Mr. Anthony L. Holloman
Vice President, Institutional Advancement
Phone: 803.516.4871

Within the past few years, the economic perils of our nation have also created a daunting outlook for many colleges and universities. Unfortunately, SC State University is one such institution that has felt the wrath of limited resources resulting from a continuous decline in state appropriations. However, there is light at the end of the tunnel. Slowly, the only public, historically black college and university within the state of South Carolina is recovering. With a system in place that is garnering the support of alumni, new stakeholders and individuals from corporate America, one can only be optimistic about its future.

"I think that we have put the infrastructure in place to allow us to generate the kinds of resources that it takes to sustain a public University," says Anthony Holloman, vice president for the Division of Institutional Advancement. According to Holloman, the sustenance essential in maintaining a University that is home to nearly 5,000 students is increasing private giving, integrating key departments, placing an emphasis on annual giving and implementing creative initiatives.

Holloman, at the helm of Institutional Advancement for almost two years, has substantially increased private giving by over $1 million. "When I came here, the University was raising less than $2 million in private giving, and last year, June 30, 2011, we finished the year with over $3.6 million in private giving," says Holloman. "We expect to continue to see significant growth in our fundraising."

Exceeding his $3 million goal set in 2010, Holloman wants to surpass that in 2012, hoping to raise $4 million in private gifts. "In addition, we hope to increase the percentage of alumni giving to at least 18 percent," says Holloman. "That's important, because partners from corporations and foundations are interested in seeing those numbers and statistics to see how many of our own alumni are supporting the mission and vision of our University."

Indicative of the beginnings of this growth was Homecoming Weekend 2011 when SC State University received three large gifts from SC State alumni. Robert Porcher contributed $300,000 towards an endowment to support athletics, and young alumni, Jameel Allen and Kendra Speed, each donated $10,000.

"That's significant in the sense that those individuals have been out of school for years and they made a significant, personal commitment to support SC State," notes Holloman.

"That's what we're trying to do, develop relationships with our graduates and allow them to support their Alma Mater, and I think we're doing that."

Relationship building is a key component for Holloman's latest venture at the University, transferring Career Planning and Placement from Student Affairs to Institutional Advancement. Holloman says that this latest undertaking will create additional opportunities and dollars to support the academic mission of the University. It will also create a partnership that is ultimately an investment.

"The Career Center is an integral part of what the University does," says Holloman. "Our job at the University is to bring young people to the campus, to provide them with the necessary resources and tools to leave the University and to go and be productive citizens, and we think that with Career Planning and Placement under Institutional Advancement, it allows us to put our strengths together with our partners, a partnership that will allow us to have more scholarship dollars for our students." Holloman hopes that partnerships with major companies like BMW and SCANA will flourish, thus providing an avenue not only for scholarships but also for programmatic support of academic offerings.

Although the Career Center may be pivotal in accumulating more funding for SC State University, Holloman has also set a stark contrast between the division from the time prior his appointment to now because of his emphasis on the Annual Fund Appeal. The basis of all money generated in a fundraising operation, Holloman says that the University did not have an Annual Fund Office until 2010.

"We really didn't have a process in place to which we solicited our alumni and friends on an annual basis for private dollars," explains Holloman. "These are dollars that allow the University to offset the day to day expenses to provide scholarships and programmatic support."

Reunions manager, Iva Gardner, is managing the Annual Fund Appeal process, of which the biggest growth in fundraising has been indicated. Holloman notes that three times as many individuals gave in 2010 to 2011 as opposed to 2009 to 2010.

Piggybacking on the appeal, the office organized their first phone-a-thon in years under Holloman's leadership. "We used a private company to facilitate those phone calls. That impacted the bottom line in a positive manner," says Holloman. This year's phone-a-thon is expected to further catapult the University's positive fundraising future. "Last year, we generated about $400,000 for the phone-a-thon, so we hope to increase that number this year," says an enthusiastic Holloman. Beyond the phone-a-thon and Annual Fund Appeal, Holloman has begun the planning stages of a widely publicized Capital Campaign. The first in the University's history, the Capital Campaign, currently in the planning stages, is vastly important and will be designed to solicit immensely large gifts for SC State.

"The Board has approved for us to move forward, so we are working to identify volunteer leadership and to work on timelines, and we feel very confident that we're going to be able to secure some major support for the campaign in the coming months," says Holloman.

A huge execution, the Capital Campaign may last anywhere from five to seven years, and the initial project in which funds will go towards the campaign, is the Legacy Society, a recognition society for any individual who has left the University in their will or estate plan.

"We are going to focus more on planned gifts," says Holloman. "We believe that's the way we allow individuals to make larger gifts, by utilizing the assets they have available to them." Holloman states that these planned gifts should make up 25 percent of the money raised in the Capital Campaign.

All in all, Holloman is lending his 10 plus years in fundraising experience to SC State University. With these initiatives in place, Holloman has set the foundation needed to provide scholarships for students, to gain additional alumni assistance and lasting support from partners of major companies. The differentiation between the division in prior years to now is significant and creates a brighter financial picture for SC State University, so bright that alumni like Porcher are encouraged to entrust their Alma Mater and lend to its efforts.

"I love Mr. Holloman's enthusiasm and his professionalism for SC State University," says Porcher. "This man is passionate about what he's doing and I really like the fact that he's there and that he's in the position he's in."