【Reported by Meng-xi Xie, Tamkang Times】In order to raise the quality of services and achievements at Tamkang University, the Alumni Services and Resource Development Center held the “Workshop for University Leaders on Development and Alumni Engagement” on the 18th. Presidents and representatives from over 50 different universities were in attendance coming to a total of 100 people. Sister school, San Francisco State University (SFSU) gave a seminar on different methods of fundraising. President Flora Chia-I Chang expressed, “In America they have very refined and detailed methods of raising money so here in Taiwan there is a lot that we can learn from them to improve our current models of fundraising.”

Speaker from SFSU, Dr. Leslie Wong, stated in her lecture, “We had to adopted many effective methods of fundraising because in the state of California, it is almost impossible to raise the price of tuition. So we have had to seek outside of the university for methods of raising money.” She then mentioned many of the procedures to help with fundraising including the concept “No One Works Alone,” which entails working together in order to achieve more effective results.

The next speaker, Mr. Robert J. Nava, explained that fundraising can be made more effective by adopting and understanding the three “R’s”: Reputation, Relationships, and Resources. He mentioned that these three items are crucial for being able to build a momentum for the continual success of holding these events.

In closing President of the SFSU Alumni Association, Mr. Doug Hupke, taught the concept “It’s all about contact!” This concept relates to the importance of alumni relationships and how improving them will directly lead to the improvement of fundraising projects.