Tomorrow, thousands of football fans will jam area expressways leading into Ann Arbor. Even though they'll most likely be stuck in traffic for up to an hour, if they look into cars around them, they may see a familiar sight.
Michigan fans are easy to spot - decked out in maize and blue, with hats, face paint, jerseys and 'M' sweatshirts - Wolverine pride is self evident.
And although they may be in town only for the football game, University alumni and friends show their allegiance year-round.
It is this loyalty that University Vice President for Development Susan Feagin said intrigues her.
"The University is such a large institution and yet so many ... feel such a strong bond," Feagin said.
And part of that bond includes giving back to the University in dollars and cents.
This summer, a former student gave back in a big way - $30 million.
But A. Alfred Taubman doesn't like the term "giving back." The former University architecture student turned shopping mall mogul said that his $30-million donation to the University's College of Architecture and Urban Planning this summer was an "opportunity."
Taubman has a vision for the future of the architecture and urban planning programs at the University.
"I want the University of Michigan to have the best architecture school in the country ....That is my goal," he said.
His gift is the largest given to any architecture school in the nation to date and it is his largest gift to the University.
Prior to this donation, Taubman contributed millions toward the construction of the Taubman Medical Library and the A. Alfred Taubman Health Care Center.
In a unanimous decision from the University Board of Regents in June, the College of Architecture and Urban Planning was renamed in Taubman's honor.
His gift, which will be endowed, came with no strings attached.
Taubman said he hopes the best faculty and students from around the world will come to Ann Arbor to become part of the University.
"I have great faith in the University," Taubman said.
College of Architecture and Urban Planning Dean Douglas Kelbaugh said the decision to use the funds on faculty and student recruitment, rather than bricks and mortar, will ultimately pay for full tuition scholarships for 20 in-state and 20 out-of-state students.
Kelbaugh said Taubman's donation will allow the school to "do what we do now, but do it better."
Because a portion of the money will be used to attract the best and brightest students and faculty in the field, the gift will bolster existing programs.
Taubman is the founder and chair of The Taubman Company, Inc., a Bloomfield Hills-based corporation operating some of the nation's premiere shopping facilities, like the Beverly Center in Los Angeles and the Biltmore Fashion Park in Phoenix. The company also runs several Metro Detroit complexes, including Great Lakes Crossing in Auburn Hills and Twelve Oaks Mall in Novi.
Although Taubman did not graduate from the University, he was awarded with an honorary doctor of laws degree in 1991.
Even in the economic prosperity of the 1990s, Taubman said "there is never enough philanthropy."
But Wolverine donors stand out from the pack.
During the University's 1996-97 fiscal year, Michigan alumni contributed more money to their alma mater than alumni at any other public university in the nation.
With one of the largest groups of living college alumni in the U.S., consistently impressive development figures are not surprising.
Steve Grafton, director of the University Alumni Association, said he estimates the number of living alumni to be more than 400,000 people worldwide.
In 1996-97, alumni gave $61,923,869 to the University, part of the reported $157,947,710 raised that year.
The total amount raised jumped to $179,524,097 during 1997-98.
Although only about 105,000 graduates are members of the Alumni Association, Grafton said, "people generally have a pretty strong loyalty to their alma mater.
"Those who are members of the Alumni Association are much more likely to give to the University and at a much higher rate," Grafton said.
And although Grafton said the Alumni Association is not in the business of raising money for the University, the organization often builds the foundation for solid relationships between the University and future donors.
"You never know who the future Alfred Taubmans are ... You should build that kind of foundation with everyone," Grafton said.
Although University administrators usually do most of the work to process a donation of the likes of Taubman's, there is a group of students hard at work to obtain other contributions.
Telefund, a program which solicits donations from alumni via telephone, employs more than 75 students part-time per semester who work seven days a week to contact 200,000 alumni each year.
Through her work at Telefund, LSA senior Eleanore Schroeder said she has talked to hundreds of University alumni and has secured thousands of dollars in pledges from alumni who want to give back to the University.
Schroeder said a call from a Telefund employee is the not the same as a phone call from telemarketers.
"I feel it's a much more worthy cause than selling knives," Schroeder joked.
Schroeder said alumni are usually pretty eager to give, especially when they are informed that the money will pay for new technology on campus and emergency financial aid or will benefit students who share their field of study.
Her experiences have even shaped how she will view those evening phone calls that she will be receiving after she graduates this May.
"I definitely am more familiar with the importance of annual giving," Schroeder said.
