By Jeffrey A. Schoenherr. During a recent trip to Asia, some colleagues and I met with alumni and parents of current students at the Johns Hopkins University. Both groups were thrilled to see us on their home turf, and we were pleasantly surprised by the passion with which they spoke of our institution.
We had two powerful interactions, in particular, that summed up the reason we needed to be there and demonstrated why our visit was not only about asking for money. In Seoul, South Korea, a group of affluent mothers who joined us for dinner were so thrilled by our visit that they spoke to us for hours. They made sure we knew that their friends, whose children attended other institutions, were always being invited to participate in similar gatherings by those universities. We kept hearing, "It's about time you came over to see us," followed by the phrase all of us in advancement like to hear: "How can we help?"
The other memorable interaction was a conversation in Singapore. An older alumnus proudly displayed a class pin from the 1950s as he remarked, "I'm happy that you didn't forget about me." His words were deeply touching and made us all reflect on what else we could be doing to reach our overseas constituents. My colleagues and I decided it was time for a renewed conversation about international fund raising, one that would focus on more than just "the ask." We began talking about what a new director of development assigned to Asia might do on behalf of the university, and how we would evaluate the person in that position.
One of the things I realized early on when working with international constituents is that many institutions are known abroad for something specific. Whether medicine, science, or the arts, every college and university has a brand that alumni, parents, prospective students, and even donors like to tout. So building your brand internationally is important. I'll give you an example. Even though we were traveling in Asia mainly to meet with alumni and parents of students in our schools of liberal arts and engineering, the people we met also wanted to know more about the brand that our university is best known for—medicine. It behooved us to talk about the collaborations among engineering, liberal arts, and medicine as a way to strengthen our brand. We highlighted programs like biomedical engineering and basic science in medicine, to show the strengths of the university. And the people we spoke with seemed to gravitate toward such programs. My colleagues and I agreed that it was much better to embrace what we are best known for rather than ignore it. Besides, we found that operating that way opened many doors to people in Asia who were practicing and even investing in the medical field.
As this conversation continues, I expect other important issues to arise. You can't raise money without strong connections with your constituents, so time and effort will need to be put into cultivating events, organizing alumni chapters, and involving volunteers. That is part of what those mothers in Korea meant when they asked, "How can we help?" Surely several of them were thinking about making an immediate monetary gift. But others asked if they could hold a gathering for the dean and other campus officials next time we were in town.
It is especially important to people in some cultures to have a strong relationship before any talk of philanthropy. Outside of the United States, it's also not necessarily common to think about giving money to educational institutions, or to other causes, for that matter. That's why it is imperative for us to cultivate our international constituents. On our recent trip to Asia, we updated alumni and parents about what's happening on the campus. Of course, when possible, we discussed the need for support, but money wasn't the sole focus of our conversations. As a development supervisor, I would not expect to evaluate an international gift officer's performance solely on dollars raised. I would also look at the ways in which the officer had sought to connect with constituents in building a successful overseas fund-raising program. In doing that, it's essential to think about people on the home campus who can help, such as administrators in admissions and career services.
At Johns Hopkins, people in the admissions office were excited to learn that we were traveling to Asia, an area of ever-growing interest to them. Although that office did not send a representative with us (this time), we were prepared with talking points and admissions brochures to distribute. Good thing, too. On our first night in Seoul, we had several uninvited guests appear at the name-tag table at our event. They were prospective students and high-school counselors who had heard we were in town and wanted to talk. We not only welcomed them to the event but also asked the parents of our students to help as ambassadors. For many of those parents, it was their first chance to volunteer, and they seemed to thrive on talking about the university.
The university's career-services office assisted by giving us specific occupations and fields in which they were looking for companies interested in setting up student internships. We were able to discuss that with several alumni. As we were planning the trip, I also made it a point to meet with each of the student groups on the campus who represent the countries we were visiting. Both the Korean and Singaporean student associations were a tremendous help. They assisted us in choosing event dates and convenient venues, and helped us translate invitations for people who were not fluent in English. Most important, they helped to review lists of alumni and parents to guide us toward potential donors.
The students were so proud of the fact that we were going to visit their countries. One of them happened to be home when we were there, so he was our guest. What better representative of the university than a current student to talk about what's happening on the campus?
And let's not forget our main "brand," medicine. We went prepared with talking points on how interested families facing serious health problems could take advantage of medical care in the future when they visited our campus. That is always a big question for those families who are dealing with a difficult medical issue. So what do I expect from our constituents in Asia now that we are working harder to engage them? Well, if it's anything like what we've experienced with alumni and parents in Europe, I expect a great deal more. We've already learned that our alumni are gathering (without our help) in Seoul. Now those events will be organized with assistance from our alumni-relations office. Some may even have a speaker from the campus. The effort will take time. We'll be measuring its success along the way, but I would hope that, three to five years from now, we will have a successful international fund-raising program in Asia.
Jeffrey A. Schoenherr was director of the regional and international major-gifts program at the Johns Hopkins Institutions when he traveled to Asia. Recently he has joined Harvard Law School as executive director of development and alumni relations. He writes regularly for The Chronicle's Advice section about career issues in university fund raising and development.
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