Short and Sweet!

 

It's great to be!

Gil Gerald

DGT Alumni Association, Inc.

Three short term challenges!

 

This final quarter of 2016 signals the beginning, in January, 2017 of the final two years of the DGT Alumni Association's 2014 - 2018 Strategic Plan. It is a time for reflection on what priority steps must be taken over the next twenty-four months. Each and every active and inactive member is invited to weigh in with your perspectives as the board makes an effort to follow through with the direction that has been taken, and as we seek to be faithful and accountable to the wishes of the membership. Please be encouraged to contact me or any one of the other Board Members, Tom Fiorella (Vice President), Tom Wong (Treasurer), Vern Ford (Secretary), and Nelson Hernandez (Sargent-at-Arms).

 

As President, I've been privileged to hear some of your feedback to date. Sometimes it came in the form of a compliment, sometimes in the form of a direct suggestion or one made in jest, and sometimes in direct response to a question posed to members. Chris Duggan, for example, said casually after witnessing and induction of three new 'honorary Delta Gamma Thetas, 'they need nicknames.' I heard that, and not only made a mental note, but considered the full implications of lightening up the ceremony and infusing some of the spirit we all treasure from our days as undergraduate members. Ken Hebel, in response to a survey on our Facebook Group Page, signaled his interest in exploring how we can make alumni activities more meaningful for Engineers now that there has been progress and focus on Fine Art Exhibits. My response is 'hold that thought' Ken. It is a priority, at least from my perspective, for us to answer that question in collaboration with you and so many members of the DGT Alumni Association that graduated or attended the School of Engineering as well as the School of Food Science and Management, or any other program, department or discipline that is no longer a part of Pratt Institute. Three priority challenges that come to my mind as President are: 1) passing on the mantle of leadership for developing and managing a meaningful program for undergraduates to a new generation of Pratt Students currently involved in undergraduate Pratt Life; 2) developing a meaningful program of activities for DGT Alumni that appeals to our multi-disciplinary membership; and 3) raising the capital needed to make desired improvements to the property and support activities for undergraduate and alumni members.

 

Imagine for a moment if while you were involved in either Delta Gamma Theta-Alpha, Delta Gamma Theta-Omega, or Tau Delta Phi-Tau Sigma that individuals 'in charge of the place,' had returned to play that role after a four decade absence. For me, in the Spring of 1970, it would have meant that the senior members I would have met would have graduated from Pratt when my mother was born in 1930. This weighs on me somewhat as I consider that the DGT Alumni Association's five Board Members involves members who graduated from Pratt in the 1960s, 70s and 80s. This of course is appropriate for an Alumni Association but is full of risks as we try to bring undergraduate life back to 272 Clinton Ave. The crisis is over, we need younger bodies, spirits and voices inhabiting 272 Clinton Ave. again!

 

On the positive side of things, we have started the Gallery House Fellowship Program and succeeded, over the course of two semesters, in attracting and welcoming five fantastic new members, Maria Pava, Eric St. James-Lopez, Ariane Noel, Rudolph Strelis, and Alexa Telano. All five completed the Fellowship Program and accepted the invitation to join the organization. They also committed to helping to continue the program and are the closest we have in age to undergraduate students at Pratt. This semester, Fall 2016, more than 20 Pratt students applied for only three Fellowships we are able to financially support each semester. From that perspective, there is much we have achieved and that we should celebrate. For example, we have regained visibility among students and faculty at Pratt. On the other side of the ledger, while we have had overwhelming success in attracting graduating seniors from the Art and Design schools, or graduate students in Fine Arts, we have yet to engage younger students. As we head into the third semester of the Fellowship program this success may be reinforcing a lack of visibility among undergraduate students, including those in Art, Architecture and Design. We are committed to making a strong effort in the Spring of 2017 to overcome this challenge by targeting undergraduates from a marketing perspective and ensuring that we indeed have a pipeline of interested individuals who will be re-introducing and leading or contributing undergraduate life at 272 Clinton Ave. and who will remain involved for three or more years before graduating.

I've repeatedly made clear to my fellow board members my perspective that we are not in the business of operating rental property for the general public nor just mounting successful fine arts exhibits. The uses of the property must be aligned as much as possible to our mission.

Our commitment continues to be to re-create a self-perpetuating Pratt family (we traditionally called it brotherhood/sisterhood) that is grounded in our history, draws from that history and spirit, retains only ritual that is relevant to today (I would not have joined in 1970 if the rituals of the mid-1920's prevailed), helps build individual leadership skills, and values life-long 'connection' established during undergraduate life.

During our year-long strategic planning process in 2013, we were counseled by undergraduate students that a program for undergraduates (including but not limited to any proposals to add to Greek Life at Pratt) required the initiative of actual students, and not the ideas and leadership offered by alumni. For this reason, we will pursue the challenge of once again building a body of undergraduates who are actively involved for two and three years, prior to graduation, in shaping and leading the undergraduate experience, much as like what we did 'back in the day.'

