IN FOCUS: Development
From the UConn Foundation's e-newsletter, Our Moment (August-September 2011)
Charles J. Zwick, left, with his UConn
roommate from 60 years ago, Bernard
Dzielinski, on campus Oct. 5 for a
ceremony to mark Zwick's $1-million gift
to the College of Agriculture and
Natural Resources.In 2010, when Charles ’50 ’51 and Barbara Zwick announced their gift of $1 million to support the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, the news reverberated through UConn, the state media and across the field of food and resource economics policy. Mr. Zwick, a former Harvard professor, UConn lecturer, director of the Office of Management and Budget in the Johnson administration, and successful economist, is an analytical, thoughtful man who gives a lot of consideration to the manner in which he donates.
“There are a lot more causes out there—good causes—than there are means to support them all,” he says. “I’ve had a very productive life, and I started to realize that I ought to help take care of the institutions in my life that made a difference to me. UConn made a difference to this farm kid from Southington.”
Zwick’s vision and generosity was praised at his gift’s signing ceremony, which also provided a chance to reconnect with his longtime friend and college roommate from UConn. As momentous as that day was, the path to it began more than six decades earlier, and was only possible through an engaged process that meshed the donor’s vision, the college’s skills and the work of a member of the UConn Foundation’s development department.
That process, ongoing in thousands of meetings, phone calls and e-mails each year, highlights the role that the Foundation’s approximately 25 development officers (DO’s) play toward the ultimate success of reaching the University’s $600-million goal for Our University. Our Moment. The Campaign for UConn.
Numerous arts organizations and schools had already approached Zwick to make a major gift, but after working with UConn, the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, and development staff, he knew his gift would have significant impact at UConn.
“There are places that, if you gave them a $1-million check, would say, ‘Oh. One million? Yes, we’ll find some time for you in three weeks.’,” Zwick says. “UConn isn’t like that. You know that the support matters to them, and you know it will make a difference.”
To make their gift, the Zwicks worked closely over the course of nine months with Amy Chesmer ’94, the director of development for the college and a CANR alumna herself. She designed a plan that included a gift today, which could be put to immediate use, as well as a planned gift that would provide support for the college in perpetuity.
Development officers, by their very nature, are behind-the-scenes staff, working to translate a donor’s philanthropic vision and desires with that of the school, college or program to which they are assigned. Their names are rarely in the media, but their work is priceless. Chesmer says that the key to the process is understanding both the donor and the University’s vision.
“The most important skill for a development officer is listening,” says Chesmer. “And that doesn’t mean having lunch with a donor and then asking them for $1 million. It doesn’t work that way. It means understanding what motivates their philanthropy, knowing what connections exist at UConn to have that vision realized, and then working with the donor and the school to find the right fit for their generosity.”
Chesmer believes that a major gift requires almost as much commitment on the part of the University as it does the donor.
“In an ideal situation, you have a faculty member, a dean or leadership with a clear vision and identifiable objectives of where they want to go. Donors want to see their money utilized well, so before anyone signs a check, we all really do need the full backing of the University to make sure the gift is for something that can be accomplished. I’m playing the role of intermediary, of a connection to the end result that donor sees. It requires that they trust me and us; that we’re doing the right thing for the right reasons.”
Mr. Zwick, the lifetime policy maker, says that his gift to support an economic policy center at his alma mater was influenced by philosophy of the late Andrew Carnegie. “Carnegie believed that if you have the means, you have to spend your money in productive ways. If you don’t, that’s the greatest sin. That notion made a difference to me. What’s productive? Buying a boat or an airplane? That’s not meaningful. I chose to give to the interests I have, to a place that directed the rest of my life, and where I can see that I can help now.”
To make a gift to support UConn, please contact the UConn Foundation's development department or make a gift online.
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