"Our overriding principle is to be responsive to our communities and to our industry…We really want to support programs that are going to be valuable for training future journalists."
— Irma Simpson, manager of the Gannett Foundation
Corporations Step Up to Help
Jimmy Klepek researched white water rafting and ecotourism on the Futaleufú River during his trip to Chile as part of the International Journalism Program. The students’ stories and photographs ran in the Tucson Citizen.
Corporate giving has been critical during Campaign Arizona. For the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, it represents 27 percent of total gifts.
Many corporations have money earmarked for charitable gifts. But with many deserving non-profit groups in operation, the challenge is being chosen.
Reasons for corporate giving are diverse. According to Don Hatfield, vice president for corporate and foundation relationships for the UA Foundation, “Many companies give to the University because they want to be a good community member. But over the years, we’ve seen a slight change in that some companies give to areas related in some way to what they do.”
Hatfield notes that still others give to areas that reflect the interest of the CEO or owner of the company.
Below are just three companies who have given to the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences. We thank them for their generosity and their commitment to higher education!
First Magnus
When SBS Director of Development Ginny Healy made a solicitation to First Magnus Financial Corporation to ask them to honor Shirley Sevigny in the Women’s Plaza of Honor, she was accompanied by a dean — no, not the dean of SBS, but the dean of Fine Arts, Maurice Sevigny, Shirley’s husband. This display of cross-college cooperation is not as unusual as you might think. And according to Healy, Maurice was a pro at doing “the ask.”
“There is no way you can say ‘no’ to him,” Healy said. “He takes no prisoners. He is just an excellent fundraiser.”
Bringing in Maurice was effective, admits Karl Young, chief operating officer for First Magnus. But that’s because Young’s admiration for “Maury” almost matches his devotion to Shirley. “It’s a legacy for Maurice, as well, to have his wife honored at the University that has been such a big part of his life.”
But the main reason First Magnus has decided to honor Shirley Sevigny is because of what Shirley has meant and still means to the company. Listening to Karl Young talk about Shirley is touching. He is very careful to acknowledge the numerous and significant contributions Shirley has made to First Magnus. But it is clear that her contributions have been much more than being the facilities manager, a title Young says does not come close to capturing Sevigny’s importance to the company and to him personally.
She was there from the beginning, helping grow the company and playing “mother hen to a bunch of young ‘kids’,” Young laughs.
First Magnus is a Tucson success story. The company was founded in 1996 by Tucsonans, most of whom are University of Arizona alumni. Young, at 36, was the oldest of the management team when the company started. They had 10 employees.
First Magnus now has more than 3,500 employees across the country, approximately 700 of whom are in Tucson. It is the nation’s second-largest privately held mortgage
company, and recently was recognized by Inc. Magazine as one of the fastest-growing privately held companies in the country. First Magnus offers its retail mortgages through Charter Funding, a big name in the Tucson community.
First Magnus has a longstanding relationship with the UA. Many of its employees are UA graduates, including four of its top executives. It supports the University’s athletic scholarship program, only in small part, Young jokes, for the great basketball tickets: “We love our Arizona Wildcats.”
Young says he is pleased that First Magnus is able to support SBS and Women’s Studies and at the same time honor Shirley Sevigny, a woman who brings so much heart, hard work and talent to their company.
Gannett
Gannett, which owns the Tucson Citizen, has been a generous and longstanding donor to the journalism department through the Gannett Foundation.
For the past four years, the Gannett Foundation has provided the journalism department with money to upgrade and expand its instructional technology. These funds have enabled the department to build a laboratory for the two newspapers the journalism department creates: the bilingual newspaper, El Independiente, which serves the city of South Tucson and soon will expand its coverage of the U.S.-Mexico border; and the newspaper, the Tombstone Epitaph, which serves that historic city. The money also has allowed the department to update and expand the photojournalism
laboratory, and update the department website.
Gifts from the Gannett Foundation came in response to applications made through the Tucson Citizen, with a very strong endorsement by Michael Chihak, the editor and publisher of the newspaper.
“Everyone in the journalism department is extremely grateful to Michael Chihak and the Gannett Foundation. Their support has ensured that thousands of students are receiving an education that includes state-of-the-art journalism training,” said Jacqueline Sharkey, head of the journalism department.
Gannett is the nation’s largest newspaper group in terms of circulation. The company has 101 daily newspapers, including USA TODAY. Gannett also owns and operates 21 television stations.
Since it was formed in 1991, the Gannett Foundation has given more than $100 million to deserving causes.
According to Irma Simpson, manager of the Gannett Foundation, “Our overriding principle is to be responsive to our communities and to our industry…We really want to support programs that are going to be valuable for training future journalists.”
The Gannett Foundation believes that its matching program is an important benefit to its employees. According to Simpson, “It means they are able to get a bigger bang for their buck when they make a donation. It also gives us a real ability to contribute based on what our employees want.”
Because it matched two gifts made by Magellan Circle members Michael Chihak and Mark Kimble, the Gannett Foundation is the first corporate member of the Circle.
Sundt Construction
Founded in 1890, Sundt Construction, Inc. is one of the oldest and largest employee-owned construction organizations in the United States. Sundt also has a long relationship with the University of Arizona. Sundt built the original Centennial Hall during the depression, and recently built the Alumni Plaza.
Although construction is thought of as a male-dominated industry, when Sundt recently decided to give its first gift to the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, it was to the scholarship program in the women’s studies department.
Charlie Boyd, the executive director of the Sundt Foundation, explains: “The women’s studies program caught the interest of several of the members of the giving committee because we have a number of women here at Sundt in leadership positions. Also, we recently lost to cancer a prominent female leader in the company.”
The Sundt Foundation was formed in 1998 as a way for the company’s employees to give back to their community. Employees contribute to the Foundation through payroll deduction. The company matches the gift. The money is then given to non-profit organizations that improve the quality of life in the communities where Sundt has an office. Since its inception, the Sundt Foundation has issued grants totaling more than $900,000.
This ingenious blend of personal and corporate giving is supplemented by employees’ volunteer projects, which the Sundt Foundation promotes through internal email messages, posters and other forms of marketing.
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