Illinois Tech Illinois Tech partnered with Orr Group to develop a data-driven campaign plan, ultimately raising their goal to $1 billion while enhancing their gift planning program.
Challenge Located in Chicago, Illinois Illinois Tech is the city’s sole technology-focused university, offering a wide array of academic disciplines. After achieving remarkable success in the initial phase of its capital campaign, raising $250 million, Illinois Tech faced the challenge of launching the next phase. To navigate this critical juncture and raise a minimum of $250 million and potentially up to $500 million more, Illinois Tech sought a partnership with Orr Group to devise a data-driven plan.
Solution Leveraging stakeholder interviews, comprehensive wealth screening and donor data analysis, and an extensive environmental scan, Orr Group recommended a bold move: raising the campaign goal to $1 billion. Illinois Tech embraced this recommendation, publicly announcing the ambitious $1 billion goal.
Impact In response to this strategic shift, Orr Group not only developed a comprehensive plan for the remainder of the campaign but also engineered significant growth in the endowment, driven by planned and blended gifts. Recognizing the vital role of gift planning, Illinois Tech engaged Orr Group to oversee and enhance its gift planning program. Orr Group began this effort with a thorough gift planning assessment, identifying program strengths and weaknesses and prioritizing areas for planned and blended gift cultivation within the campaign. Currently, Orr Group manages all aspects of the gift planning program, including support and training for relationship managers in planned and blended gift strategies, gift administration, and serving as Director of Planned Giving with a dedicated portfolio of planned giving campaign prospects. As of the current fiscal year, Illinois Tech, with support from the Orr Group team, has: Constructed five proposals, securing over $15 million in blended and cash gifts. Realized $1.1 million in planned giving revenue. Identified a planned giving pipeline sitting at $208 million+. Vetted over 500 planned giving prospects. Trained 15 major gifts officers and advancement staff members on planned giving vehicles. These achievements are part of a broader strategy to secure a remarkable $2.95 million in new planned gift commitments for the current fiscal year, surpassing the $1.5 million in new commitments from the prior year.