 

Developing a Meaningful Program for DGT Alumni that Appeals to our Multi-disciplinary Membership

During the strategic planning process and in the first year of the plan we worked in small groups that resulted in two achievements. These were to: 1) develop an initial communications plan; and 2) help develop a program plan for renovation and use of the property. The first effort resulted in the tools we currently have -- website, brand, social media sites ( Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter), this e-letter, and the use of a donor data-base management program containing a growing list of names and contact information for more than 278 active and inactive members so far. The second effort resulted in a program plan for property improvements that provided for public and residential areas in the House that would accommodate reunions (e.g. Alumni Day, BBQs), business meetings (e.g. quarterly meetings broadcast via web-conferencing), exhibits (including events featuring alumni, and DGT's history), archival space to safeguard and store documents and artifacts from the past, and residential units for at least two students who have responsibility for property management and Gallery House Fellowship program management (all occurring within the window of the five-year strategic plan).

These accomplishments all point towards the need to flesh out more of what can and should be done for Alumni. That piece needs more work. The conversation needs to continue and expanded. I went forty years without hardly ever hearing from or about the 'fraternity.' I take some personal responsibility for that, yet I believe we could have envisioned much more, even when we were organizing the Alumni Association when I was President of the undergraduate fraternity in 1973. It's catching up time!

Perhaps there are ideas that have yet to be brought to the table. Certainly, reunions don't have to only happen at the House. There could be ocean cruises organized for members or members and their families. There could be regional gatherings, or virtual ones, such as discussion groups on topics of interest to members or sub-groupings. One possibility is to have workshops, virtual or in real time and space in which we share perspectives and experiences coming out of our work, or out of life in general or out of preparing for retirement, or about some other topic. Perhaps there are members interested in annual events such as a DGT golf tournament or an annual camping trip, or a retreat tied to professional or personal development, or more regular gatherings at a restaurant, or to take advantage of events such as Broadway productions or special museum exhibits. My generation had a thing for eating as a group in Chinatown, it all brings back great memories for me when I go there. However, this is about you, that is why a conversation is needed. Now that we are moving beyond crisis, attention can shift to possibilities that have never been explored. How about providing suggestions via email to the Board? How about leading a discussion on Facebook or via LinkedIn? The conversation needs to continue in order for this second challenge to be met. We can have, at your request, a small work-group to come up with ideas, meeting on-line to make it accessible regardless of where you may live on Planet Earth. It could be just engineers, or it could be a multi-disciplinary group. Just let me or the Board know that you are interested in contributing to the discussion in that way and it will happen.

 

This is perhaps the most challenging area over the next couple of years. Members have been very generous over the past three. This past Alumni Day and during the past year individuals have been making unsolicited gifts in the range $150 to $300 suggesting, and in one case literally indicating, that they surely could and wanted to send back home more than $10 in dues. In doing a very limited test for the capacity and willingness of members to be more generous, we got at least one commitment in the range of $2,500. This is good news! The Engraved Brick Campaign has raised more than $1,600 since it began over a year ago. Every last contribution has been so very helpful and a testament to the commitment and generosity of the membership.

The reason this whole question can be described as a challenge is that an organization generally requires a degree of maturity and history with receiving and soliciting major gifts in order to plan and mount a successful capital campaign. It is trickier and more challenging if that history is not there. A data-base and a history helps to make a realistic assessment of the capacity an organization may have to raise funds. One does not go public with a capital campaign unless 2/3 or so of the funds are already pledged by, or received from individuals providing the leading gifts. I cannot report that we are there at this point.

Because we have the DGT Foundation, we can go after grants and individual and corporate gifts that are tax deductible, to support the Gallery House Program (educational) and to support a joint campaign with the DGT Association. That expands our capacity beyond just the capacity of DGT Alumni. Legal advice provided by our attorneys in 2013 included the recommendation that any capital campaign involving the DGT Foundation and the DGT Alumni Association be reviewed by an attorney before it is undertaken to make sure it passes muster with the IRS. A strategy involving both entities would free up resources from rent income that now support the Fellowship Program and these savings could be put into the house in addition to securing resources from elsewhere. Again, the capital campaign would not have to be scaled to rely solely or mostly on the capacity and willingness of members to provide large gifts.

While I have some limited personal experience with capital campaigns, and far more with securing large individual and corporate gifts, as well as private and public sector grants (as much as $8 million in one instance), I am confident that it is going to be very challenging yet not impossible to raise the $1.25 million to $1.5 million that we need. So with this last challenge I also request your generosity in terms of volunteering of your time and effort, ideas, leads, or in sharing your knowledge about individuals and entities in your network who are potential leading donors (e.g. a board-member of a foundation who can make a donor designated gift through that foundation,  or someone in your network with the capacity, demonstrated history of generosity, and inclination to give to an educational or art and design-related cause). Your willingness to give or pledge as you are able is most welcome. In such a campaign we should all think in terms of one-time special gifts or a generous amount that a donor can spread out in payments over several years, like two to three for example.

Because the House and the organization have been stabilized out of a period of crisis, this is an area in which your President will now put in a significant amount of effort with an eye on changing roles after we overcome this hump. My own commitment has my bank automatically sending the DGT Foundation $25 each month through the bill-payer function many banks offer. It is my way of giving back for the wonderful experience I had at Pratt, all made possible by my encounter with our family in the Spring of 1970.

 

It's Great to Be!