UPbeat

News for and about University of Portland faculty and staff.

Development

Get Ready for #GivingTuesday on November 28

On Tuesday, November 28, the University of Portland will join the global movement to celebrate generosity by launching the second UP Giving Tuesday campaign, according to Amy Eaton, development. Last year’s multi-media event resulted in the largest number of gifts to the University ever given in one day, with 258 gifts secured in 24 hours.

This year, we are setting the bar even higher, and Pilots near and far will come together to give back to The Bluff. The Senior Class Committee will be setting up stations at the Commons, Franz Hall, and the Clark Library with free hot chocolate and “philanthropy facts” for students to learn about giving. An anonymous donor is offering students the chance to win a $250 donation to fund a designation of their choice on campus. Find out more at this link.

Giving Tuesday is a great day for faculty and staff to make a gift to the University and help reach our goal. If you have already given, be sure to like and share the fun Giving Tuesday content with your friends and fellow Pilots.

The Office of Marketing and Communications is creating a Giving Tuesday tool kit that can be found here, with special social media images that easily be uploaded to show support for your part of campus. If you don’t see a graphic for an area of campus you want to promote, email upsocial@up.edu and one will be created for you.

The goal for the day is to reach 350 gifts. Three generous families have challenged our community to meet this goal and spread the word about the impact of scholarships at UP. When the goal is reached, the families will give $40,000 in scholarship support.

Keep your eyes open for these fun and inspiring activities around campus, online, and in your inbox. To learn more about Giving Tuesday and to follow progress throughout the day, visit giving.up.edu/givingtuesday.

Make an Impact. Give from the Heart. Go Pilots!

Get Ready for #GivingTuesday on November 28

On Tuesday, November 28, the University of Portland will join the global movement to celebrate generosity by launching the second UP Giving Tuesday campaign, according to Amy Eaton, development. Last year’s multi-media event resulted in the largest number of gifts to the University ever given in one day, with 258 gifts secured in 24 hours.

This year, we are setting the bar even higher, and Pilots near and far will come together to give back to The Bluff. The Senior Class Committee will be setting up stations at the Commons, Franz Hall, and the Clark Library with free hot chocolate and “philanthropy facts” for students to learn about giving. An anonymous donor is offering students the chance to win a $250 donation to fund a designation of their choice on campus. Find out more at this link.

Giving Tuesday is a great day for faculty and staff to make a gift to the University and help reach our goal. If you have already given, be sure to like and share the fun Giving Tuesday content with your friends and fellow Pilots.

The Office of Marketing and Communications is creating a Giving Tuesday tool kit that can be found here, with special social media images that easily be uploaded to show support for your part of campus. If you don’t see a graphic for an area of campus you want to promote, email upsocial@up.edu and one will be created for you.

The goal for the day is to reach 350 gifts. Three generous families have challenged our community to meet this goal and spread the word about the impact of scholarships at UP. When the goal is reached, the families will give $40,000 in scholarship support.

Keep your eyes open for these fun and inspiring activities around campus, online, and in your inbox. To learn more about Giving Tuesday and to follow progress throughout the day, visit giving.up.edu/givingtuesday.

Make an Impact. Give from the Heart. Go Pilots!

$10 Million Nelson Gift to Enhance Campus, Programs

Portland businessman Michael E. Nelson ’76, a member of the University of Portland Board of Regents, and his wife Arlette have made a $10 million gift to enhance the campus infrastructure and support academic programs, the University announced Friday.

The $10 million commitment includes a lead gift for the construction of a new physical plant facility on the University’s lower property. Additionally, the gift will support academics and scholarships within the School of Nursing and the Pamplin School of Business.

The new physical plant facility will be named after Nelson’s father, the late Walter E. Nelson, founder and namesake of the family’s janitorial and paper supply distribution company.

Michael and Arlette Nelson are longtime supporters of the University of Portland and its mission. Michael graduated in 1976 with a degree in accounting, and their daughter, Ellerey, one of their four children, graduated from the University’s School of Nursing in 2016.  In 2013, the Nelsons established the Walter E. Nelson Distinguished Professorship in the Pamplin School of Business. Designed to help retain full-time faculty in the areas of accounting and finance, the gift supports curricular development and research. Dr. Bahram Adrangi, professor of economics, is the first recipient of the Nelson professorship.

