Behind the Scenes

Leah S.

January 8, 2010 - 11:25 PM

Ok, so I know all of you out there just totally love our blogs! We can see this. At our last meeting we were told that the website has seen a 3,000% increase in traffic and the amount of money given as gifts, which help the students around campus or go to school, has almost tripled in one term what is normal for an entire year. Like I said it shows.

Anywho, I thought I would take you behind the scenes because we do a lot as bloggers, but I don't think anyone realizes quite how much the lovely ladies that put the blogs together do. Regan Middleton-Moreland and Tiah Lindner are the two ladies that make our blogging possible. Regan is a 2005 graduate from the UO with a major in anthropology and a business minor (which she recommends to everyone because it is only 6 classes). She has worked with the Annual Giving Program (AGP and I'll discuss in more detail further down) for over three years. She started out as a caller, as a student, making fundraising calls. While doing this she realized that she really enjoyed fundraising and somehow wanted to continue working with it. Although she left the UO for a few years after graduation she returned to start working in a higher position within the AGP.

Then we have Tiah who is a 2001 UO graduate with a major in English Literature and a Film Studies certificate. She has been with the AGP for a little over two years now. She too, left the UO for a few years after graduation. She served in AmeriCorps, went to NYC and was in school and worked for peace and social justice for a year, and then worked for non-profits in Portland. She then realized that fundraising seemed to be a theme in her life. She is more on the technical and PR/Marketing side of it, but nonetheless it runs in her blood.

These ladies came up with the amazing blog idea after a bit of research. They found that blogs seemed to really draw people's attention and was particularly good for students searching for colleges; the whole personal experience thing. Regan realized, while working with the call center, that people liked to hear first hand stories. That is when they brought the idea to the right people and got a year to try it out. As you can see from the numbers up top, it worked and worked well. They wanted to redesign the AGP site and help people see where their gifts are being used and how they are helping students (whether it's programs on campus, towards scholarships, helping with remodeling a building, or anything academically related). Thus, blogging came to be.

The reason fundraising is so important is because the UO receives only 9% funding from the state, roughly 30% from tuition, and the remaining portion comes from private and outside sources. The fundraising on campus differs from college to college or school to school, but they all go towards academia. Everyone on campus (faculty and staff) care about trying to help the students the best they can. AGP deals with smaller annual gifts (anything under $25,000). There are many facets to AGP too. There are people who travel nationally and internationally to help alumni stay connected with the campus. Without them staying connected it is harder for them to see the good use their gifts are being put to. The greatest part, or so I feel, is the personalized letters, emails, and postcards people get thanking them for their gifts, telling them what it went towards, and just keeping in touch with them. You can see that Regan and Tiah really care and that they put a lot of effort into helping alumni stay connected to the school and help the students while in school.

As you can see there is a lot more to us than just our personal stories about how great classes are (or aren't), how amazing our sports seasons are (or aren't), how terrible campus food is during your fifth term eating it, or our favorite spots to study around campus. There are tons of people all working to collect money to help students and even faculty with their daily lives and jobs. So thank you to all who have helped whether it is reading these blogs or donating a gift. All of it is greatly appreciated.