From 1833 to 1852, Oberlin College (Oberlin Collegiate Institute before 1850) struggled to support itself financially, relying on the charity of its Abolitionist friends for survival. In 1839, only four years after Arthur Tappan's benefaction made it possible for Charles Grandison Finney (1792-1875) to establish a theological department, conditions had become so desperate that the Rev. John Keep (d. 1870) and William Dawes (d. 1888), Soliciting Agent for the young Institute, set out for England to solicit subscriptions. "If effectual relief be not speedily afforded," wrote Keep, "operations must inevitably cease.... The Professors and their families have for a long time been reduced to such straits," he added, "even for their daily food, and raiment, that from week to week they have not known From whence the next Providential Supply would come." In the course of eighteen months, Keep and Dawes raised $30,000, enough to cancel Oberlin's debts.

In 1851, the Board of Trustees approved the establishment of an endowment fund by means of the sale of scholarships. Taken together, these scholarships brought in about $85,000. The scholarships, entitling the bearer to free tuition, were of three varieties, for six years, for eighteen years, and perpetual, costing respectively $25, $50, and $100. Before 1880, most all he "terminable" scholarships were exhausted. In 1874, faced with the necessity of increasing tuition in order to raise faculty salaries, the Board of Trustees voted to gather in such certificates by gift or purchase, with the aim of assuring that income from such certificates would revert to the College upon the donor's death.

Growing annual deficits in its operating budget throughout the 1870s and 1880s led to a recognition that the endowment must be greatly increased. Under the brief leadership of President John Henry Barrows (1898-1902), the Board of Trustees developed a plan to raise a general endowment fund of $500,000. In 1901, John D. Rockefeller, Sr. pledged $200,00 towards the balance, and major gifts from the estates of W. E. Osborn and Mrs. Katharine Wright Haskell (A.B. 1898) raised the total endowment value to nearly $600,000. Annual giving was encouraged with the establishment in 1900 of The Living Endowment Union, which enabled alumni and friends to make annual contributions to the College. On March 1, 1909, there were 916 outstanding subscriptions to the fund, providing for annual payments of $3,900.70.

Over the first seventy-one years of the College's operation (1833-1904), responsibility for receiving, soliciting, and reporting gifts fell to several offices, including the President, who often contacted donors directly, the Financial Secretary, the Treasurer, and the Investment Committee of the Board of Trustees, established in 1892. Under the administration of President Henry Churchill King (1902-27), fund-raising duties were officially delegated to the newly created office of Assistant to the President. The duties of the post included "maintaining and enlarging the friendly and supporting constituency of the College, and...increasing its material resources." To this end, the Assistant was enjoined to seek "close and helpful" relations between the College and its alumni.

Charles Whiting Williams (1878-1975) served as Assistant to the President during the early years of the King Administration, from 1904 to 1913. During his tenure, the library endowment of $100,000 was completed (1906) with the support of Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919). A second Half-Million Fund drive, completed the same year, permitted construction of the new Carnegie library building, a Men's Building, and funding for the seminary's Slavic Department, faculty salary increases, the Finney Memorial Chapel Fund, scholarships and loans, and various equipment needs.

Williams' successor was William Frederick Bohn (1878-1947), who held the position of Assistant to the President for thirty-one years (1913-44), under Presidents King (1902-27) and Ernest Hatch Wilkins (1927-46). Bohn believed that winning gifts for the College depended primarily upon the excellence of the College and secondarily upon the clear presentation of that excellence to alumni. During his tenure, endowment funds rose from $2,323,900 to $20,605,463. With support from the New York firm of Tamblyn and Brown, Bohn directed the college's first national capital campaign, the 1923 Endowment and Building Fund Drive. Not only did the campaign fail to meet its targeted financial goals, but also it did not result in a permanent development office as had been envisioned.

Following the 1926 settlement of the Charles Martin Hall estate, which had increased the endowment by over $10,000,00, President King warned of the "grave danger that the Alumni may regard the addition of so great a sum as relieving the College from all necessity for many years to come of making a financial appeal." His words went unheeded, as alumni complacency set in and slowed the pace of alumni giving for the next twenty years. In 1934, during the presidency of Ernest Hatch Wilkins (1927-46), the Annual Alumni Fund was organized with the hope that alumni could be persuaded to overcome their complacency and develop strong habits of giving. The total gifts began in 1936 at $4,500 and increased gradually over the next ten years to a total in 1951 of about $50,000.

