MISSION

The mission of the Office of Development is to generate private gift revenues from individuals, corporations, and foundations in order to accomplish the purposes and objectives of the University of Michigan. In pursuit of this goal, the Office of Development provides fundraising leadership and services to complement, encourage, and support University-wide efforts to achieve comprehensive objectives for resource acquisition. At the same time, the Office of Development seeks to ensure the continuity of the fundraising effort and to achieve a continual and substantial growth in gift revenues throughout the University.

Activities

In order to fulfill its mission to increase both dollar and constituent support for the priority objectives of the University, the Office of Development assumes the following responsibilities:

1. To promote the understanding of University goals, objectives, and fundraising priorities among volunteers, alumni, and donors;
2. To provide an effective framework for University fundraising programs, which will expand the involvement of individuals, corporations, and foundations in support of these goals and objectives;
3. To provide fundraising planning, consultation, and information services to the schools, colleges, regional campuses, and other unit-based gift procurement programs at all levels, including annual gifts, major gifts, trusts and bequests, and corporate and foundation gifts;
4. To provide, through the work of the fundraising field staff, a nationwide network of volunteer leadership for the identification, cultivation, and solicitation of donors and donor prospects;
5. To advise on appropriate means to recognize donors and volunteers for their support and service to the University, and to provide consultation and coordination for donor and volunteer events as well as stewardship programs;
6. To provide an effective infrastructure of support services to the fundraising enterprise throughout the University, including maintaining alumni and donor records, processing and reporting of gifts, providing regular reports of fundraising activities (to the Regents, the University community, and alumni and donor constituencies), and conducting market research in support of development objectives;
7. To evaluate regularly the effectiveness and productivity of the various programs and activities, and to ensure that our resources are applied in the most effective way.

History

The historic function of the development office of the University has been to provide, through volunteer and staff organization, the leadership and specialized knowledge necessary to promote and expand private gift support. This has been accomplished through a variety of programs, including periodic high intensity campaigns such as the recently completed Campaign for Michigan to increase and improve University capital resources--both bricks-and-mortar and endowment. As we move forward to meet the challenges of the future, the University Office of Development will continue to provide a wide range of ongoing activities as well as exceptional fundraising programs to promote the growth of gift procurement results throughout the University.