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Miami exceeds fundraising goals, hires 18 new staff

Ursula Cauffiel, Staff Writer

Miami University has decided to hire 18 new fundraising staff, filling nine vacant positions and creating nine new positions, to be Major Gift Officers according to Brad Bundy, associate vice president of university advancement. The main duty for these people with the university is to fundraise for Miami so that money can be brought back to better Miami as a whole.

According to Bundy, the 16 current Major Gift Officers raised $30.8 million for the 2010 fiscal year that went toward the university.

"That investment would have a huge impact on support for Miami students, faculty, staff and greatly increase the university's endowment," Bundy said.

Bundy went into details describing where the positions will be placed. He said the Major Gift positions that are available are divided into three categories. The first is Regional Gift Officers, who raise support from high profiled Miami alumni areas like Cleveland, Chicago, New York and California. After those positions are filled, about 50 percent of the alumni are estimated to be living in one of the regions in which a Major Gift Officer will be. The second category is constituent gift officers, who will be looking to raise money for the specific schools of Miami, such as the Farmer School of Business, the College of Arts and Science, etcetera. The last category of officers being hired is the Central Gift Officers. They will be adding to Miami's Annual Giving, Planned Giving and Corporate Giving Staff.

Sophomore Cleary Williams said she is curious as to how exactly the Major Gift position works.

"I am interested to see how these 18 new people are going to go about fundraising and contacting Miami University alumni to get such a large amount of money," she said.

As of right now, four positions have been finalized, but the university will be recruiting to fill at least 11 more positions by the end of summer — just in time for the start of the new academic year, according to Bundy.

David Creamer, vice president for finance and business said why these people are being hired.

"They are being hired to increase the amount of philanthropic support the university receives each year," Creamer said. "Such gifts are important to improving the quality of the educational experience for students and increasing funding for critical needs like student scholarships and the university's academic programs."

For the 2010 fiscal year, the goal for fundraising was $30 million. The current Gift Officers raised $800,000 over that goal, which was a big accomplishment, according to Bundy. Miami has upped its goal to $50 million and is very determined to meet this goal, especially with the new employees. Nine out of the 18 positions that are being looked for are brand new and this is because the new goal is so high so more people are needed to fulfill it.

"The $50 million effort is specifically aimed at increasing endowed and annual scholarships," Bundy said. "The majority of people hired will be raising money specifically to help meet this ambitious effort."

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Creamer also said no student tuition or state funding is being used to hire these positions. All of the funding will be coming from investment income generated by the foundation and university endowments.

"At a time when state funding is being reduced and universities need to keep the cost of tuition more affordable, this is one of the few opportunities for generating new funding that will greatly benefit our students," Creamer said.