Dear university colleague:

I am pleased to present this high-level summary of the OSU Foundation’s progress as we near the end of our fiscal year on June 30. Let me start by thanking you for your partnership in all that we have achieved in advancing Oregon State University’s mission.

My goal continues to be to keep you, as a leader at our university, apprised of the Foundation’s fundraising and engagement activities.

Advancing our mission: By the numbers

Data is as of May 31, 2022, unless otherwise specified.

Fundraising: Between June 30 and May 31, our donors gave $151.19 million in gifts and pledges, which, by the way, is more than we raised in all of fiscal year 2020. We remain on track to have a record fundraising year (and a record year in “cash” as measured by the Voluntary Support of Education Survey).

Endowment: Even with endowment down 6.7% from historical high, we are pleased with our outsourced CIO, Agility. Our endowment market value was $814,726,387 at the end of May. The endowment had a record market value of $873,797,632 on 12/31/2021.

Engagement: This May, Oregon State volunteers gave 1,350 community service hours in just 10 days for the OSU Days of Service 2022, which inspires Beavers all over the world to volunteer in their communities. We are grateful to everyone who participated. We are now focused on engaging our newest alumni through OSU Connections, an online platform for the OSU community that is integrated with LinkedIn.

At our board meeting, we elected new Trustees: Neil Fernando, College of Engineering, ’97 – principal, Emerio Design; Nikki Neuburger, College of Business, ’04 – chief brand officer, lululemon; DeMonty Price, College of Public Health and Human Sciences, ’85 – retired chief operating, services and values officer, Restoration Hardware (RH).

Recapping our spring board meetings

We were glad that several deans and other university leaders were able to participate in our spring board meetings. In particular, I would like to thank Irem Tumer, vice president for research, and Brian Wall, associate vice president for research, innovation, and economic impact, for leading our discussion on University Industry Partnerships as well as Jackie Bangs, secretary for the OSU Board of Trustees, for her partnership on the joint session between the Foundation and the university’s governing board.

The spring meeting is designated as our “annual meeting,” which is important because it is when:

• we ask the board to approve our budget;
• we elect new and returning Trustees;
• and we recognize and thank Trustees who are retiring from board service (Carol Hill Pickard, College of Public Health and Human Sciences, ’76; Tony Williams, College of Liberal Arts, ’87) or going on sabbatical (Leonard Aplet, College of Agricultural Sciences, ’76; Ken Barrow, College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences, ’77; Ken Provencher; Angela Snow, College of Liberal Arts, ’81).

In addition to this annual board business, in this meeting:

• we focused on university-industry partnerships;
• held a joint session with the university’s governing board;
• approved a new “fiduciary compliance” policy, regarding unspent endowment distributions (>$25K);
• and enjoyed the annual dinner celebrating faculty excellence.

Celebrating faculty excellence at OSU

The Foundation was delighted to partner with the Office of the Provost in organizing, hosting and funding the university’s annual celebration of exceptional OSU educators, scientists, engineers, innovators and scholars at the 2022 Faculty Excellence celebration and the visionary donors who support them.

The May 25 event featured University Distinguished Professors Michael Freitag (College of Science), Kathryn Higley (College of Engineering) and Brent Steel (College of Liberal Arts), recognized fellows of prestigious scholarly academies and celebrated the 28 new holders of Oregon State’s donor-supported endowed faculty positions.

Thanks to our dedicated philanthropic community, we now have 167 endowed faculty position funds: lasting support for generation after generation of outstanding faculty.

Congratulations to the winners of the 2022 Dammys

Following the record-breaking success of Dam Proud Day 2022, the OSU Foundation celebrated our university collaborators with the annual Dammy Awards on June 6 at the OSU President’s Residence. We are grateful for our colleagues across OSU who got loud on Dam Proud Day, brought our community together and inspired new acts of generosity and engagement among Beavers worldwide.

Congratulations to our Dammy Award winners:

• The Spirit Award, our highest honor: OSU-Athletics
• Best Communication Strategy: KidSpirit
• Best Social Strategy: College of Forestry
• Best Challenge Gift Strategy: College of Engineering
• Best Collaborators, External to OSU Foundation: Karen Swanger, director of KidSpirit, and Blair Garland, senior director of community relations and marketing at OSU-Cascades

Congratulations also to the winners of the $100,000 OSU Trustee Challenge* prizes:

• Most Gifts: Women’s Soccer ($20,000)
• Most First-Time Gifts: Beaver Dance and Cheer ($15,000)
• Most Dollars Raised: Dean of Student’s Emergency Fund ($15,000)
• Most Gifts From Alumni: Men’s Crew ($20,000)
• Most Improved in Donors: KidSpirit ($15,000)
• Most Improved in Dollars: OSU Football Fund for Excellence ($15,000)

*Special thanks to current, incoming and past Foundation chairs Penny Atkins, College of Business, ’79, Ruth Beyer, College of Liberal Arts, ’77, Eric Schoenstein, College of Business, ’88 and John Stirek, College of Business, ’82 for funding the challenge.

Program spotlight: Digital Experience Officers

The OSU Foundation has prioritized technology and partnerships with industry leaders to innovate as efficiently and strategically as possible to better support the university’s ambitions goals. Our Donor Experience Officer (DXO) program is an example.

Launched in 2019, the Foundation developed this program with an industry partner, EverTrue, to engage donors at scale.

Traditional fundraisers work with around 100 donors; our donor experience officers, Melanie Ellis and CJ Fritz, each manage a portfolio of 1,000 donors with, on average, about 17 meaningful contacts per year per person – more than double the contacts generated by the traditional approach.

In the past, this level of personal connection was reserved for the university’s most generous donors, but with sales enablement technology, our DXOs can build relationships at scale. These contacts are all captured on our CRM and support our AI goals.

This year, we rolled out the tools and tactics we learned from our pilot to an additional 12 fundraisers (assistant and associate-level major gift officers). We are continuing to learn and build upon this program’s success and are excited about its possibilities to expand our reach in a personal and meaningful way.

News and events

• Mentorship and philanthropy help university advance DEI goals
• Soria Colomer receives College of Education's first endowed faculty position fund
• Pat Reser honors her late husband, Al, with an endowed chair in the College of Business
• Distinguished Alumna creates first scholarship exclusively serving students with disabilities in the College of Science
• Longtime volunteer leader Babb remembered for commitment to OSU, impact on Beaver Athletics

CASE Circle of Excellence Awards

We were grateful to be recognized with two silver CASE Circle of Excellence Awards:

• Writing: Column or Opinion Piece – Oregon Stater: Memories of War
• Marketing: Advertising (Online) Completing Reser Stadium Thankview video

These awards spotlight two examples of times when our colleagues went above and beyond to show OSU donors the lasting impact they’ve made on our university and community. My colleagues and university partners continue to inspire me ⁠— as do our university colleagues, alumni, parents and friends — whose stories we are fortunate to tell.

I am also pleased to congratulate our university colleagues in the College of Engineering for their gold award:

• Videos: Promotional (Long): Rooted in Community: Women in Engineering

A lot to celebrate

Thank you for all the ways you strengthen Oregon State University. It’s exciting to partner with you to grow our community of engaged alumni and friends.

I will be in touch over the summer with a look back on FY22 as well as an update on our goals for the new year, which will include:

• welcoming OSU’s new president, Dr. Jayathi Y. Murthy;
• and launching OSU’s comprehensive engagement and fundraising campaign.

Happy end of the academic year. Let me know if you have questions.

Sincerely, 

Shawn L. Scoville
President and CEO 
Oregon State University Foundation