NSAC Development and Alumni Relations Office
Annual Report
2003-2004

The Development and Alumni Relations Office had another very successful year in 2003-2004. Fund raising activities increased and both the numbers of donations and the amounts contributed increased significantly over the previous two years. Donations are increasing in all months of the year and not just after the mail appeal which is a good sign for the future.

Fig 1. Cumulative Donations made to NSAC

The second comprehensive mail-out appeal to alumni and friends of NSAC was held in the fall of 2003. A reminder card and appeal story appeared in the winter addition of the Agricola News. A total of 5400 requests to Alumni and friends were sent out and 170 were returned prior to the March 31, 2004 fiscal year end. This is a response rate of 3.1% up 24% from the previous year. A total of $21,369 was received via the mail appeal for the various funds. This was a 46% increase over the previous year. A total of $4.44 was received in donations for ever dollar spent on the appeal. It is hoped that the mail appeal will continue to grow as part of the donor cultivation process for NSAC and we would like to continue to improve the response rate in future years.

Figure 2 shows a summary of the various categories of donations to NSAC during the year. Figure 3 documents the major expenditures classifications.

Figure 2  Total Donations	Figure 3  Total Expenditures

Donations to the annual scholarship program accounted for over 53% of overall donations. These funds are paid out to scholarship recipients during the year the donations are donated. Other scholarships are paid from investment income from endowed funds. Scholarships account for 61% of expenditures.

There was significant intake of research funds during the year. A total of $77,000 was deposited in support of the Poultry Research Facility for example. These funds will be expended as the project moves into its construction phase. In addition there was an in-kind contribution to the fur research program. It is expected that proceeds from fundraising for research programs will increase in coming years and more will be deposited with the Foundation accounts until used.

The Foundation also receives money on behalf of the Alumni Association for funds it continues to maintain. This amount is transferred at intervals during the year.

The Library was the recipient of several donations during the year including several donations of book collections. As will all gifts of this nature, in-kind gifts are evaluated and a receipt written. The value of the gift is then shown as being transferred out of the Foundation as an expenditure.

The expenditure labeled as “other program” are grants made to the Rock Garden and to the Organic Agriculture Center of Canada that were handled by the Foundation through the AC fund.

NSAC is fortunate to have many faculty and staff who are skilled fund raisers and have contributed greatly to the fundraising efforts over the past year. The role of the Development staff in helping reach funding objectives will continue to expand as our services become better known.

Considerable time was invested in the startup of the new Alumni and Donor Management software package. The system when “live” in May 2004 and although considerable work remains to be done, it will increase the ability of the staff to serve the donors and NSAC.

The staff of the Development and Alumni Relations Office also wishes to thank all those alumni and friends that made donations during the year.