Credit for creating the modern office of development must go to President William E. Stevenson (1946-59), who brought to Oberlin not only a first-hand knowledge of legal and business practices but also an impressive list of personal friends and business associates who generously contributed their time and resources to Oberlin. In 1951, two firms completed studies of the College and offered identical recommendations. The management engineers, Cresap, McCormick, and Paget, recommended in May 1951 that a Director of Development be appointed to plan future development drives and to supervise public and alumni relations and activities. The public relations firm of Marts and Lundy, headed by Oberlin trustee Arnaud C. Marts (1888-1970; A.B. '10), released its "Fund-Raising Survey Report" in October 1951, in which it advocated not only the creation of a permanent development department but also a Development Committee of the Board of Trustees "with the specific duties of planning and promulgating a program for bringing new capital funds to the College." Accordingly, in 1952-53, the Board of Trustees Development Committee was formed. Members of the new committee included President W. E. Stevenson (1900-85), Harry E. Barnard (1893-1973), Percy J. Ebbott, (1888-19?) Frank C. Fisher (1893-1974), Walter M. Halle (1905-72), John W. Love (1892-1958), William A. Mitchell (1892-1980), E. Earl Newsom (1897-1973), Grove Patterson (1881-1956), and Chairman Walter K. Bailey (1897- ).

Marts and Lundy's 1951 report had also recommended a ten-year Development Program which would provide capital funds totaling $10,655,000 with which to meet the major building and endowment requirements of the College during that period. The firm was retained by the College to supervise the campaign, which was launched on October 7, 1953. The Henry Churchill King Memorial Campaign, with Walter K. Bailey (b. 1897; A.B. 1919) as national chairman, was the first major capital campaign in thirty years. The ten-year campaign goal included $1,380,000 for the Henry Churchill King building, which would house classrooms and faculty offices. Funds were also raised for eight dormitories, a laboratory building for the Life Sciences, a library and rehearsal hall for the Conservatory, endowment for ten professorial chairs, for scholarship funds, and for apartments for married theology students. The King campaign was highly successful. Not only was the quota oversubscribed, but also the broadened base of donors needed to ensure future support had been identified. Through the campaign, Oberlin alumni had become better informed of Oberlin's needs, more interested, and involved in the future of the College.

First to occupy the newly created post of Director of Development was C. Robert Keesey, former Secretary of the Alumni Association (1949-53), then serving as Assistant to the President. Keesey served as Director of Development from 1953 to 1957. He was assisted by Paul M. Douglas (b. 1918), Thomas E. Harris, (1908-90) John C. Kennedy (b. 1904), and John E. Wirkler (1879-1958). In 1958, Cincinnati fund-raising executive Charles French Isackes (A.B. 1938) replaced Keesey, serving until 1967. Isackes, assisted by Walt Reeves (b. 1923), directed the successful 1960-61 Science and Music Building Fund Campaign to raise $6,500,000 for construction of the Kettering Science Building and the Conservatory of Music. Most notable among gifts to the building fund was the 1961 benefaction of $700,000 from Mr. and Mrs. Seabury C. Mastick (A.B. 1891, 1892) for a new Warner Concert Hall, named for Mrs. Mastick's parents, Dr. and Mrs. Lucien C. Warner. Dr. Warner was an Oberlin trustee and alumni correspondent on the board for 52 years before his death in 1925.

In the last twenty years, three major capital campaigns have been undertaken. The 1970 "Outlook Campaign" sought $15,000,000 in four years to support construction of Philips Gymnasium and the Mudd Learning Resources Center. The gymnasium, dedicated in 1971, was made possible through the gift of one million dollars from trustee Jesse Philips (A.B. 1937). In 1979, the "19/83" Sesquicentennial Campaign, led nationally by Lloyd Morrisett (A.B. 1951) and locally by David W. Clark, was launched to raise $19,000,000 to support scholarships, endowment, educational programs, and building renovation. Most recently, under the leadership of President S. Frederick Starr, Oberlin undertook the largest development program to date, the Campaign for Oberlin. To achieve its goal of $80,000,000 over five years required unprecedented levels of giving. The Campaign for Oberlin, launched publicly in May 1988, sought $39,900,000 in new endowment, $20,100,0009 in new facilities and equipment, and $20,000,000 in new unrestricted and restricted annual monies. Under the leadership of Richard J. Dunn, who was promoted to Vice President of Development and Alumni Affairs in 1984, campaign goals were surpassed in 1991.

