People give Art Cotton money, and that may be the easiest part of his job.
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But it's the relationships built around that giving that's the most important part of his job.
"People give to people, they don't necessarily give to institutions,” said Cotton, vice president of university advancement and external relations at Oklahoma City University. "When you build those relationships, there's that trust factor and you can bridge any gap out there.”
That's why Cotton prefers to see his job as "friendraising” rather than fundraising.
"Whatever business you're in, people go back where they were treated with respect and they feel like they were treated fairly,” Cotton said. "It's not just giving money. It's an investment in the future of not only OCU, but the future of Oklahoma City and the future of all our students.”
Cotton, a Tulsa native, came to OCU in 2003 with his wife, Sandy, who is senior director of development at the university. Before that, the couple worked together raising money for the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation. They also worked together in different fundraising capacities at Oklahoma State University.
Cotton said their "double act” in fundraising helps OCU because men and women pick up on different cues and body language in conversations and social situations. What one might miss, the other might get.
"There are a lot of husband and wife teams on this campus — (President) Tom and Brenda McDaniel are very successful, and so are our chairman and his wife,” he said. "Sandy not only makes me a better fundraiser, she makes me a better human being, and I think that benefits OCU, too.”
The Oklahoman spoke to Cotton last week in his office at Oklahoma City University. The following is an edited transcript of that conversation:
Q: Is your main job to raise money for OCU?A: Most people would think my job is raising money. What I think my job is is building relationships and building awareness for Oklahoma City University; they go hand in hand. A lot of people think what we do is take people to lunch and ask them for money. If we had to, we'd certainly do that, but where we've been successful is building long-term, sustainable relationships.
Q: How has philanthropy changed?A: Twenty or 30 years ago, philanthropy was more, "Here's the money. Go do something with it.” But donors are a lot more sophisticated now. They understand it's more like a business. There's still that human connection, but they want to know their money is taken care of in a fiduciary way.
Q: Some of the large universities are coming under fire for the sheer size of their endowments. How does that affect your job? A: Well, for small, faith-based institutions like OCU, we don't get $400 million or $500 million from the state that OU and OSU do. We have to eat what we kill. The money we raise not only goes to scholarships for students or new facilities and buildings for the students or new endowed faculty chairs. You've got to pay the light bill, you've got to have the yard mowed and things like that.
Some of the major universities like Harvard and Yale are coming under scrutiny because their endowments are so large, they don't have to charge tuition.
Q: Does that offer opportunities for OCU and its fundraising?A: Yes. This is Oklahoma City's university. Even if you went to OU or OSU or Harvard or Yale, if you live and work in Oklahoma City, this is your university. You can have more of an impact. Someone might be a Harvard graduate and $1 million at Harvard will go pretty quickly in Cambridge. But $1 million will have tremendous impact and a lot of utility at OCU.
Q: How do you reach new graduates and alumni, many of whom are paying back student loans and in their first or second jobs after college? A: OCU is fortunate in that this is a servant-leadership type of university. It's ingrained with our students, who donate their time to local elementary schools or teach English to Latino students or build Habitat for Humanity homes. The whole environment at OCU lends itself to future philanthropy. Our students become very focused, but they also understand there is a responsibility to give back.
But every dollar makes a difference. We know that there are people walking across this campus right now that in 10 or 20 or 30 years will have the opportunity to make significant gifts.
Q: What is a typical day like for you?A: Every day is different, that's the beauty of this job. What really energizes me every day is being with donors, being with students and talking about OCU.
Q: Is there anything you don't like about the job?A: Probably not the meetings. Meetings can get very bureaucratic for me, and I'm more hands-on and like to deal with people. If the meetings are in my control, I like to keep them as focused as possible.
Q: What were some of your early jobs?A: I was in government for a while at the Oklahoma Water Resources Board. Then I was head of marketing and business development for The Benham Group in Tulsa.
I was in the second Leadership Oklahoma class with Jack Mildren before he decided to run for lieutenant governor. He did, and I helped him raise money and later became his chief of staff.
Q: How did you meet your wife?A: We met in the lieutenant governor's office.
Q: What was your first date?A: We went to a lobbyist party. It was very nice. It was in the summer, so the Legislature was gone and it was pretty casual.
Q: You've worked with your wife at several places. Was there any hesitation initially at you both being seen as a package deal?A: I'm probably a little more difficult to work with because I'm a little more intense and high strung. But it really makes us better at what we do, both personally and professionally. On a personal level, we don't have to explain to each other what we're doing when we come home because we're doing the same thing and pulling on the same rope in the same direction for OCU. I am not technically Sandy's supervisor. She reports directly to Tom (McDaniel), but it works for us.
Q: You're a big Boston Red Sox fan. Why did you start following them?A: My maternal grandparents graduated from OCU in the 1930s, and my grandfather's brother was a football player at OCU then. He then went to Harvard and got his law degree. Then World War II broke out, and when he came back, he was a professor in Boston. We used to go to Boston for summers to visit him, and I became a Boston Red Sox fan in the '60s.
Q: Have you been to any games recently?A: Not in the last couple of years. I try to go when they're playing in Texas or Kansas City. Boston, even though it's a very cosmopolitan community, it still has a very blue-collar work ethic, and I think the Red Sox are part of that. The Red Sox Nation is all of New England. It also doesn't kill me to see the Yankees in disarray right now!
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Personally speaking
•Position: Vice president, university advancement and external relations, Oklahoma City University.
•Age: 50. "Fifty is no big deal. I plan on living a lot longer.”
•Education: Bachelor's degree in political science; master's in civil engineering; and master's in public administration, Oklahoma State University.
•Family: Wife Sandy; four children, Jennifer, 31; Josh, 25; Harrison, 20; and Caroline, 17.
•Pets: Chloe, a miniature poodle. "My wife and younger kids talked me into getting this poodle. I thought it was too frou-frou of a dog for me, but she's wrapped me around her little finger.”
•Hobbies/interests: Antiquing with Sandy; yard work and gardening. "I like to putter around the yard. It's a way for me to get out and be with nature and also relax.”
•Favorite movies: "Citizen Kane” and "Fever Pitch” — "If you're a Red Sox fan, it's a great movie to have.”
•Currently reading: "Einstein: His Life and Universe” by Walter Isaacson.
•Ringtone: Standard ring. "I'm a rotary guy living in a digital world. Our kids think I'm just old school. I don't have an iPhone, I don't have a Blackberry. If it's blackberries, I eat them.”
•First car: 1974 MG Midget. "It was a fun little car.”
•Current car: 1983 Mercedes 380 SL Roadster. "It's my dream car. I've been restoring it for about 10 years and it's about there. It's got a new engine, a new paint job. It's about the only toy I have, but it's a money pit.”
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