In the next five years, our incredible UArizona Hillel will double its staff and triple its revenue so that we can quintuple our student engagement. These goals are lofty but totally achievable. This academic year alone we doubled our pre-COVID engagement numbers, and as we continue to focus on engagement, we must also now seriously begin focusing on fundraising so that we can fuel our growth and provide access points for thousands of Jewish Wildcats.
Historically, we have had only a scant handful of major donors ($10,000 and above), with most of our unrestricted funds coming in $360-$1,000 gifts (and believe me, every gift counts and directly impacts students). By launching our Minyan Campaign, we will dramatically expand our major donors pool and ensure we not only remain stable, but grow to be one of the most thriving and dynamic Hillels in North America.
Beginning July 1 and stretching over the next 18 months, we seek to steward at least 10 donors new to giving at the $10,000+ level, with each making a minimum of a three-year commitment. 10 donors at $10,000+ is just our base goal, though: I plan to bring in 25 new major donors, with many of them supporting us at annual amounts significantly above $10,000.
These donors will join our existing visionary philanthropic leaders to pave a new path for Jewish Wildcats. We are seeking to build relationships with potential lead donors in Phoenix, Southern California, Chicago, and New York in addition to local Tucson donors. These major donors will also have access to exclusive engagement opportunities and have the chance to learn first-hand from students about today’s Jewish college experience.
An extremely generous lead commitment from Lex & Carol Sears and a grant from the Donald Baker Fund at the Jewish Community Foundation of Southern Arizona has ensured not only a successful soft launch to our campaign, but—through a generous $25,000 challenge match from the Don Baker Fund—new and increased gifts will be matched dollar-for-dollar to help us ignite our major donors list.
The funds will make it possible for UArizona Hillel to meet our five-year goal of engaging over 1,300 students per year, the majority of them in high impact activities or at a great depth of engagement (i.e., when they have six of more touchpoints with the Hillel community), to send more students than ever to Israel, to combat antisemitism, to build a community of allies at UArizona, and to be one of the most thriving cultural hubs on campus.
Do you know a philanthropist or alum that we should meet? Reach out to us anytime at jessica@uahillel.org. Bear Down!
