Tim Willard is vice president for development at Ranken Technical College, a two-year private, non-profit institution of about 2,000 day and evening students in St. Louis, Mo. Since arriving at Ranken in 2001, Willard has built a development office that runs programs in annual, capital and planned giving as well as alumni relations.

Willard has served in various volunteer roles throughout his 35-year advancement career, including CASE District VI board member and treasurer. He has a doctorate in educational administration and a master's degree in education from the University of Colorado, Boulder, and a bachelor's degree from what is now Regis University in Denver, Colo. He can be reached at tjwillard@ranken.edu.

Talk about your relationship with your business and corporate partners.

Ranken students are trained for one of more than 14 professional fields, and this requires spending up to $2 million annually on new equipment. As you look at donors to our institution, they are motivated by more than just altruism-many of them have recruited our students and hope to recruit more. The relationship could be considered a quid pro quo-we provide the trained graduates they need and they provide cash and gifts in kind. Through our day and continuing education programs, more than 3,000 students receive education and training each year.

We have five top corporate partners which give $25,000 or more annually to our school and which also hire our graduates every year. One of our long-standing relationships is with Emerson Electric, based here in St. Louis, whose business is mostly electric and electronic components. They provide us with cash gifts and have established a scholarship fund.

Ranken's endowment fund and development efforts provide substantial support to the yearly cost of the institution's operations, which results in lower tuition and fees for Ranken students.

What are some of the milestones you've achieved since your arrival at Ranken?

Since 2002, Ranken donors have committed more than $21 million, a new record for the institution, which has seen a 10-fold increase in individual donors since 2001.

We launched a centennial campaign to conclude during our 100th anniversary year of 2007. We entered the public phase in late 2004 with more than $5.3 million committed and concluded with 1,317 donors committing $11.1 million.

The campaign raised $2.2 million in scholarships, $3.2 million in equipment and technology, $3.6 million for the annual fund and $2.1 million for the campus environment.

Ranken's newer priorities include a 210-bed dormitory, the first for your campus. How did this project become a turning point in relationship-building with individual donors?

The dorm has an interesting history: We are an urban campus on 13.5 acres, and adjacent to our campus was a family-owned dairy that made cream cheese. The owners decided to cease operations in 2006. At that time, the owner offered to sell us the land and two buildings: a manufacturing plant and a warehouse. Of course we were interested because we're growing and bursting at the seams.

The major catalyst was a $2 million pledge from one of our trustees to buy the tract and convert one building into a dormitory.

After we demonstrated broadened community support through another $750,000 in donor pledges, we obtained a challenge grant of $500,000 from the Mabee Foundation of Tulsa, Okla. By December 2006, the total amount committed was $3.8 million of the $10.3 million project cost. (The college borrowed $6.5 million of bonds to finance the balance of the project.)

Meanwhile, we still had the main manufacturing plant to convert into academic space. In honor of gifts totaling $1.6 million, that building was named the Mary Ann Lee Technology Center. The technology center opened to students in the fall of 2007 while the dorm will open to students later this fall.

How do you think the dormitory will transform your college?

It will add diversity and richness to the student population and help us reach our expansion goals. Our current enrollment is 1,277 day and 712 evening. We would like to grow the day program to 2,000. Currently some of our students are driving up to 60 miles to campus and probably spending more on gas then they'd spend to live in the dorm. The dormitory will also help expand our recruitment reach beyond the immediate area to reach potential students in Kansas City, Chicago, Indianapolis, Memphis and other cities in the Midwest.

This article is from the August 2008 issue of BriefCASE.
Please share your questions and comments with Pam Russell via e-mail at russell@case.org or by telephone at +1-202-478-5680.