Faces of Philanthropy: Talent

James J. Hill, one of Grinnell’s founders, was a true visionary. He demonstrated it with the ceremonious presentation of a silver dollar in 1846. The sound of a single coin laid down as a first call to philanthropy still resonates with first-year students who benefit from the endowment Hill started nearly 170 years ago.  

Sydney McClendon ’16 heard it loud and clear at her first Medallion Ceremony, the event established in 1998 to introduce first-year students to the history of the College. Students are inspired to consider Hill’s call to action in the context of their own journey as Grinnellians. Some are moved to reciprocate.

“I was struck by the phrase, ‘you are a student here for only four years, but you are an alum for the rest of your life,’” McClendon says. “I can tell already that with the friendships I’ve made and the mentors I’ve met at Grinnell, I feel a strong connection to the College. I want it to continue after I leave.”

McClendon acquired a taste for philanthropy during high school in McPherson, Kan., where she headed up the Kansas Association for Youth club. She joined the Student Alumni Council (SAC) in her first year at Grinnell because she intuitively valued the tie to the larger alumni community. Her involvement grew in step with her commitment, and in August 2014 she addressed Medallion Ceremony attendees as SAC president.

“I have been a beneficiary of funding from alumni that allowed me to do things I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to do otherwise, like an externship program in my first year,” McClendon says. “I wanted to give back by helping the Student Alumni Council have a larger presence on campus and to make students more aware of what alumni and DAR [Office of Development and Alumni Relations] do for the College.”

McClendon’s organizational skills have been put to good use replenishing SAC with leadership talent when graduation last year left her as the only student with executive board experience. The resounding success of SAC’s National Philanthropy Week in December speaks to her success in attracting other philanthropically-minded students to the group.

The Student Alumni Council engaged 500 students on campus during National Philanthropy Week. In addition, volunteers created and sent gift bags to alums celebrating their 70th Reunion this year. SAC’s creativity and effectiveness earned an “Outstanding External Program” award from its national charter organization.

Like any good leader, McClendon gives credit where it is due. “It was set up mainly by our philanthropy chair, Lilianna Bagnoli ’15, and run by the members of our executive council,” McClendon says. “It has been really fun for me to bring together a bunch of people who don’t know as much about Student Alumni Council and give them opportunities to create their own events and find their own ways to give back to Grinnell.”

“I Heart GC Day” in February further demonstrated that the Student Alumni Council is committed to McClendon’s goals of raising awareness of SAC and increasing participation in philanthropic activities. McClendon says she hopes more students will get involved with the broader alumni community early in their Grinnell careers.

“We want students to have a more holistic view of what philanthropy is,” McClendon explains. “We’re trying to show them that while money is a big part of philanthropy, it’s not the only way that they can give back to the College. We want them to think about ways to be creative with how they can give back as a student.

“I think a lot of students are caught off guard when they’re just out of college and they really don’t have an idea of what philanthropy is,” McClendon says. “If we can reach out to them now, they will have a better understanding of why the College is calling them after they leave.”

When McClendon took a study-abroad opportunity in Copenhagen this spring, Austin Cote ’15 took over as Student Alumni Council president. Cote says the step up from vice president to do more philanthropically is an extension of the personal and spiritual growth he’s experienced at Grinnell.

“I had never done event planning before taking this job, or before I became vice president,” Cote says. “All of a sudden I was thrown into this role, but you learn quickly.”

A trip to a conference in St. Louis last summer, taken with McClendon and Michelle Czarnecki, assistant director of alumni relations for student programs, sparked Cote’s imagination. The drive home gave him time to incubate an idea for giving students a psychological boost when winter’s short days and cold nights bear down. A few months later, Cote’s idea lit up the campus, literally.

“Winter can be hard for people, so Dec. 5 we had a large-scale event called ‘Arctic Lights,’” Cote says. “We had class games and a whole bunch of pizza. About 8 o’clock when it was dark, we moved everyone outside and lit up Gates Rawson Tower. We hadn’t told anyone. None of the students knew we were going to do it.”

Hours of research and several meetings with facilities management were required to coordinate the event. Cote, captain of the Grinnell swim team, didn’t even get to attend the initial lighting. He was participating in a swim meet at the moment the tower was illuminated. Seeing it later that evening, he says, was just as gratifying.

“Giving your talent to a cause mostly involves your willingness to sacrifice, day in and day out,” Cote says. “I’ve seen it in everything I’ve gotten involved in and everything that Grinnellians do. Regardless of whether you are giving your time to philanthropy or your body for sports, it requires that you give up something in exchange for something better. I don’t know if it’s a talent in and of itself, but in the long run it achieves the good goals.”

