Reed College's Successful 2012 Centennial Campaign

Jan Kurtz and Chris Brentlinger, Reed College

Reed's third capital campaign was a great success, marking the college's transition to a truly alumni and parent-supported college.  Completed on December 31, 2012, Reed raised $204 million, which, measured on a per alumnus basis, is the most ambitious higher education campaign in the Pacific Northwest.  It progressed in some expected ways and contained many surprises.  It took dedicated leadership, making fund raising a college priority, and some leaps of faith.  Bad timing included a recession in the 2^nd year and a change in the college's president in the last year. Kurtz and Brentlinger were there for the duration.  They will outline: 

•  Planning a campaign in the absence of a feasibility study.
•  Instructive variance between the theoretical and actual gift pyramid, and between fundraising goals and results.  
•  Lessons learned in creating, motivating and deploying Reed’s first true major gift team.  
•  Successful and unsuccessful experiments in using fundraising volunteers and trustees.
•  How to use a campaign to strengthen rather than weaken an annual fund.  
•  Insights gained in ending a campaign with more prospects.  
•  Thoughts on avoiding a post-campaign slump.

Jan Kurtz is Director of Development and Campaign Director at Reed College where she heads fundraising operations for the college, including major and planned gifts, annual fund and foundation support. Jan has been with Reed for seven years.  Prior to that she served as the Executive Director of Portland State University Foundation for eight years.  Before entering the higher education arena she spent six years as Executive Director of Portland’s American Advertising Museum.

Chris Brentlinger is Director of Major Gifts at Reed College and has been at Reed for almost nine years and a major gift fund raiser for over 20.  Before Reed he worked at Oregon Health Sciences University (in ophthalmology and cardiology) and Legacy Health System (in oncology and neurology). Early in his career he was in the Peace Corps in Africa and also worked in China, Washington DC, and San Francisco.