Close Relationships Held Key to Winning Some of 2009’s Biggest Gifts

The recession has left even the country’s wealthiest donors with the jitters. And their discomfort has caused some fund raisers to pause and think about how they approach their work.

Many nonprofit officials say that now, more than ever, flexibility is key in soliciting gifts.

“You don’t want to lose a friend over a payment schedule,” says Keith Inman, vice president of advancement at the University of Louisville, who worked with Henry P. and Rebecca L. Conn (tied for No. 45 on The Chronicle’s list of America’s top 50 donors of 2009) to structure their $20-million pledge to the institution.

Forging Ties

But many rules in raising big gifts remain unchanged. Relationships, sometimes built over decades, remain a major source of large-scale philanthropy, according to The Chronicle’s Philanthropy 50 list.

Dennis Murray, president of Marist College, in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., met Raymond A. Rich (No. 12) in the mid-1980s, soon after the businessman purchased the nearby Hudson River mansion that he would eventually bequeath to Marist. Too busy for philanthropy, Mr. Rich asked to be added to the college’s mailing list.

But trips to visit Mr. Rich and Claire Carlson, his longtime companion, at their homes in Florida and in Scotland followed. Over coffee one time at his castle in Scotland, Mr. Rich first brought up to Mr. Murray and his wife the idea of a leadership center.

Last year the college president was asked to give the eulogy at Mr. Rich’s funeral.

Around the same time that Mr. Murray and Mr. Rich were first introduced, Dolores Jordan (No. 17) and her late husband, Hanabul (Bud) Jordan, met a retired professor who would help them build a relationship with California State University at Fresno’s College of Agricultural Sciences and Technology.

‘We Just Clicked’

The Jordans were attending a GMC motor-home rally, as they often did. There, they got to talking with Bob Glim, the former Cal State professor. ,He spoke with them about the college’s investments in improving agriculture and later brought them produce from the school and literature about its programs.

A few years later, Alcidia Freitas Gomes, executive director of the Ag One Foundation, which supports the college, drove up to see the Jordans at their home in Northern California. More visits followed. “We just clicked,” says Ms. Gomes, who, like Mr. Jordan, is from Portugal.

Last year, Mrs. Jordan gave the college $29.4-million from the sale of her ranch. Two hospitals, and three health groups, received smaller gifts.