The State of South Dakota
by Jerry F. Smith, CFRE, President and CEO
Have you ever been to South Dakota in January? Well I have, and on one trip I experienced weather of 22 degrees below zero! Now that is cold for a boy from Alabama. But on October 20th, it was a beautiful day in Brookings, South Dakota. Not only was the weather a warm 75 degrees, but South Dakota State University announced its $200 million capital campaign, with $137 million already pledged. That is quite an accomplishment for a school with 12,000 students and only 750,000 people in the state.
Let me back up and tell you how South Dakota State University got to this point. About four years ago, the J.F. Smith Group was invited by the SDSU Athletic Department to train its development officers on major gift fund-raising. As a result of that contract, we were fortunate to win a contract to help the University launch its second capital campaign in the history of the school. The University's last campaign raised a little over $50 million. So, when we told SDSU leadership they could raise between $170 million and $190 million, they were somewhat doubtful.
The campaign started in January of 2007 after a feasibility study gathered information from 157 personal interviews, five focus groups across the country, and an online survey of over 1,900 participating. I remember the president of the foundation asked, "Now, how do we get started?" The board was actually meeting in five days, and I suggested we solicit the foundation staff in an attempt to obtain 100% participation before that board meeting. This involvement illustrates to constituents that the fund-raising staff is in full support of the campaign. The president said, "I'll try." Well, try he did, because the staff of 50 plus pledged over $150,000 to the campaign. This was a great start! And throughout the campaign, SDSU has seen over 18,000 donors contribute to "IT BEGINS WITH STATE."
I am confident SDSU will reach its goal of $200 million by December 31, 2012, because the people of South Dakota are proud, committed and will not let this campaign fail. The record of fund-raising by SDSU's sister institution, University of South Dakota, was $134 million raised over eight years. SDSU has already surpassed that number in just three!
I am grateful SDSU allowed the J.F. Smith Group to be a part of their success.