Michael Nelson grew up in the St. Johns area, where he attended Roosevelt High School. After graduating from the University, he joined the janitorial supply business founded by his father in 1945. As CEO, he has led the business, with its main office on Swan Island, in significant growth. It is now the largest family-owned janitorial, chemical, and paper distributor in the Pacific Northwest with more than 400 employees and branches in Astoria, Auburn, Bellingham, Bend, Eugene, Medford, North Bend, Salem, Spokane, and Walla Walla.

Farewell Party for Colin McGinty, May 31

Please plan to join the development office in a farewell gathering for Colin McGinty, who will leave the University to take on the position of president of Central Catholic High School. The gathering will take place on Wednesday, May 31, from 4 to 5:30 p.m., in the Pilot House. We offer our thanks and appreciation to Colin for his fifteen years of service at UP, and wish him well with his new endeavor.

Colin received his bachelor’s degree in sociology from UP in 1999, and completed his MBA in 2007. He met his wife Robbie here on the Bluff as an undergraduate, and they now have two children, Liam, 9, and Rory, 2.

While Colin has held many roles during his UP career, it has been centered on fundraising and external relations. He started out in the Office of Development with annual giving, then worked in the Pamplin School of Business. More recently, Colin has served as the associate athletic director for development. His last day will be June 2.

All Hands On Deck: Giving Where Your Gift Matters Most

Every year, the University of Portland  strives to increase its number of donors in order to sustain needed philanthropy and build a pipeline of support for years to come. Last year we reached our highest number of donors with over 7,500 people making a gift to UP. With just one week left for the All Hands On Deck Campaign— there is still plenty of time for faculty and staff to help out. The best part is that it will feel great!

From now until May 7, as part of the campaign, those closest to UP—students, parents, faculty, and staff—are being asked to consider their own philanthropy and what type of giving would make them feel good. Is it giving to a scholarship for a student? Donating to support research? Could it be for a department to help accomplish a major goal? Is there a place or program on campus that could use some extra help?

As the campaign video shares, UP is our home—where we live, pray, play, and work. By giving from the heart, faculty and staff can and support UP students, projects, programs, and spaces that are personally meaningful to them.

 For giving options, faculty and staff can visit the giving website and select what will work best for them. These options include:

  • Signing up for payroll renewal
  • Making a recurring gift through a credit card
  • Giving a one-time online gift
  • Supporting the Rowing Team’s crowdfunding efforts for the lower campus
  • Dropping a gift off at the Development office

To view the powerful All Hands On Deck campaign video or learn more about the campus campaign, please visit giving.up.edu.  For questions or assistance with donating, please do not hesitate to contact Amy Eaton, development, at eatona@up.edu or x8551.

All Hands On Deck Crowdfunding Site Open!

As part of All Hands On Deck, the University’s first annual giving campus campaign, the Office of Development has launched a crowdfunding site for the UP women’s rowing team. Crowdfunding is a fast and excellent way to generate support for important projects like the new rowing center on the lower campus. Through the rowing crowdfunding site, the Women’s team can harness the energy of hundreds of loyal supporters to help them realize their goal of $25,000.

As a faculty or staff member, you can be a part of this mobilization towards building the rowing center. Will you join us in supporting the team and the development of the lower campus? A gift of any size will help launch this project and will be also be counted toward this year’s annual giving campaign.

If you haven’t heard already, UP will be one of only two universities on the West Coast to have this kind of center on campus. It will also be a game-changer for the team, accommodating better practice times, allowing for more rest and recovery, and providing a centralized training space for boats and equipment. The rowing team practices 26 weeks out of the year (and averages a 3.5 GPA), and spends about 40 minutes per practice in travel time.

From now until May 7, the All Hands on Deck annual giving campaign is combining student philanthropy (including the rowing team, faculty and staff giving) and parent giving. By uniting the efforts of charitable giving from those closest to UP, we can send a powerful message to the more than 7,500 donors who support UP each year: that those closest to UP believe UP is worth supporting, and that UP is our home and giving starts here.

Whether it is the new rowing center, a scholarship, research, faculty awards, department enhancements, or to one of the many supportive centers on campus—like Garaventa, Career Services, Moreau Center, or Franz—your participation and donation is important. Thanks for helping to make UP extraordinary!

To learn more about All Hands On Deck, please visit giving.up.edu or visit the rowing crowdfunding site.

