In an effort to broaden its influence, the Mizzou Engineering Foundation has begun a web-based outreach program. Initial steps have included setting up a Facebook page and a LinkedIn group earlier this summer.
The foundation, a non-profit fundraising organization, acts as a supplementary source of income for the College of Engineering.
“They are functioning as an additional fundraising arm for us,” Engineering Director of Development Greg Cecil said. “They’re trying to raise funds from other sources that (the MU Engineering Department) potentially does not have access to.”
In a time when the economy is struggling and state budgets are being cut, foundations such as the Mizzou Engineering Foundation are an important stopgap in maintaining the quest for educational excellence.
“Mizzou and the College of Engineering face continued challenges in their formal budgets when their objectives are to become premier education and research institutions,” [the foundation’s website](mizzouengineeringfoundation.org) states. “This foundation is chartered to support COE in its advancement by augmenting these limited budgets through alumni or corporate financial support.”
Specifically, the organization strives for the improvement of certain priority areas of the College of Engineering.
“It was recognized that many programs could be better funded through external efforts to help (the Engineering Department) with facilities, faculty recognition, student programs, scholarships, research and entrepreneurial projects,” foundation Secretary Susan Pasternack said. “Our goal is to augment the current COE budget in these areas through our fundraising.”
Founded two years ago, the foundation anticipates its recent outreach attempts will help it earn more recognition, particularly with MU alumni.
“We believed it was important to use social and professional media to broaden (our) outreach, so we have initiated both a Facebook page and a LinkedIn group,” Pasternack said. “Although we are a small, fledgling group, the Foundation hopes to raise awareness of our objectives by spreading that word with messaging on Mizzou alumni groups on Facebook and LinkedIn.”
As small parts of a bigger picture, the social media pages are merely one part of the foundation’s outreach efforts.
“(Another) important step was to develop our website, which was launched in late-May to give us public visibility,” Pasternack said. “As another web-based step, we set up the use of PayPal for contributions on our website.”
Facing an enormous amount of needs as well as an economy riddled with financial difficulties, the foundation clearly has challenges in the near future. The foundation sees the outreach program as one possible solution to these challenges.
“There are so many deserving facility projects, student scholarships, research projects and faculty professional growth opportunities which could use funding that we must find a way to be continuously visible and relevant to potential alumni contributors,” Pasternack said.
The web-based outreach appears to already be paying dividends for the foundation.
“We have already observed contributions that reflect great loyalty by our engineering alumni,” Pasternack said. “Those engineering alumni recognize how critical the education of scientists and engineers are to the national economy in a global marketplace.”
