| Annual Giving |
The battle between annual fund and annual giving has occurred for years. However, limited budgets and staff reductions have forced most development shops to focus on the bottom-line increasing the need for unrestricted support. A strong giving program provides alumni the opportunity to reconnect to each other while strengthening pride in the institution. This session will help define annual fund verses annual giving while helping programs understand the importance of giving options. To give or not to give -- isn't the question anymore. But...where to give.
Robert Henry
Director of Individual Giving
School of Management
Yale University
Rob Henry serves as the Director of Individual Giving for Yale University. In this position, he is responsible for developing and implementing a comprehensive major and annual fundraising program to increase gift revenue for Yale School of Management. In his tenure at Yale SOM, the school’s annual fund program has witnessed a 35% increase.
Prior to this appointment, Mr. Henry served as the Assistant Vice President of Special and Annual Giving at the University of Connecticut and was responsible for overseeing a centralized annual giving effort that provided annual fund services to sixteen divisions of the University, as well as the Health Center and Law School, and was responsible for more than $2.5 million in annual revenue.
Mr. Henry began his fundraising career at Michigan State University and has managed four different phone facilities. His nine years of phone experience has included calling programs of 10 to 61 stations ($2,000,000+ in annual revenue). Other Annual Fund highlights include faculty membership status for the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) Summer Institute in Educational Fundraising (SIEFR), regional coordinator for SmartCall telemarketing software systems and teaching experience at Eastern Michigan University, University of Wisconsin (Madison), and Wayne State University. He has served on the following executive boards: Association of Fundraising Professional (AFP) Lansing- Capitol Chapter, Connecticut AFP Chapter and Hartford Extension Council.
Mr. Henry earned a Masters of Arts degree in Communication and Public Address with honors from Eastern Michigan University in 1989 and completed a Bachelors of Science degree in Communication and Marketing from Murray State University in 1987.
Mr. Henry’s 13 years of experience in higher education, coupled with his attention to fundamental infrastructure practices has allowed him to offer valuable input and feedback to various programs that has translated into increased results, improved messages and enhanced efficiencies.
