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serve students with Down syndrome, and
has roughly 35 students. While the school
formerly was affi liated with the Catholic
Church, it ended the affi liation after it began
to receive state funding.
“I knew the project was worthy, and I
didn’t know how we were going to do it,
but I did believe we would do it,” Amico
said. “I relied on Semple Bixel to steer me in
the right direction.”
Amico said the campaign relied on a
base of supporters who already were familiar
with it.
“We reached out to some folks that we
knew would be very much interested in the
campaign, and also these folks would have
the ability to reach out for us beyond themselves,”
Amico said. “They were not only
our friends or acquaintances, but they had
some other contacts that they could maybe
help us with.”
The campaign’s success allowed the
school to open in its new building in January.
Amico said she was amazed at the donors
who the campaign reached, as volunteers
reached out to additional potential donors.
“We found friends who we didn’t know
we had,” said Amico, who said that along
with being the school’s director, she is the
principal and “I do boiler work.”
She is hoping to complete the last
$500,000 in fundraising in the next 18
months.
e
The larger $50 million campaign at
Centenary drew on both the college’s alumni
base and the broader northwestern New
Jersey community. The campaign offered a
variety of giving levels, from $250 to dedicate
a brick outside of the new center to
million-dollar-plus gifts.
The center is named after David and
Carol Lackland, who contributed roughly
$20 million.
Ward said the college was able to advance
toward its goal despite the recession.
“It was defi nitely a concern, but we already
had done a lot of good work in introducing
the topic of the need to several indi-
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The David and Carol Lackland Center at Centenary College, in Hackettstown, opened after a
$50 million campaign, which tapped alumni and the broader northwestern New Jersey community.
ee
f
viduals,” she said. “I do think there might
have been a bit of stall in giving (when
the market crashed). When people grew
more confi dent and they realized the world
wasn’t going to end, they realized this was
still a good investment.”
Ward credited much of the campaign’s
success to its volunteers, who were led by
Virginia Littell. She had built a relationship
with the college through her husband,
former state senator and Centenary board
member Robert Littell.
A successful capital campaign “is really
about passion,” Virginia Littell said.
“It’s about telling a story. It’s about con-
Grow a
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organization
SPOtLiGht
vincing people.”
She said campaigns need to work to
draw in potential donors. “The biggest
thing for everybody who volunteers is you
absolutely have to have a passion for the
process,” she said.
Virginia Littell found the “story” that
Centenary was telling — about how the
new center would play a positive role in
both the cultural and economic life of the
community — was compelling to donors.
“There’s no question that there is an
ownership, a partnership, a sense that we
are working together,” she said.
E-mail to: akitchenman@njbiz.com
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