During the nineteen eighties, various special projects were launched in the Development Office to increase endowment yield. In 1982, David Clark took charge of the real-estate gift program, which generated more than four million in gifts of property before being phased out in 1984. In 1985, the Office of Capital Ventures was established. Headed by Clark and accountable to the Board of Trustees' Investment Committee, Capital Ventures had responsibility for endowment investments in real estate and related projects. Due to declining values in the real estate market at the end of the decade, the Investment Committee voted to close the office in November 1990. David Clark remained Senior Trust Officer and Administrator of Capital Ventures through the early spring of 1991. The assets are presently being administered and liquidated by the Office of the Treasurer.

The fundamental duties of the development office remain the creation of a loyal donor constituency, maintenance of good donor relations, and thorough involvement with the life of the College. In attracting financial support to Oberlin, the office must try to present to younger donors a modern image of the school, while reassuring older alumni that Oberlin's founding ideals and the pursuit of academic excellence will not be sacrificed to "progress".

Following is a list of Development Office directors serving after 1967, with their titles.

Richard Fenn Seaman, 1967-71

Director of Development/Executive Assistant to the President, 1967-71

David Walter Clark, 1966-91

Associate Director of Development, 1966-76
Vice President for External Affairs, 1976-84
Director of Capital Development, 1984-86
Real Estate Gifts program, 1982-84
Office of Capital Ventures, 1985-91

Richard J. Dunn, 1983-91

Associate Vice President for External Affairs, 1983-84
Vice President of Development and Alumni Affairs, 1983-91

Ronald J. Stephany, 1991-92

Vice President of Development and Alumni Affairs, 1991-92

Young Dawkins, 1993-

Vice-President for Development and Alumni Affairs, 1993-

 

Major Capital Campaigns at Oberlin College 1923-1991

1923 Endowment and Building Fund Campaign $4,500,000

Launched by President Henry Churchill King, November 2, 1923. The first campaign to mobilize alumni in every section of the country. National Campaign Director, W. F. Bohn ('00). Failed to reach its goal.

1954 Henry Churchill King Memorial Campaign $10,655,000

A ten-year campaign launched by President W. E. Stevenson to raise funds for constructing the King Building, life sciences laboratory, dormitories, and expanding the Conservatory. National Chairman, Walter K. Bailey ('19).

1960 Science and Music Building Fund Campaign $6,500,000

A twenty-month campaign to raise funds for construction of Kettering Science Building and the Conservatory of Music. National Chairman, Walter K. Bailey ('19).

1970 Outlook for the Seventies $15,000,000

Goal to be met by June 30, 1974. Funds to support construction of Phillips Gymnasium and the Learning Resources Center (Mudd Library). National Chairman, Walter K. Bailey ('19).

1979 19/83 (Sesquicentennial) Campaign $19,000,000

Goal to be achieved by 1983, the 150th anniversary of Oberlin's founding. Funds to support scholarships, the endowment, educational programs, intercollegiate athletic programs, and building renovation and modification. National Chairman, Lloyd N. Morrisett ('51).

1986 Campaign for Oberlin $80,000,000

Goals surpassed in 1991 through unprecedented levels of giving. Funds used to support endowed professorships, financial aid, residential life, and academic programs. National Chairman, George R. Bent ('52).

I. Monographic

Annual Reports of the President and the Treasurer of Oberlin College (Oberlin College: Oberlin, Ohio), 1925-26, 1953-54, 1954-55, 1956-57.

General Catalog of Oberlin College, 1833-1908 (Oberlin College: Oberlin, Ohio, 1909).

II. Archival

Bailey, Walter King, "Outline of the Development Needs of Oberlin College," November 7, 1952.
Keep, Rev. John, introductory remarks to his ms. Subscription Book (ms.), 1839.
Keesey, C. Robert, letter (typescript) of 15 December 1956.
" Oberlin's Ten-Year Development Program" (internal memo, unsigned), 1953.

III. Articles and Reports

Cresap, McCormick, and Paget, "Administrative Survey of Oberlin College," 1951.
Marts, Arnaud C., "Fund-raising Survey Report," 1951.
Merrill, Karen, "The Color of Money: Race, Religion, and 'High Ideals' in Oberlin College's 1923 Campaign," (unpublished seminar paper), 1990.
" Oberlin Tomorrow," vol. 1, No. 2, First Quarter, 1954.