Associate Director of the Annual Fund Leah Hoover said the goal of Telefund is to create relationships with alumni for consistent giving.
"The focus is on donors, not dollars," Hoover said. "We get people to give at a level that feels good for them."
Although the organization started as a campaign that would last only a few months, Hoover said Telefund now operates year-round, working to contact alumni seven days a week and twice on Sundays.
Telefund Program Officer Laura Mesack said not only does Telefund bring in more money than alumni phone drives at any other public or private institution in the country, it has remained near the $4-million mark longer than any other institution.
Last year, 43,000 University alumni helped Telefund reach its $4-million goal, and this total is only a sliver of the Development Office's yearly figures.
The University also uses direct mailings to alumni as a way to create and maintain relationships with donors.
Last year alone, using a staff of two people and sending out an estimated 300,000 letters, Jan Geddes - assistant director for Annual Giving and manager of Direct Mail Program for Central Developing - said such efforts brought in $1.75 million for the University.
One of the methods Geddes said has used for success includes a tactic used by Pennsylvania State University.
By sending a letter to select alumni, early donors-by-mail are given a "reprieve" from the fall Telefund calling program.
"The response rate is relatively high. People seem to like the idea," Geddes said.
In recent years, development initiatives at the University have outdone all others in the nation. In September 1992 the University eagerly began the Campaign for Michigan to collect $1 billion during the course of several years.
The campaign was co-chaired by five volunteers, including alumni CBS correspondent Mike Wallace, retired Ford Motor Co. executive Allan Gilmour and international investment banker J. Ira Harris. Former football coach Bo Schembechler and philanthropist Margaret Riecker also headed the campaign.
Using a nationwide network of volunteers, the campaign collected $1.3 billion throughout the following five years. The dollar amount allowed former University President James Duderstadt in 1996 to proclaim proudly the achievement as "the first for a public university in America."
Although the campaign included donations from corporations, like the Big Three automakers - Ford Motor Company, Chrysler Corp. and General Motors - Dow Chemical, Parke Davis Pharmaceutical and groups like the American Lung Association, Feagin said that during the campaign the significance of gifts from individuals was obvious.
"The most important trend that I see that grew during campaign was the increased proportion that comes from individuals," Feagin said.
Feagin said that 20 years ago, 40 percent of donations came from living individuals, but last year that number grew to 62 percent of total gift receipts.
The billion dollar campaign coincided with one of the most economically prosperous periods in U.S. history.
"It was wonderful to have a campaign like that during this time," Feagin said, adding there was a direct connection between the jump in individual gifts to the University and its economic health.
But the University is not an organization interested in just taking donors' money and running. To determine how the University is received by its lifeline of supporters, the development office hired Ann Arbor-firm Claes Fornell International Group this summer to assess donor satisfaction.
The firm, which was established by Business Prof. Claes Fornell, has provided marketing research and analysis to companies such as McDonalds Corp. and Federal Express Corp.
In July, the firm sent questionnaires to an estimated 3,000 donors who have contributed a cumulative $25,000 to the University.
Director of Development Communications Judith Malcolm said the University was particularly concerned with how donors wanted to be informed on the fruition of their gifts and how adequately the University expressed its gratitude.
"We wanted to know how well we were taking care of them," Malcolm said.
Malcolm said donor satisfaction is a topic every university is interested in, but is one that is often assessed through means such as a questionnaire in an alumni magazine.
When representatives from the University's development office met with other Big Ten schools in August and presented their latest efforts, Malcolm said she found that "no one had done anything like this."
Malcolm said response to the survey has been successful, with more than one-third of donors returning their surveys. She said the results of the survey are expected to be released later this fall.
In Grafton's mind, University students may leave Ann Arbor, but they are always part of the Michigan "family."
Whether or not they are members of the alumni association, Grafton said "people don't mind standing up and saying 'I went to Michigan.'"
Grafton and Feagin both said the University has a mystique that sets the campus apart from other places.
"People who graduate from Engineering are proud of the Music school, and Law School graduates are sometimes huge football fans," he said.
It's that overall support of the University - whether it's giving $30 million or attending a glee club concert - that creates a "solid and deep-running" alumni loyalty, Grafton said.
Feagin said it is hard to pinpoint the source of Michigan pride.
"What is it about this place that engenders loyalty? Is it Ann Arbor? Is it the experiences outside of class? This is not the case for every big institution - there is something really special going on here," she said.
09-10-99
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