In my experience there are thousands of men and women and foundations and corporations in the Portland area ready, willing and able to give very large amounts of money. But I have found that they will do so only if they can see very clearly how their gifts will benefit an organization.
Gifts are essentially investments in ideas.
That's why gifts to colleges and universities are particularly attractive. A university's profitability directly affects the lives of its students and has a greater impact on the world than almost any other product. The University of Portland's recent experience provides strong evidence of this. Before we began our Defining Moment Campaign in 1995, we had three gifts of more than a million dollars in the first 90 years of the university's history. And the University of Portland isn't alone in attracting large donors to its cause.