Q&A: Despite COVID-19, UConn Foundation breaks annual fundraising record

Q&A talks with Scott Roberts, president and CEO of the UConn Foundation, the University of Connecticut’s fundraising arm, about a record year in donations.

The UConn Foundation marked its highest annual fundraising total ever in fiscal 2020, with $89.5 million in gifts collected. What led to the increase? Was there any particular revenue category that stood out?

Our increase was due largely to donors contributing more gifts at $1 million-plus, as we’ve placed a very strategic focus on securing gifts at the $1 million-plus level over the last few years. 

Athletics saw a major boost this year. We also saw significant success in the estate and planned giving efforts. 

How will those funds be used?

More than 99% of all donations to the UConn Foundation are restricted by the donor to make an impact at the university that is meaningful to them. The following is a breakdown of the purpose. 

Breakdown: $26.2 million — program support; $23.1 million — student support; $17.4 million — capital improvements; $16.5 million — research; and $6.3 million — faculty support.

How has support been from the corporate and business community?

The corporate/business community and grant-making foundations made up nearly 30% of contributions in fiscal 2020. We routinely see significant support from these entities and envision similar success in the future.  

Our fundraising included: $12.4 million from corporations, $7.7 million from foundations, and $4.6 million from other organizations. That accounted for $24.7 million of our overall fundraise.

How did the coronavirus pandemic impact fundraising? Has the virus changed your fundraising strategy at all?

We were very fortunate to have started the year very strong with our fundraising. Coronavirus forced us to suspend all our face-to-face meetings and move all employees to remote work, which prevented us from having any in-person meetings for the final three months of the fiscal year. 

We quickly pivoted to conduct virtual meetings and virtual events to engage Huskies across the country more broadly than ever before. 

Given the fiscal challenges UConn and other universities are facing, will the school look for increased support and funding from the UConn Foundation in the year ahead? Is there a cap on how much money the Foundation can give out annually?

The UConn Foundation exists to help make UConn stronger and support its mission. Our results this year are not the norm across the country. Many universities raised less money than the previous year. When the economy is uncertain and a global pandemic is looming, alumni and companies don’t feel the same level of confidence that they have the financial resources to give away. 

The Foundation makes distributions to the university based on whether the funds are endowed or non-endowed. Non-endowed gifts to the Foundation can be fully distributed to the university based on needs, but endowed funds support the university in perpetuity, which limits the distributions to preserve the support for many years to come. 

You began as CEO of the UConn Foundation in April 2019. What fundraising goals have you set for yourself in the years ahead? At least one past UConn president set a goal to build a billion-dollar endowment. Is that possible?

Within the next few years, our goal is to position the university to be prepared to embark on an ambitious fundraising campaign that will help elevate the university to a new level. Growing the endowment is certainly a goal and, yes, we will eventually grow it to a billion dollars.

Over the past 10 years, the endowment has grown from $272.4 million to $422 million as of March 31, 2020. In addition, we are raising more than twice as much as we did 10 years ago.

Have you made any other noteworthy changes since you started?

Yes, we have elevated a position that brings analytics and business intelligence to the leadership table. This is a critical area to help guide us to maximize our resources and determine best areas for ROI.

I must give a lot of credit to our university president, Tom Katsouleas. He has been an incredible fundraiser and a great partner to help the Foundation set its all-time fundraising record.