VISION: SOUTHEAST CAMPAIGN NEARS GOAL

Southeast Missouri State University's "New Vision of Excellence" capital campaign is nearing and will ultimately surpass its $25 million goal, the university's development director said Thursday.

"We feel very confident that we are going to surpass the goal," said the director, Don Ford.

As of the end of November, the campaign was at 97 percent of the goal with more than $24.2 million having been raised in pledges, cash gifts, securities and in-kind contributions, Ford said.

The capital campaign actually began July 1, 1987, with the private phase of the fund drive. The private phase of the campaign raised $12 million in gifts and pledges.

The public phase of the campaign began Sept. 29, 1990.

"In a little over a year, in the public phase of the campaign, we have raised $12.2 million," said Ford, adding that the contributions amount to nearly $1 million a month.

Many of the contributions are in the form of five-year pledges, he explained.

The securities received are typically stocks and bonds, said Ford. "Gift in kind pertains to basically real properties," he said. "It may be land; it may be buildings."

It's been estimated the campaign could raise $27 million for various programs and projects at Southeast by the time the campaign concludes June 30. But Ford said it's difficult to make any firm projections.

"This is the first capital campaign in the history of Southeast," he said. "Nobody knew for sure two years ago whether we would be able to do it or not.

"I think the real exciting part of the campaign is we have had broad-based support from alumni and friends, and just a tremendous response to the campaign," said Ford.

That's all the more impressive considering the economic recession, he said.

The recession has had some impact on Southeast's capital campaign, Ford said. "People are reacting to the campaign positively, but they are more cautious" in making financial contributions.

Still, he said, the capital campaign has done well.

"People have a lot of confidence in the management of this institution and also, maybe because we are not a huge market, people in our region are pretty close to the university," said Ford.

"A lot of people in our region are very involved in the university and, of course, that is the ideal situation."

Ford said the fund-raising campaign is currently in the middle of seeking donations via telephone solicitations. That part of the campaign began in September and concludes at the end of March.

"The purpose of the `telefund' program is to contact as many of our approximately 35,000 alums as possible to give them an opportunity to pledge to our `New Vision of Excellence' campaign."

Ford said such solicitations generally secure relatively small gifts. "It is more like what we would call our annual giving approach," he said. "It is not as personal.

"It's more of a cover-the-waterfront approach, if you will, to try to contact as many alums as possible."

Ford said the telephone solicitations are being done by university students.

The success of the overall campaign so far has resulted from the efforts of many people, he said. "No one single officer or one single person could ever take credit for a campaign of this magnitude."

Ford said faculty and staff at Southeast have contributed about $300,000, well above the $200,000 goal that had been set.

The capital campaign is raising funds for projects and programs in 12 categories.

The goal has been reached or exceeded for some of those categories, while others are still far short of their goals, said Ford.

"The great majority of our gifts are designated or restricted," he explained.

Southeast is well on its way to reaching fund-raising goals for the campaign's two most important projects: a new College of Business Administration building, and an athletic complex and renovations to Houck Stadium.

More than $2 million or 85 percent of the $2.4 million goal has been raised as the local match for eventual construction of a new business building, said Ford.

More than $1 million has been raised toward the $1.6 million goal for funding an athletic complex and Houck Stadium renovations. The athletic complex would provide facilities for such things as sports medicine and sports training.

Fund-raising goals have been met for scholarships, the Bootheel Education Center at Malden, program enhancements, campus development, and the university fund, which comprises unrestricted gifts that can be used to meet future funding needs.

More than $5.17 million has been raised for scholarships, well over the $4 million goal, Ford said.

"People naturally, when they think of a college education, they think of scholarships," he said.

Although certain goals have been reached, Ford said the university will continue to accept gifts for any of the categories.

Ford said that "the most important thing to us is donor intent.

"Our stewardship of anyone's money given to the university through the foundation is terribly important," he said.