Disconnected

Davis turned down an offer to stay on as one of the five students the university will continue to employ to call large gift donors.

“This year we had a really solid team. We were making way more than goal. It was great, and now we just fired 30 great callers,” Davis said.

The call center employs students to phone Hamline alumni and ask for donations to the university. According to Vice President for Development and Alumni Relations Tony Grundhauser, the call center is just one of several methods Alumni Relations and Annual Giving uses to raise money, including mass mailings and e-mails.

Grundhauser said when Steph Rosckes, former call center manager, left Hamline at the end of October to work for her alma matter St. Kate’s, the university shut down the call center due to lack of supervision.

After meeting with student supervisors, Associate Director of Annual Giving Michael McCue, who took over call center responsibilities, sent out an e-mail to all call center employees saying their positions had been terminated.

“I’ve never laid off a team of employees before, and I am saddened to have to do so now,” McCue wrote in the e-mail to students. “This termination should not be construed as a statement about your dedication to the job, your effectiveness as a fundraiser or your ability to represent Hamline to our alumni.”

Davis said she and the two other student callers were capable of managing the call center.

“[They] didn’t want to have us in there without a supervisor, which is understandable, but we had been there all the time without Steph there. It was never an issue,” Davis said.

Rosckes said student supervisors were trained to fill in for her while the university searched for a replacement.

“They knew the job really well. They’re very dedicated, not just to the call center but to Hamline,” Rosckes said. “They were great representatives, so I definitely understand how it came as a shock because they were prepared to fill the gap until Hamline found a replacement for me and they were definitely qualified to do that.”

After two weeks without filling the position, Grundhauser said he decided to move forward with RuffaloCODY, the Iowa-based fundraising firm.

“November and December are very important giving months. Many people give their gifts at the end of the calendar year,” Grundhauser said. “We felt we had to put a plan in place that would ensure we were able to get to and communicate with as many alumni and donors as we could before Dec. 31.”

Grundhauser said the university will move forward with a contract through the end of December and hopes to see a student call center return. McCue wrote they intend to bring the center back to full capacity September 2011.

Davis and Rosckes said they believe the call center could have met its goal of $100,000 by the end of the year.

“As a former employee, it was difficult to see a program that I worked really hard on to be dismantled,” Rosckes said. “I think they could have [reached the goal].”

The main issue is getting a high return, Grundhauser said. He said he expects a 4 or 5-to-1 return on every dollar spent.

“I think the important thing for us right now is making sure we’re the kind of return on our investment in everything we do,” Grundhauser said.

Davis said she was skeptical about how effective a non-Hamline affiliated caller can be in generating donations.

“I think it should be Pipers calling Pipers,” Davis said. “These people in Iowa have never stepped foot on Hamline’s campus, and they’re going to be trying not only to get alumni to give, but to give more, or give when they’ve never given before. I think they’ll be less willing to give to someone not from Hamline.”

Rosckes said she believes the main issue is missing the connection between student and alum.

“I still think they have potential to meet goal by outsourcing it, I just think the connection piece that has alums gravitating towards it and wanting to give more is knowing they’re talking to an actual student,” Rosckes said.

Connecting with alumni was the best part of her job, Davis said.

“It made me love Hamline even more, talking to people who obviously have a great affinity for it if they’re giving back over and over again,” Davis said.

Rosckes said on-campus employment is a large factor in retention rates.

“Students who are considering transferring, having good on campus employment is a good way to keep them engaged,” Rosckes said. “This might be a factor contributing to them deciding not to stay.”

Cathy Wassberg, vice president of Human Resources and General Council, said the university will find placements in other departments on campus for all students who were laid off. Students will be offered comparable pay and hours, Wassberg said.

Davis said she would return if Hamline brought back a supervisor and full staff but is disappointed with the outsourcing.

“I wish we would have stuck with the plan of finding a replacement supervisor, and during this interim period, letting the call center stay in operation with the student supervisors in charge. We’ve been doing that,” Davis said. “We could have been making money these last few weeks. We could have made thousands of dollars.”

Grundhauser said laying off students through e-mail was a bad decision.

“It was probably impersonal, and if we had to do it again, I think we would meet with people as a group,” Grundhauser said. “We value all those students. We have a plan to retain a couple of people. We want to maintain strong relationships.”

This year Alumni Relations and Annual Giving’s goal is $3 million with $100,000 from the call center by the end of the fiscal year. Unless specifically designated, donations go to the unrestricted fund which is used by the university to cover a wide range of expenses such as scholarships, salaries and building maintenance.