All Hands On Deck, April 3 to May 7

All Hands on DeckAll Hands On Deck was launched on Monday, April 3. It’s the University’s first annual campus campaign, combining student philanthropy, faculty and staff giving, and parent giving.  The campaign will run until May 7 with the goal of reaching 1000 donors before graduation.

By uniting the efforts of charitable giving from those closest to UP, we can send a powerful message to the more than 7,500 donors who support UP each year— that those closest to UP believe UP is worth supporting and that UP is our home and giving starts here.  During this inaugural spring campaign:

  • The Senior Class will be rallying to raise funds for important programs like Green Dot and mental health services.
  • The women’s rowing team will be launching a crowdfunding campaign to support a new rowing center—making UP one of only two campuses on the west coast to have walkable access to a waterfront rowing program.
  • Parents will be encouraged to support a parent fund focused on areas of campus that develop skills and character, promote health and wellness, and enhance the social environment for students.
  • Faculty and staff will be urged to keep giving where their hearts are—research, scholarships, faculty awards and funds, undergraduate research, department enhancements, emergency funds for students, and much, much more.

Through this collective-giving campaign, our community can directly help make UP stronger; bolster new initiatives, projects, and research; enrich the learning environment; and help foster students’ dreams.  Stay tuned for more information in the coming days and weeks.

For more information, contact Amy Eaton, development, eaton@up.edu or 503.943.8551.

Thank a Donor, Eat a Donut! Wednesday, March 29

Thankful For Donors Day (previously Tuition Freedom Day) is the day to say “thank you” to the more than 7,000 generous donors that help support UP each year. The many donations that come from alumni, parents, and friends help fund nearly everything on campus—scholarships, dorms, classrooms, the Beauchamp Center, and even the bustling Pilot House and soon-to-be-bustling Dundon-Berchtold Hall have been funded by people who want to make UP’s college experience the best it can be.

The celebration will take place in the Academic Quad, where students will be encouraged to write thank-you notes to donors in exchange for a Voodoo donut. Faculty, staff, and other members of the campus community are also invited to participate on Wednesday, March 29, from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. New this year: any student who writes a 450-word thank you note and submits it will be entered into a contest to win a $500 VISA gift card. The development office evaluates letters and will choose the winner. More details on this new contest are available at this link.

Silver CASE Award for Marketing/Development Team

casesilverThe marketing and communications office worked with development to create the “Your Gift Sparks…” online end-of-year giving campaign, which won a Silver Award in Innovation in Fundraising in the 2017 Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) District VIII Communication Awards competition. This latest award joins Portland Magazine‘s Bronze Award in in the category “Print General Interest Magazines, circulation less than 29,999.” CASE District VIII encompasses colleges and universities in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Alaska, and all of western Canada.

For more information contact marketing & communications at x7202 or mktg@up.edu.

#GivingTuesday Marks Largest Day of Giving in UP History

wally-giving-tuesday-heart-150x150Last Tuesday, the Office of Development launched the University’s first Giving Tuesday. In just 24 hours, 258 gifts were raised totaling $56,506 in support. This tremendous show of support marks the largest number of gifts made in one day in University history. This achievement was largely influenced by the investment in our new online giving platform, giving.up.edu, with 182 donors giving online.

Giving was inspired by $15,000 in generous matching funds provided by the Aplet Family and the Demorest Family Foundation, which matched $100 to each of the first 150 gifts. These gifts support student scholarships and the Immediate Assistance Fund for Students – a fund specifically designed to meet emergency financial needs for students facing unexpected hardships.

Along with the impressive results, the collective participation of 76 parents, 71 alumni, 61 students, and 16 faculty and staff is a testament to the heart of our community – a community that is eager to come together and make a difference in the lives of University of Portland students.

The Office of Development would like to extend our gratitude to the 16 faculty and staff members who made a gift on Giving Tuesday, the Office of Marketing for multi-channel graphic design and social media, the participation of the Senior Class Gift Committee, the Office of Alumni Relations, and the Athletics Department, and everyone who liked, shared, and promoted #UPGives and #GivingTuesday on social media.

In its fifth year, Giving Tuesday is a global day of philanthropy following Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday. Giving Tuesday 2016 resulted in $168 million dollars and 1.56 million gifts raised across the globe. The Office of Development’s new giving platform vendor, iModules, is a partner in the Giving Tuesday data project which means that our efforts are included in this global tally.

To see the office UP Giving Tuesday Results Infographic, visit giving.up.edu.