ADVANCEMENT HEAD APPOINTED TO NATIONAL FUNDRAISING FORUM

An appointment to the country’s foremost universities’ association will see one of WSU’s most dynamic managers using his knowledge and insight to help assist Universities South Africa (USAf) in its endeavours to raise funds.

WSU institutional advancement director Silvanus Welcome will serve on USAf’s fundraising executive committee for at least two years following his election into the forum recently.

“I feel extremely excited about it. Not only is it an achievement, but the confidence that was bestowed upon me by my counterparts and other fundraisers was indeed a humbling feeling,” said Welcome.

His career in higher education fundraising spans almost a decade – a period in which he’s worked in related fields such as alumni relations, donor database management, effective and sustainable relationship building and solicitation.

Welcome’s decade-long exploits in the industry have earned him great respect amongst his peers, an important attribute, according to him, that he trusts will pay off when the implementation of fundraising plans and strategies begin in earnest for the exco.

“I’ve raised funds for multiple projects while being in the sector with my exceptional relationship building techniques which I like to refer to as “friend-raising”, he said.

As the first ever director for the university’s institutional advancement office over the past three years, Welcome effectively had to build the office from the ground up with limited resources.

In that short space of time he has made many a pivotal gain in laying a platform from which the university can start trying to raise funds, including the installation of a donor management database system.

“This system ensures streamlined donor management. Having systems in place makes your solicitation efforts credible to prospective donors,” said Welcome.

The intervention closest to his heart however is the ‘Staff Giving’ campaign, wherein, on a monthly basis the university’s staff donates via payroll to assist final-year students who owe the university. This massive effort assists students to graduate and get their certificates.

Welcome lauds the benevolence of WSU’s staff whose efforts ensured that at least hundreds of students have been assisted by having their debts cleared.

He said central to his duties will be to ensure that the Higher Education Fundraising Forum provides an opportunity for fundraisers working in the higher education sector to collaborate, network and share knowledge on issues of common concern.

“Some of my main objectives in line with the forum is to promote fundraising best practice through sharing of information and knowledge resources; promoting collaboration between higher education institutions in South Africa; addressing local, regional and global challenges of research, innovation and development; as well as promoting joint academic projects,” he concluded.

By Thando Cezula