Driven as much by a spiritual commitment, Cote gives back in numerous ways through church activities when he’s in his hometown, a suburb of Chicago. “I’m very religious,” Cote says. “It is my duty to God and my country to help my fellow man. I don’t care who it is, if somebody needs help, it’s my duty to help them. If the College needs help in a given area, I should at least try to help fill that role.

“I know I’ll always give back, especially to the College, simply because it has done more to transform who I am than any other organization,” Cote says. “The base unit of who I was is still there, but now it’s polished. The difference between my first year and fourth year is radical.”

Matchmaking of a Sort

GRASP coordinators pair alumni volunteers with prospective students.

Grinnell Regional Admission Support Program (GRASP) coordinators combine the science of recruitment with the art of attraction. They are chief ambassadors who make sure the Grinnell story is being heard in cities all over the country. Using geographical and other criteria, coordinators match prospective students with alumni best suited to meet with those students on their home turf.

“I believe it’s really important to students to have an opportunity to meet alumni, especially if they haven’t been (to campus) themselves,” says Adrienne Enriquez ’98, GRASP coordinator in Portland, Ore.

“Students are looking for an opportunity to hear how Iowa is different from Portland, and how Grinnell, specifically, is different from Portland. It’s helpful for students to be able to talk to someone who can tell them what it’s like, to reassure them that it can be a great experience.”

Enriquez works for Oregon GEAR UP, a federally funded program that works to build college access opportunities. She brings those talents plus eight years’ experience in college admissions to her volunteer role with GRASP.

“My philosophy is to think about where volunteers live, what communities they have a connection to, and to connect students who go to a particular high school with somebody who may have a connection to that high school or has a connection to the student’s neighborhood,” Enriquez says.

Ryan Bremer ’95 coordinates San Francisco Bay Area GRASP volunteers. “I feel like we play an important role not only in evaluating the students, but in getting them motivated and excited so that if they do get accepted, they’re going to take a long look at their admission.”

In recent years, the Grinnell admission and alumni relations offices have fine-tuned GRASP operations, favoring one-on-one contact over student-alumni receptions. Improved technological and data support has yielded better student prospects, a greater number of enthusiastic volunteers, better interview matches, and, ultimately, an increase in highly qualified applicants.

“This year we had 23 local alumni volunteers do 46 interviews,” Bremer says. “Volunteers connect with their student(s) to find times to meet. Then they write up an evaluation that helps the admission office consider each student. Our volunteers have a significant impact because this year 15 of those 46 students were admitted.”

Bremer sounds more like an organizational developer than a chemistry major when he talks about people skills and data management. But the switch in focus from vocation to voluntarism is not that much of a stretch. “I like the process part of it. I build Excel sheets to manage the whole process and I’ve got formulas and scripts working for me. It’s enjoyable. I like making sure I’ve got people matched up well.

“As far as the value of what we do, it goes back to the idea that giving talent and giving money are not mutually exclusive,” Bremer says. “There’s no way the College could afford to pay for all the student interaction that happens through GRASP volunteers all over the country if they tried to do it with admission counselors.

“The alumni volunteers are amazing,” he adds. “They make my job easy. We do most of the interviews in January, which is a busy time with events of the new year. Yet, every year, the volunteers of the Bay Area come through for Grinnell. They are incredibly dedicated and diligent. They make it worry-free for me, which makes it a joy.”

Professional Advice from a Philanthropy Guru

Any organization looking to position itself for the future would do well to engage the astute strategic guidance of Ray Happy ’83. Principal and managing director of philanthropic consulting group CCS, Happy and his company of 300 fundraising professionals advise a number of major universities, as well as such groups as the Metropolitan Opera, Kennedy Center, Human Rights Watch, and the American Civil Liberties Union.

“Our clients ask us to come in and do assessments, to help them think through their strategic plans, and to help them figure out what goals they should be meeting next as organizations,” Happy says. “Because of my background and President [Raynard S.] Kington’s hopes for a new approach to philanthropy, we started having conversations. I’ve been asked to be an informal adviser to the board. We are going to be talking about major fundraising for the College and what it might look like.”

Grinnell represents something of an anomaly among educational institutions, having conducted only one major capital campaign in its history. That was 20 years ago. The College simply has not done much asking for specific capital or endowment gifts, an area in which Happy says Grinnell will have to “step up its game” in order to compete.

“Most of the institutions we work with have vast armies of people doing this work. They’ve been doing it for a long time and they’re very sophisticated,” Happy says. “We need to play a little bit of catch-up. If we can take steps as alumni and as friends of the College, then I think we will achieve excellent results.

“The stakes are pretty high, but I think it’s a good time, under President Kington’s leadership, to try these things.”

Happy’s optimism is fueled by his appreciation for the College and rooted in his earliest remembrances of Grinnell. “It’s a very supportive community. It’s an engaged community, open to new ideas and points of view.”