MARCH SPORTS CALENDAR Friday
Indiana’s Oldest College Newspaper
MARCH 2, 2012
Interested in catching the games of your favorite DePauw sports? Post this calendar on your bulletin board, and you’ll never miss a game again. See pg. 10.
VOL. 160, ISSUE 34
Two new employees to work in major gifts department By TAYLOR ZARTMAN news@thedepauw.com
DePauw’s Major Gifts department recently welcomed two new hires to the department in hopes of fulfilling the fundraising priorities set by President Brian Casey. Located in the Office of Advancement, Major Gifts focuses on fundraising and works mostly with alumni, sometimes parents and friends of the university. The eight staff members of the department Major Gifts spend the school year traveling in the hopes of gaining funds for DePauw. Jason Petrovich, class of ’93 and Executive Director of Development describes the department’s goal as “engaging folks in conversation about the needs of the university and providing funding for it.” The newest additions to the Major
Gifts staff are Kristin Champa and Judith Stillwell. Stillwell will be working in development as assistant to donor relations and Major Gifts. Champa will also be working in development as a Major Gifts Officer in the mid-Atlantic part of the country. Champa graduated from DePauw’s School of Music with a major in vocal performance. She is the first School of Music graduate to work on staff. Due to the addition of School of Music Dean Mark McCoy and its continually growing buzz, the Major Gifts staff spent five months searching for a musical school graduate to fill this position. “My husband and I, after living on Long Island, [New York] for 13 years, decided we were really Midwesterners… we wanted to raise our kids in the Midwest,” Champa said. In New York, Champa worked at Carnegie Hall and was assistant director
MEEKER CHALLENGE DONORS OVER THE PAST DECADE 200
for the non-profit performance art organization Midori and Friends. Though Champa was not initially sure if this position would be the right fit, after talking with fellow alumni Champa knew she had to look into the position further. As Champa learned more about the progress of the university — particularly that of the School of Music and McCoy’s vision — she became increasingly enthusiastic about the prospect. “I could not get it off my mind,” Champa said. “I needed to send my stuff in and see if I could get someone to talk to me. So I did.” The eight staff members each work with approximately 150 potential donors across the country. The department hopes to gain funding from donors that
Hires | continued on page 4
Alumni raise over $32,000 for annual 24-hour Meeker Challenge event By ABBY MARGULIS news@thedepauw.com
NUMBER OF DONORS
150
100
50
0
2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
New Donors
Total Donors That Fiscal Year GRAPHIC BY MARGARET DISTLER
Kristin Champa (pictured), a major gifts officer, along with Judith Stillwell are the newest additions to the Major Gifts staff. Major Gifts, a part of the Office of Advancement, focuses on fundraising and working with alumni, friends and family of DePauw. ASHLEY BAUER / THE DEPAUW
Recent graduates raised $32,590.38 on Tuesday for DePauw University’s annual fund at the Meeker Challenge. The Meeker Challenge was a 24-hour event in which alumni could donate money online to their alma mater. Lis Meeker ‘78 organized the event, challenging DePauw’s Graduates of the Last Decade (GOLD) to donate funds to help educate students. Tuition funds only half of the cost of educating one DePauw student, according to those seeking gifts.. The other half is largely generated by alumni giving. Donations made to the Meeker Challenge go directly into the annual fund. Advertising for the event began in the beginning of February through emails, Facebook and Twitter to get the word out to alumni in
hopes of getting the best results. The day of the challenge the magnitude of activity happening on Facebook and Twitter was important to the fundraising. Kyle Kerrigan, assistant director of annual giving and staff liaison to the Graduates of the Last Decade, was very impressed with how the whole event went. “I was amazed at the conversations and dialogue that was happening on Twitter,” Kerrigan said. “The sheer volume [of the challenge] was incredible.” The challenge was truly a 24-hour event with the first donation being made at 12:10 a.m. Feb. 29 and the last donation being made at 11:54 p.m. Kate Shipley ‘11 was the first alumni to give a donation to The Meeker challenge. Mike Stanek, class of 2006, participated in the Meeker challenge and thought it was a smart way to involve young alumni to give back.
“I think it was a great idea,” Stanek said. “The Meeker challenge targeted young alumni and a lot of the time its hard for the university to engage the alumni who are starting new careers, making new families and moving to new places. This was a great way to bring back young alums to get involved with DePauw University.” The total amount of money alumni gave was through 577 separate gifts. The challenge began with 20,000 dollars donated by Lis Meeker while alumni donated 12,590.38 on their end. There were a total of 866 donors from classes 2002-2011. Class of 2006 had the most donors having 119 alumni donating. The class of 2008 had the most amounts of new donors having 65 first time donors. Kerrigan was very pleased with the results. “The office was a buzz,” Kerrigan said. “Everybody was screaming and smiling. Everyone was so thrilled. Everyone was ecstatic to see