UCLA plans to raise $1 billion

UCLA plans to raise $1 billion

Six-year campaign to compensate for lack of state funding

By Anne Mai

Daily Bruin Contributor

With massive federal cutbacks and state support for public
universities slowly dwindling, UCLA is embarking on its first $1
billion fund-raising campaign.

The collective effort of administration, faculty and students,
the campaign is meant to fund projects ranging from endowments to
scholarships; research grants to new buildings.

Officials, including Chancellor Charles Young, are placing heavy
emphasis on the six-year campaign, hoping it will allow UCLA to
excel despite flagging government support.

Two weeks ago, when Young announced his intent to retire next
year, he named fund raising as the top priority of his remaining
tenure.

"I want to see the campaign not only launched, but launched and
moved along far enough (so) that it is clear that we’re going to
succeed in achieving our goal.

"In the next 16 to 17 months, the main work will be done. We
will have gone through the private period and have made the public
announcement … at that point in time, we should have raised
somewhere between 35 and 50 percent of the total. That’s critical,
and I intend to see that that phase of the campaign is completed
successfully before I leave," Young said.

Mike Brennan, executive director of corporations and
foundations, agreed that now is the best time to start the
campaign.

"Now is a very opportune (time) for UCLA to go into such a
campaign to enhance its position among top universities," Brennan
said.

Still in its planning stages, the campaign is UCLA’s second
large scale campaign. UCLA successfully ended its $100 million
campaign in 1988, overreaching its mark by $76 million.

During its last fiscal year, 1994-1995, the university was also
able to amass $110 million, coming in second only to UC Berkeley in
UC fund-raising efforts.

UCLA’s second-place finish is due to the fact that UC Berkeley
started the public phase of its $1 billion fund-raising campaign in
September of last year, officials said.

Having worked for both UC Berkeley and UCLA’s campaign, Rhea
Turteltaub, director of planned and major gifts, attributes UCLA’s
late start to the need for a break between major campaigns.

"We’ll be in that place in a year or two," Turteltaub said.

Michael Eicher, assistant vice chancellor of development, agreed
that the difference between the two programs is due to their
timing, not the actual programs themselves.

"Generally, the programs are fairly similar. (They both are)
very good, very strong, very solid programs," Eicher said. "(But)
we’re right there at the top. We can hold our heads."

Although UCLA has not reached the public phase of its campaign,
it is in the final stages of its quiet planning phase. After a
strategic planning study is concluded in April, the campaign
cabinet will finalize the goals and objectives of the campaign.

The reason for the campaign’s long planning stage and duration
is due to the negotiations that take place, officials said.

"It’s a long process. Gifts of our size can take six months of
conversation to several years … before (donors) make a gift,"
said Turteltaub.

The campaign, Turteltaub said, is a chance to focus the
attention of the philanthropic community on campus goals.

"(The) campaign is a marketing tool," Turteltaub said.

Campus fund-raisers also pointed out that although the
university has not been involved in a campus-wide fund-raising
program lately, individual departments have been extremely
active.

But administrators said that the $1 billion campaign would be an
entirely different animal.

"It’s a big supermarket for philanthropists. If someone has an
interest … there’s a place on campus where it can be
crystallized," Turteltaub said.Comments to
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