Naming Rights with a Twist
The Distinguished Founders Circle of donors photographed with the Business school Dean Mike Percy. From left top row. Mick Percy, Sandy Sprague, Stan Milner, Court Carruthers, Bottom row, Dr. Dianne Kipness, Irv Kipness, Guy Turcotte, and Roger Philips. The U of A business school launched a major fundraising effort and raised $20 million to keep the faculty name as is.
Photograph by: Shaughn Butts, edmontonjournal.com
Facing the prospect of a corporate title on the doorway, graduates of the University of Alberta School of Business started a campaign that raised more than $20 million to keep the name just as it is.
Three years ago, a fundraising committee thought it could set up a rich endowment by changing the name and joining the ranks of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management or Calgary’s Haskayne School of Business.
The committee even found interested buyers. Then members had a change of heart.
Instead, almost 170 alumni donated more than $20 million, and the school now has a signed certificate saying the current name will be preserved in perpetuity.
“People are loving it. It’s almost like counter-culture,” said Mike House, a member of the fundraising team.
Rather than honouring a single alumni who made it big, the name represents the whole community, he said. “They’re not about putting themselves first.”
Donors, alumni and administrators gathered at the Alberta Art Gallery on Monday to celebrate.
“This school is owned by its alumni. It’s owned by its community,” said Mike Percy, dean of the business school. “Always has been, always will be.”
The art gallery was built by many of the same donors, he said. “That’s what makes this city unique. There’s quiet wealth here.”
Preserving the name is a way of thinking for the future, he said. The school could have chosen one of its most famous alumni, and “at the end of the day, after one generation, no one knows who they are.”
The $20.5 million will be invested to support the school. Some of the interest will fund the salary of a new research chair position. Other funds will support the general operating fund to make it less reliant on provincial government budgets, while some will support scholarships.
The school was founded in 1960, and has several internationally known programs, Percy said. It also ranks consistently in the top 40 in the Financial Times of London rankings for research.
Stan Milner, a local businessman and philanthropist who led the committee, said members’ change of heart came when they started thinking about the future. “Because we’re building this for forever,” he said.
“Mind you, if Mr. (Bill) Gates showed up with $100 million, we might have changed our minds,” Milner added with a laugh.
The committee started the campaign in 2007, shortly before the economic downturn. But as the economy picked up, many alumni were happy to get involved.
The name “Alberta” gives the school a sense of place, like the Harvard Business School, he said. No one gets confused about where that is.
“(But) the Harvard Business School is so remarkably secure because their endowment is so huge,” he said.
Only endowments can give the type of reliable funding that will let the Alberta School of Business attract and keep star professors. “You need a few Wayne Gretzkys around.”