Following amalgamation and under Vice-Chancellor Alan Gilbert, the University Alumni Association was established in 1992 with a focus on friend-raising.

 The Foundation was to raise funds, and the Alumni to raise friends. This separation of roles remained in both mission and administrative practice until very much later when an MOU was developed between the two bodies to facilitate an integral approach to these goals. 

The Foundation operated therefore under a fund-raising charter, and employed an Executive Officer who made an early start by talking with Deans and Heads of Department about their needs and possible projects for the newly established Foundation. He faced some difficulties, as some areas that had established connections with businesses and corporations already providing funding were reluctant to give this information and any of the responsibility for stewardship to another body. 

It would take some time for the Foundation to develop a level of trust within the institution and thereby the capacity to work with rather than for the University. Nevertheless, the early years were characterised by hard work and a great deal of goodwill on the part of Foundation Governors and the Board of Directors.  

The first major donors to the University through the Foundation were Sir Harold and Lady Cuthbertson for whom a laboratory at the Cradle Coast Campus was named. Their gift in today’s terms was well over one million dollars, a very significant inaugural donation for the Foundation and the University. The Cuthbertson Scholarship Endowment was established and continues as one of the University’s most prestigious scholarships that is awarded annually. It continues to be supported by the Cuthbertson family who maintain a connection with their scholars. 

In 1998 the Foundation was brought into the newly established Public Relations and University Extension Unit and began a healthy period of growth under its newly selected second Chairman, Ian Roberts, who took on the role from the inaugural Chairman, Nick Cretan. The Foundation’s strategic approach was reset and a host of activities and new programs undertaken including annual Dinners, the annual Graduate Awards, a West North-West bursary program, annual fundraising and working to demonstrate the Foundation’s potential to university staff. 

The West North-West Bursary Scheme was developed for the fledgling Cradle Coast campus and asked businesses and individuals on the Coast to support students with an annual bursary of $2,500. This approach – supporting individuals to make that step to university – was the start needed to develop and encourage a culture of giving from individuals and organisations. Many were attracted to the idea of not just giving to ‘an institution’ but to young people who needed financial support to be able to envisage a tertiary education. Many of the earliest bursary winners were the first in their families to go on to higher education. 

The program was based in Tasmania and developed an ongoing and significant pattern of donations from Tasmanian businesses small and large as well as individuals. This culture of support for students through scholarships formed the basis for significant and ongoing financial support for the Foundation more broadly. Scholarship donors were recognised through the Annual Foundation Dinners, where students attended, were acknowledged and in a very personal way reinforced the notion of giving as a genuinely philanthropic gesture. In time other major donations were also a focus at the Dinners, along with recognition of alumni through Graduate and Alumni Awards. The Foundation was now well established and trusted both by the University as well as the wider community.  

Funding partnerships with the Tasmanian Government through the Department of Premier and Cabinet jointly supported the Premier’s National Undergraduate Scholarships and Bursaries and established a relationship which was to enhance the capacity in Tasmania for students and research projects. 

While scholarships remained a centrepiece of the Foundation’s programs, there was a focus on the development of individual giving through other vehicles such as bequests and gifts, an Annual Appeal, workplace giving, regular deductions and pledges as well as specific appeals. At the same time some significant sponsorship had been achieved for particular projects as well as scholarships. From a base of $1.2 million in 1998, the Foundation in 2005 was managing funds of around $17 million – an increase of 1300%.  

Several important steps contributed to the impact and capacity of the Foundation and Alumni. Net Community, an online approach to connecting Alumni through the internet, and subsequently the installation of The Raiser’s Edge, a substantial database program especially for university alumni and development programs. These initiatives were major steps towards the integration of the Alumni and Foundation, which was promoted and cemented by an MOU between the two organisations and the University. This was the most significant step in resolving the notion of separate friend and fund raising roles and realising the strength of the UTAS community of alumni and friends. 

