NITZSCHKE HAS FUND-RAISING RESULTS FOR SEMO

When Dr. Dale Nitzschke stepped down last year as president of Southeast Missouri State University and immediately was named chancellor, a new fund-raising position for the school, a lot of eyebrows arched.

Nitzschke's whirlwind tenure as president had put the university in high gear with announcements of new programs and a smorgasbord of new construction, including the River Campus for the visual and performing arts and the polytechnic program.

Most of all, critics wondered aloud if setting up someone in a $138,000-a-year job (salary plus expenses) to raise money was a practical investment. After all, the university has an entire fund-raising arm that generates millions of dollars a year in donations and gifts to the school. And then there was that messy business about Nitzschke's residency. He lives in Cincinnati, where his wife maintained their home even while he served as president. In Southeast Missouri, arrangements like that can generate considerable grumbling.

The chancellorship for Nitzschke was, from the outset, a two-year arrangement. He said then -- and still says -- that he plans to retire next year after the two-year stint is up.

So what has Nitzschke accomplished?

Looking at the figures, it appears he has been not just busy, but successful.

In his first year as a full-time fund raiser, Nitzschke can claim more than $4.7 million for the university in the form of gifts, pledges and federal funding.

Here's one way of measuring his success: His salary and expenses are under 3 percent of what he has raised in the first year. That's a remarkably good rate for fund raising in general. Folks who make their living raising funds for major institutions say the going rate nationally is 17 to 18 percent of every dollar raised goes to pay for fund-raising expenses. At that rate, 3 percent is quite a bargain.

There are still naysayers who complain Nitzschke is spinning wheels that would be turned even if he wasn't on the university payroll. Perhaps some of those funds would have been raised by the university's development and foundation programs. But both President Ken Dobbins and others say Nitzschke's efforts have turned up dollars that would have been missed using traditional fund-raising methods.

There's another year to go. We'll know next year how much Nitzschke's two-year contract as chancellor has produced. At the halfway mark, it looks as though the university will be happy with the results.