Offices of Foundation Relations, Corporate Relations combine

Offices of Foundation Relations, Corporate Relations combine

BY LYNETTE McGLAMERY
Special to the Rice News

The offices of Foundation Relations and Corporate Relations, both housed in Development, recently merged to provide a one-stop place for faculty seeking foundation and corporate donations — and for corporations seeking to partner with Rice.

Katie Cervenka, who has led the university’s foundation relations effort for nearly eight years, will head the new office as executive director of Corporate and Foundation Relations.

COURTESY PHOTO

Corporate and Foundation Relations team members include (front row) Katie Cervenka, executive director of Corporate and Foundation Relations, and Marybeth Savicki, associate director of Corporate Relations; (back row) Katie Noble, associate director of Foundation Relations; Takcus Nesbit, assistant director of Development; and Elizabeth Castillo, Corporate and Foundation Relations coordinator.

Garrett Dolan, previously director of Corporate Relations, was recently named the executive director for the new University Learning Consortium, a Rice-led effort to advance technical learning and development in BP’s global Exploration and Production business.

”Katie is a 22-year fundraising veteran who has an amazing track record working with faculty to secure multimillion-dollar grants,” said Darrow Zeidenstein, vice president for Development. ”Her experience along with her collaborative spirit, engaging leadership style and collegial faculty interactions will help this office build vital philanthropic support for Rice University’s research, teaching and outreach mission.”

According to Zeidenstein, the time was right to combine the two offices. ”Increasing donations from corporations and foundations is important in accomplishing the goals outlined in the Vision for the Second Century,” he said. ”To do this, we must maintain strong relationships with existing partners and secure new relationships. Having one office will provide a single front door to Rice for corporations and foundations and for faculty looking for external philanthropic support for their innovative ideas.”

Cervenka said a single office also will result in more effective coordination with the Office of Research, which is led by Jim Coleman, vice provost for Research.

”Our office strengthens the overall relationship with a given foundation or corporation; Jim’s office focuses on an important aspect of that relationship — sponsored research, including the execution of contracts,” she said. ”Our increased collaboration will ensure that we are on the same page on these matters so we can increase our service to Rice faculty and to our private sponsors.”

Coleman, whose office recently split off from the Office of Graduate Studies to better concentrate on the V2C goal of raising Rice’s research profile, agreed. ”We will be more effective increasing our corporate support if the research functions of my office are integrated more fully with strategies and plans to build holistic relationships with private partners.”

Cervenka said that both offices also will work together to enhance communication about external research funding with Rice faculty, including establishing a new university-wide corporate council.

She said her office will expand its communication venues, such as its Web site and the quarterly e-newsletter, Notes From the Underground, to include information about working with corporations and recognition of faculty who obtain corporate support.

Corporate and Foundation Relations (CFR) will continue, in collaboration with the Office of Research, to work closely with faculty to help them find the funding opportunities that match their interests. CFR staff members also will seek corporations and foundations that can fund university priority areas in the V2C, including energy, biomedical and K-12 programs.

In fiscal year ’07, pledges and commitments from foundations and corporations, not including employee-matching gifts, totaled nearly $33.7 million, accounting for more than 20 percent of total philanthropic funds raised for Rice.

Recent commitments include $10 million from the Brown Foundation for art history and $8 million from the Welch Foundation for various projects.