Louisiana’s then-secretary of economic development Stephen Moret rummaged for an explanation as to why the University of Alabama ranked 49 spots higher than LSU on a U.S. News and World Report list of best colleges to attend.
Despite his perception of LSU as an academically stronger institution, Moret said the “single biggest differentiator” in rankings was the alumni giving rate, in which LSU ranks last in the SEC. With a three-year alumni giving rate average of 6 percent, Moret said the University has plenty of room to grow.
As Moret wraps up a “comprehensive blueprint” detailing the University’s economic development future within the next two months, he plans to expand philanthropic support throughout the flagship campus. In the state’s constrained fiscal environment, he said it has become more important to some that colleges to be free than high-quality.
“We have to find ways to be able to close the gap and create excellence in the midst of that constraint,” Moret said.
Nearly one year into his new role as LSU Foundation president, Moret said he hopes to revamp the Foundation’s fundraising model using a three-pronged process. After engaging one of the top development advisory firms in the nation, he said the Foundation will continue and accelerate the first steps of progress set in motion a few years ago through a capital campaign.
First and foremost, Moret said the Foundation needs to help the University create a culture of lifelong engagement and giving. He said this culture is the least developed aspect of the University, and will prove the greatest challenge to achieve.
Sara Crow, senior director of communications and donor relations for the Foundation, said compared to its SEC peers, the University lacks an environment fueled by giving. She said the Foundation will work to show students how philanthropy shapes their college experience.
“I think we see a lot of opportunity in that regard to engage the whole campus community,” Crow said.
Next on the new fundraising agenda is crafting “big ideas” to attract transformational gifts. Contrary to popular belief, Moret said donors want to be inspired by something greater than simply “keeping the lights on.”
To cast a game-changing vision for the University, Moret said the Foundation needs to build a large and sophisticated enough fundraising enterprise to cultivate potential top donors. Out of the 200,000 alumni whose whereabouts are known by the University, he said there are roughly 40,000 who the Foundation believes could make a major philanthropic impact on campus.
Of those 40,000 potential donors, Moret said only about 4,000 of them are being actively pursued.
“That may seem like a small number, but when you think about fundraising, it’s a highly people-intensive business,” he said.
Because the University lacks the institutional support and large endowments that help bolster its peer institutions, Moret said it needs to pull together different funding sources to make a greater investment, which could be accomplished through a massive annual fundraising effort.
Best case scenario, Moret said the formal capital campaign could launch as early as the summer of 2018.
“What we’re really trying to do is go from having a relatively antiquated, undersized fundraising operation to having a national-caliber, first-rate fundraising operation for LSU,” Moret said.