CSUCI Depending on the Largess of Strangers

A lot of 10-, 20- and 100-dollar bills must be raised to launch a new college campus, so fund-raisers at Cal State Channel Islands were glad to have the philanthropic ante raised with this month’s $5-million donation from Oxnard rancher John S. Broome.

And although they don’t expect the average Ventura County resident to match Broome’s generosity, members of the university’s fund-raising foundation are stepping up efforts to persuade people to pull out their checkbooks and give what they can.

Broome’s gift, earmarked for creation of a new library, has been the highlight of a fund-raising drive that in the last six months had generated $100,000 for university projects.

Foundation leaders expanded their campaign last week, sending out a one-page mailer to more than 5,000 potential supporters extolling the virtues of Ventura County’s first public university and soliciting donations to help speed its development.

Not counting Broome’s money, the foundation has raised nearly half a million dollars since its creation in 1996. Board members hope to raise another half million by next summer.

“We want to give as many people as possible the chance to contribute whatever they can afford so they can participate in building this university,” said Elizabeth Stacey, the university’s fund-raising director. “There has been quite an outpouring already. The amount of enthusiasm in this region for this university is just amazing.”

Support has come from all over.

School superintendents Jerry and Gwen Gross have contributed $1,000, as has former Ventura County Supervisor Maggie Kildee and former CSU Chancellor Barry Munitz. Somis avocado farmer Tom Pecht has chipped in $1,000, as has Oxnard flower grower Wim Zwinkels.

The fund-raising effort has even drawn bipartisan support, with Ventura County Democratic Central Committee Chairman Hank Lacayo and former Republican congressman Robert J. Lagomarsino each contributing $1,000 to the cause.

So far, more than 100 individuals have become founding members of the President’s Circle, donating at least $1,000 each. The names of the founding members will be engraved on decorative tiles that will highlight a small garden being created in the shadow of a sun-bleached building that one day will be the university’s library.

John Broome will probably get his name on more than a ceramic tile. Cal State University trustees this week are expected to reward Broome’s generosity by naming the library building after him.

By itself, Broome’s $5 million amounts to more than the total donations received in fiscal year 1997-98 at eight of the university system’s 22 campuses.

“It’s remarkable, given that we don’t even have a university yet,” said Handel Evans, president of the Cal State campus under development at the former Camarillo State Hospital complex.

“Really, this is providing funding that I can use for various things which the state wouldn’t normally give me,” Evans added. “We need a science building desperately. We need more classroom buildings, a student union and a recreation center. This gives us the flexibility, when you look at the way we are putting this university together, to do some wonderful things.”

Increasingly, as state and federal dollars have dried up, public colleges and universities have had to turn to private-sector donations to fund projects and programs.

The University of California raises three-quarters of a billion dollars each year through charitable contributions. The California State University system in fiscal year 1997-98 brought in $237 million, a 37% increase over the previous year and a 117% increase over six years ago.

So intent are CSU trustees on generating private donations that university presidents are now evaluated on how much their campuses are able to raise. University presidents are required each year to raise at least 10% more than the amount of their annual operating budgets.

At the emerging Cal State Channel Islands campus, the stakes are even higher.

CSU officials launched the inaugural phase of the university Aug. 30, when the campus opened as the new home for Cal State Northridge’s Ventura County satellite learning center. The center is expected to evolve in 2002 into an autonomous, degree-granting institution.

But university trustees have made it clear that the only way the campus will expand is if CSU planners develop a private pool of money. Local officials are proposing a range of development projects to generate the needed cash, but private contributions will be key to helping the campus reach its potential.

“That’s definitely a significant pledge to a campus,” CSU spokesman Ken Swisher said of Broome’s donation. “Many public institutions, including the CSU system as a whole, have decided they needed to get more involved in this kind of fund-raising. And I think you will only see that increase.”

For Channel Islands, the fund-raising program began when lifelong Ventura resident Vivian K. Bostwick approached university officials in 1996 about establishing an endowment for student scholarships.

At that time, the university had no official way of receiving the donation, prompting officials to create the nonprofit Cal State Channel Islands Foundation. Upon Bostwick’s death in early 1998, the university received $50,000 from her estate. Interest earned on that money will be used for scholarships when the university opens as full-fledged institution.

Although the foundation has been around a few years, it didn’t kick into high gear until last year. That’s when members of the board of directors resolved to solicit donations from friends, co-workers and anyone else they could think of who might willing to give.

Foundation Chairman Tom Malley sent letters, placed phone calls and paid personal visits to people he asked to give. The Camarillo attorney also dug into his own pocket, making a $1,000 donation last year.

“The shift we’ve seen in the ‘90s means this university is not going to happen unless people get behind it with their private checkbooks,” Malley said.

“I tell people that this is an opportunity to become involved in something that adds to the cultural, educational and economic betterment of our community, that it will really be one of those instances where charitable giving will provide immediate rewards,” he said. “The challenge will be in sustaining this effort and making more people aware of the potential that exists for involvement.”

At the new university, philanthropy comes in all shapes and sizes.

For university officials, that includes the $13 million allocated earlier this year by the Ventura County Transportation Commission to establish a range of transportation programs at the new campus.

The Exxon Corp. has donated an estimated half a million dollars in office furniture. The Giles W. & Elise G. Mead Foundation gave $6,000 to sponsor a workshop on the university’s efforts to create an environmentally friendly campus.

Most recently, Somis residents Bernie and Barbara Bobitch established a fund that will provide full scholarships to four students pursuing an education in the health sciences at Channel Islands.

A host of corporations, businesses and civic organizations has also contributed, providing plenty of encouragement to foundation leaders.

“It’s really a very easy sell,” said foundation member Pat Richards, a vice president with locally based City National Bank. Richards has made a $1,000 donation. And the bank has contributed more than $5,000 and has allowed Richards to spend a good deal of her time on the fund-raising campaign.

“We can just have a university or we can have the best library, the best art and music department, the finest instructors,” she said. “That’s going to take a lot of support from the public in private donations. But we have a very generous, caring community. I think all we have to do is go out there and ask.”

About This Series

Pushing forward with creation of Ventura County’s first public university, fund-raisers are stepping up efforts to solicit donations for the emerging campus. “Birth of a University: Countdown to a Cal State Campus” is an occasional series chronicling the creation of the Channel Islands campus at the former Camarillo State Hospital complex. This installment focuses on the university’s ongoing efforts to raise private contributions for a range of projects and programs.

About This Series

Pushing forward with creation of Ventura County’s first public university, fund-raisers are stepping up efforts to solicit donations for the emerging campus. “Birth of a University: Countdown to a Cal State Campus” is an occasional series chronicling the creation of the Channel Islands campus at the former Camarillo State Hospital complex. This installment focuses on the university’s ongoing efforts to raise private contributions for a range of projects and programs.