Transforming fundraiser metrics and goalsetting: A case study from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Author's Biography

Sean Clarkson, JD is Assistant Vice Chancellor for Development, Schools and Units, at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The Schools and Units team exists to accelerate philanthropic impact to and through the university. Tasked with serving as an internal consultant for development best practices and operational effectiveness, Sean works with a varied cohort of units across campus to increase effectiveness within each unit, as well as across units. Sean works with University Development Office leadership to refine campaign plans for each unit and to work alongside those units to develop strategies for success in the next campaign and beyond. Sean’s role also is designed to tease out pan-university opportunities for schools and units across campus where the co-ordination of opportunities results in cumulative effects greater than the sum of the individual programmatic proposals. Before coming to Chapel Hill, Sean most recently served as the Director of Development, University Libraries, for the University of Virginia where he designed and implemented the Libraries’ first Strategic Fundraising Campaign Plan. Sean was at the Libraries for more than five years, first as Associate Director of Development and then as Director, and during that time and through that strategic plan, the Libraries saw its most successful three-year run in fundraising history bringing in gifts and commitments of more than US$50 million towards the Libraries’ overall ten-year US$100 million campaign goal. Prior to the University of Virginia, Sean worked for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. An attorney by training and with substantial experience in financial services, Sean’s varied background assists him in navigating the complex and rapidly changing situations facing development teams today.

Sean Mulligan serves as Associate Vice Chancellor for Development and works with teams that are responsible for individual giving. In this role he oversees Gift Planning, Annual Giving, Regional Fundraisers, Alumni Engagement, International Fundraising, and Parent & Family Giving. Previous to this, Mulligan was the senior director/chief development officer for the Eli Broad College of Business at Michigan State University. He has also served as the director of development at Mott Children’s Hospital at The University of Michigan, senior major gift officer at the Wayne State University Law School, and a major gift officer at the Stephen M. Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan. Mulligan worked for nearly 15 years as a PGA golf professional before pivoting to higher education. He worked at well known golf clubs in Detroit, MI, Rochester, NY, and Long Island, NY. He also was a director of merchandising for the PGA of America in Palm Beach Gardens, FL. He earned his bachelor’s degree in business from Ferris State University in Big Rapids, MI and his master’s degree in management from Michigan State University.

Pitt Tomlinson has managed the prospect development department at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill since 2015. The department comprises two separate, collaborative offices focused on resourcing officers to do their best prospect work. The prospect research office combines prospect identification and research for both the major and principal giving segments, while the prospect management office focuses on portfolio management. Pitt began his development career as Director of Corporate Relations at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business, where he had received his MBA. Prior to his role at Fuqua, he worked at a corrugated box factory in Orlando, Florida, a commercial bank and permanent endowment trust in Washington, DC, and a foundation in Williamsburg, Virginia.