Strategic Initiative: Fundraising + Earned Revenue

Update: June 2023

Goal: A Sustainable Model

The key objective of the Fundraising + Earned Revenue Strategic Initiative is to develop a robust infrastructure for strengthening current and developing new revenue from charitable gifts, sponsorships, partnerships, and other earned revenue sources.

This infrastructure will support the College’s short- and long-term financial sustainability as well as build new revenue streams to fund the strategic plan and create a sustainable pipeline of financial support for the College.

This strategic initiative is a collaboration among three functional areas of the College: the Office of Strategic Communication, the Office of the President, and the Office of External Programs and Partnerships.

In FY23, four critical staff positions across three functional areas have been redefined and filled:  

  • Vernell Clouden-Duvall, Director of Constituent Relations 
  • Emily Cavalier, Director of the Olin Fund
  • Laura Ewing-Mahoney, Senior Advisor for Philanthropy
  • Jess Charlap, Program Manager (OEPP)

In addition, we have identified the functions critical to successful development of relationships with donors, funders and sponsors, including relationship development, research, data collection and analysis, relationship management systems, receipting and invoicing, contracts, and agreements.   

We have worked with Donna Golemme to collaboratively identify realistic short- and long-term charitable gift and earned revenue goals, and to establish an appropriate budget for this work. 

We have also determined that an effective fundraising and external constituent engagement CRM system is a critical missing component for our work. Therefore, for the past month, we have been evaluating vendors, and we plan to identify a partner by September 2023.  

While we have been working on the infrastructure, we have also taken steps to develop new revenue-generating programs (e.g., the Summer Consulting program for industry clients and the Summer Studio program for academic partners), expanded existing offerings such as custom faculty development workshops and paid deep-dive campus visits, supported embedded learning experiments such as the Just Energy Hub, and cultivated new institutional partnerships in El Salvador, Israel, Malaysia, South Korea, and the US.

Working with members of the Academic Life Leadership Team, we are also identifying a set of institutional fundraising priorities that will guide our fundraising strategy. These priorities will be developed from the goals identified in the College’s strategic plan:

  1. A sustainable model for Olin’s operations
  2. An impact-centered curriculum
  3. An aligned community
  4. An engine for change

Together with President Barabino and members of the Board of Trustees Development Committee, Laura Ewing-Mahoney is laying a foundation for developing relationships with prospective major gift donors, with some significant focus on getting to know people outside our current constituency base. Board members are working with Laura to introduce Olin and President Barabino to people and organizations who have a stake in our mission.

Finally, we are working on a plan to achieve greater collaboration and coordination across these functions, to strengthen the role of cross-functional teams in developing new revenue-generating programs, and to encourage a culture of philanthropy across the College.