PBHA Launches Capital Campaign

President Neil L. Rudenstine, the man with the Midas touch, shepherded a team of seasoned fundraisers to the Harvard Club in Manhattan last Thursday to make presentations to an intimate group of alumni who are politely referred to as "large potential" donors.

But these fundraisers weren't the usual suspects from the development office-they were a group of Phillips Brooks House Association (PBHA) student volunteers making a pitch for the PBHA Centennial Campaign, and the luncheon was a far cry from going door to door to Cambridge residents, a common PBHA fundraising tactic.

Only six years ago, 700 PBHA supporters marched on University Hall after Dean of the College Harry R. Lewis `68 announced plans for greater administrative control over an organization controlled entirely by students.

Now, Rudenstine has scheduled time in the final months of his Harvard tenure to lend some fundraising muscle to PBHA's effort to raise $7.25 million for a PBHA endowment.

Students at PBHA say they need the endowment to alleviate a perpetual funding headache.

The University is allowing alumni donations to PBHA's campaign to count toward alumni class totals each year. This means that individual class officers can promote giving to PBHA's campaign without fear of cannibalizing their own numbers.

"It's a very difficult decision [to offer class credit] because it takes money away from the class, but there are certain organizations we feel we need to help," says Nancy Couch, who is a senior consultant to the Harvard College Fund. "The University is strongly behind what PBHA does and usually during a capital campaign we offer class credit."

Couch, who retired from the University Development Office (UDO) last year, is still the primary resource in the UDO for cash-strapped student groups looking to raise funds with help from the University-for anything from the dance team's travel expenses to a national competition to the Harvard Student Agencies (HSA) endowment.

Associate Dean of the College David P. Illingworth `71 must approve the fundraising projects before the groups team up with Couch.

"We try to be as helpful as we can, to show people how to do it most efficiently. It's an effort to educate people in how to do this and how to do it right. We feel it's a very important piece of the educational process," Couch says.

Couch worked with class officers and PBHA members to construct the guest list for Thursday's presentation, which included people who do not regularly give to the College, but have the capability to do so and backgrounds in public service. Of 45 invited alumni, 18 attended, which Couch says is a high percentage for fundraising events.

"Many of the same people who might give to PBHA were involved in the alternative senior gift. People who don't give to the College are interested in supporting our campaign," says PBHA president Trevor S. Cox `01-02.

At Thursday's lunch, Cox spoke about PBHA's history and provided a general look at the needs of the organization and how it benefits the student volunteers.

Other student speakers included Natalie Guerrier `01, the previous PBHA president, who spoke about her personal experience with PBHA summer programming. Michelle Soohi Lee `03, the student chair of the Centennial Campaign, spoke about the attitudes and ambition of student volunteers and her experience with the Housing Opportunities Program (HOP), which she directs.

Alina Das `01 and Andrew Park `01-02 also spoke about their personal experiences in individual PBHA programs, Das at the Harvard Square Homeless Shelter and Park with the Refugee Term Enrichment Program.

"What raises money is people's interest in my involvement in the programs," Lee says. "How many college kids get the opportunity to do something like this? [It's] something we all believe in, and we can really share that with people."

"The most effective method [for getting donor interest] is their direct testimony of what they've done, not only how the service affects the recipient, but them as students and how much it meant to their Harvard experience," says Francis H. Duehay `55, former mayor of Cambridge and Centennial Campaign co-chair.

After piquing donor interest, Lee and Duehay will coordinate the next step- personal solicitations, or the nitty-gritty work of actually asking for money.

"Now we have to call everybody who was there. This was sort of the kickoff thing so I don't think we can relax. It was just a lot of fun," Lee says.

Given the timing of this campaign and the stock market's recent downward spiral, students are hesitant to expect huge returns from their requests for funding. But Couch, the seasoned professional, is not overly worried.

"The economy right now is a bit difficult, so there's some sense that we have to be a bit careful, but overall people are still feeling pretty comfortable," she says. "Nobody is pushing any panic buttons."

Not all support for PBHA will come from relatively deep pockets. The campaign leadership committee also launched the Lee's Leaders fundraising program to honor Lee Smith, who worked as an administrative assistant at PBHA for 43 years.

"Lee's Leaders focuses on participation from PBHA alums who have graduated in the recent past," Lee says. The newly minted alumni lead the way with $500 to $5,000 donations, with the goal of raising $1 million for the campaign.

PBHA has already reached 43 percent of its goal, and President Rudenstine surprised the lunch crowd with the good news of an anonymous donation of $750,000 in matching funds available as soon as PBHA raises another $1.5 million. Park says Rudenstine made it quite clear where he expected the matching funds to come from.

"He pretty right off the bat made the pitch," Park says.

"The net worth in that room was more than I'd ever experienced before," Park says. "It was a very sympathetic audience. We're pretty optimistic."

--Staff writer Rachel E. Dry can be reached at dry@fas.harvard.edu.