, which raised $75 million, makes him optimistic.
	One project that Evitts hopes will generate alumni excitement
is the construction of an Alumni House on campus, probably along Lake
LaSalle behind the UB Bookstore. "It would be a focal point for alumni
on campus, as well as a major meeting center for undergraduates,"
explained Evitts.