Interview with Michael Deluise, Fundraiser for Dowling College

Summary

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Michael DeLuise, vice president for development and external affairs at Dowling College, is in charge of fundraising at Dowling, which has 7,000 students at its two campuses in Oakdale and Brookhaven. He talked with LIBN about how fundraisers connect with donors.

What's the first thing a fundraiser ought to do with a potential donor? The first thing you do is get to know the donor and get the donor to know the institution. These are people in the community who want to be involved with the institution, corporations that want to be community-minded. Why do you talk about your job as development, not just fundraising? It's because you really do have to develop a relationship. How important is researching a donor? Today with technology it's very easy to research people. But none of the research will get you what you can get in a meeting. Have a cup of coffee with people and ask them what's in their heart. Is getting them interested always a long process, or do you find the interest early on? My experience is when you sit down with somebody, within the first half hour you find something that interests both of you. Very often, it's something that you didn't think would interest both of you.

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Interview with Michael Deluise, Fundraiser for Dowling College

Do you see today's students as looking out for themselves or...

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