Annual Report of NSAC Foundation

2004-05

The NSAC Foundation had another excellent year in 2004-05. Total donations made to NSAC through the Foundation were $733,965.81 for the 2004-05 fiscal year.  The previous year's donation total was $359,000.These figures include donations of all kinds including in-kind gifts. A representation of the growth for donations to NSAC through the Foundation is in Figure 1. It shows we have made steady progress during the past 4 years and we are now in a better position to move to the next level of fund raising.

Of particular significance to our activities is the volume of transactions that the office processed for the year and the increase in the numbers of donors with whom we interact. There were 377 donations received in 2003-04.  In 2004-05, this number over doubled to 808.  Figure 2 shows the growth in donor numbers. Our total transactions into the system were1033 including the setting up of pledges and the handling of multiple donations. This increased activity would not be possible without the new donor management system.

Our new donor information system allows us to analyze the information in a more comprehensive way than every before.  We have designated the various methods that donations come to us under a series of campaigns including, annual mail appeal, scholarship appeal, research funding, special events and memorials.  For the first time this year the phone-a-thon was included as part of the Second Century Endowment campaign.  Donations received that cannot be attributed to a particular campaign are classified as “other”. They include items such as the unsolicited donations of books to the library and transfers of cash from the Atlantic Agricultural Hall of Fame for investment. A summary of the various campaigns is shown in Figure 3.

The phone portion of the Second Century Endowment Campaign was completed in a 7-week blitz. The students managed to reach 2696 of our alumni by phone. This is approximately 54% of the 5000 for which we had phone numbers. Of those, 310 (11%) pledged a total of $73,911 to come in over the next three years.  A total of $28,765 has been paid on those pledges by June 2005. Outright gifts to the campaign brought the total at years end up to almost $81,000.

This does not tell the complete story for the endowment campaign however. There are still additional pledges to come in as some alumni would not specify the amount of their donations but indicated they would contribute.  A total of $423,167 has been recorded as gifts to the endowment campaign in outright gifts including several large contributions to newly named endowed scholarships. This means that the campaign as of June 2005, has achieved $497,078 since it started. The total cost for the phone campaign was $33,800 including phone setup and usage, the cost of the student callers and the supervisor.  This indicates a total of $14.70 raised per dollar invested. The Second Century Endowment campaign now needs to enter its next phase including personal visits and appeals; a staff solicitation and second year phone follow up.

Asimportant as the dollars raised by the phone campaign, is the heightened awareness of the fund raising activities at NSAC and the acquiring of new donors.  This will help our efforts in years to come.

Solicitation for donations to scholarships continues to be a priority. In addition to the 72 annual scholarships that are funded by donations provided each year, there are 11 expendable scholarships or bursaries as well as 42 endowed scholarships and bursaries for which donations are received. Several newly endowed scholarships were started during the year. The G.G Smeltzer Bursary was converted from an annually funded award to an endowed fund by the donation of the necessary capital.  The Dr. Allan and Barbara MacKay Scholarship and the Randy & Gladys Keddy Memorial Bursary are new awards that each result from the donation of the base $25,000 endowment.

The Development Office also took in a transfer of over $167,000 from the Department of Finance that will be used to create the International Student Assistance Fund.  This fund will assist non-Canadian students studying at NSAC who experience emergency financial hardship.

The annual mail campaign continues to grow each year.  A total of almost $90,000 was received from the fall mail out and the winter follow-up in the alumni magazine.  Donations went to the unallocated AC Fund (NSAC’s highest priority) as well as to several other specific funds including named scholarships, various class funds and the library.  There were 260 donations through the annual appeal for a 4.7% response rate. This is compared to 3.1% for the previous year and means a 51% increase in response rate.  The annual appeal raised $19 per dollar invested. This is a significant increase over other years and demonstrates how our success in fund raising is building.

The disbursements from the various funds appear in Figure 4.

Scholarships and Bursaries continue to account for over 50% of the total disbursements from the fund. This is down slightly as a percentage from the previous year (61%). All other categories either remained the same as the previous year or increased slightly except research, which went from 7% to 20%.  This is the result of the transfer of the gift-in-kind of mink for the new fur research facility.  Because of the nature of the expendable research funds, it is expected that the amount of disbursement from research will increase as projects move forward.

The 2004-05 year was the first year we have had the new donor and alumni management system, Benefactor, in use.  While there have been some growing pains, it is clear that the office would not have been able to handle the growth in activity without the automation of the process. This was especially true during the phone campaign when handling pledges. We now have the beginnings of a significant information base to help with future fund raising and communication efforts. Our challenge now is to find ways to make the best use of this growing resource and to exploit more fully the many features that the system has that we have yet to utilize.

There was significant progress during the year to consolidate the portfolios of the NSAC Foundation and those held by the Alumni Association. Several versions of an agreement were discussed and drafted by the lawyers for the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries. By year-end, there was general agreement on the terms and process and we were moving to implement the consolidation following year-end of the Alumni Association in June.

The terms of three of our directors expired during the year.  Mrs. Margaret McCain had served her two terms and left the board. A replacement candidate was approached and application for appointment made. Dick Huggard and Sherry Porter agreed to stand for a second term and application was made for reappointment.

The fund raising effort at NSAC is making steady progress.  We are building and expanding our base of donors and ways in which donations are solicited. With the assistance of volunteers both on and off campus, we will be successful in building a program that will assist the students of NSAC long into the future.

My thanks go all those that have helped in the fund raising efforts during the past year including all the directors of the Foundation, alumni volunteers, students who made the phone calls, and RBR Development for their excellent council. I also want to acknowledge the excellent work and support of all the members of the development office team and in particular Ms. Joanne Jordan who has dealt with all the volumes of material and the changes in systems in such a professional manner.

Respectfully submitted.

 Jim Goit
Executive Director
Development and External Relations.