The other significant achievement of these years was the dedication of all the staff of the Public Relations & University Extension Unit all of whom had taken on these friend and fund raising tasks in addition to their initial and substantive roles. The commitment to building relationships outside the University was a focus for the team and some of the contacts remain strong even after the retirement of individuals. The nature of Alumni relations is an ongoing and unrelenting effort in the service of the institution. 

Building on community trust and the relationship with the State Government, one of the Foundation’s most prominent appeals was the Save the Tasmanian Devil Appeal. This grew from 2004, following a bipartisan approach from Government with the University to be managed by the Foundation. The program developed a whole range of activities from the Primary School Adopt-a-Devil project through research focussed Scholarships, and eventually a joint University Government entity to channel funds raised, from donors around Australia and across the world, towards substantial research and management programs. This has been an ongoing and extremely influential program achieving major research advances and establishing ‘ark’ populations of devils both here and on the mainland to ensure the survival of the species. 

In 2004 agreement was reached between the UTAS Foundation and the Alumni that an international focus was timely, and that we establish a US charitable foundation. Following a feasibility study including a series of interviews with UTAS graduates and friends in the United States the conclusion was that we had strong support for the idea, and that alumni and friends wanted to reconnect with the University and with Tasmania. We achieved tax-exempt status in the US in April 2006, and four inaugural directors based in the USA were invited to establish a Foundation specifically for that country. The University of Tasmania Foundation USA was launched in July 2006 in San Francisco by Vice-Chancellor Professor Daryl Le Grew and then Foundation Board Chair David Rowell. The inaugural Chair of the University of Tasmania Foundation USA was Professor Michael Sharp, alumnus, and Professor of Mathematics at UCSD.  

On the same visit to the USA, the Save the Tasmanian Devil Program was a focus for alumni functions both in San Francisco and New York as a worthwhile and ideal vehicle for fund raising and for profile raising. The impact in the US of the Warner Brothers cartoon character Taz, while a rather inaccurate representation of a Tasmanian Devil, was seen as a useful entrée to the project. Again, the relationship with the Government became important in our USA program through the participation of UTAS in the Annual G’Day USA trade and tourism events both in Los Angeles and New York. UTAS alumni were speakers at events, and at the black tie dinners we were able to promote our Save the Devil project to wealthy and influential participants. 

One of the more local appeals, but with international significance and support, was that for the establishment of a new Optical Astronomy Telescope site for the University. Population growth in Cambridge near the airport was a growing source of light pollution for the established optical telescope at Mt Canopus so a new site was sought and located at Bisdee Tier, off the Midlands Highway and on a property which was able to be accessed and made available. Commencing in 2008, a major Appeal was built around the support of a Canadian benefactor, who had agreed to fund and construct a 1.27m reflecting telescope a contribution worth $1.6m The Foundation agreed to fund another third of the cost, alongside the University. 

The John Greenhill Observatory housing the Caisey Harlington telescope was launched in February 2013 by alumnus His Excellency the Governor of Tasmania, Peter Underwood AC. 

Following several strategic reviews and as the Foundation outgrew the Public Relations and University Extension Unit, which had been responsible for many areas since its inception in 1997 the Development Office was established in 2008 with its own dedicated staff and subsequently, along with trends in other universities, the Advancement Office. The growth in funds managed has of course been significant and the donor base now includes the always hoped for ‘million dollar’ philanthropists. The 125^th anniversary of the University of Tasmania offers the next opportunity for the Advancement office to demonstrate its now trusted, established, statewide, national and international reputation for supporting the educational growth of its community.

About the author: Amanda Wojtowicz, Dip Sch Mus 1966 (Tasmania Conservatorium, B Ed 1984 (Tasmania); Special Certificate in Music Education, 1988, (York), GAICD. Amanda is a retired music educator and administrator. She taught music in several states, was Senior Lecturer in Music Education at the University of Tasmania; Dean of the Tasmanian Conservatorium; Associate Executive Dean of the School of Visual and Performing Arts at the University of Tasmania; Deputy Director of Public Affairs, ANU; Director of Public Relations and University Extension and subsequently Director of Events and Protocol (Tasmania), Chair of the Tasmanian Wood Design Collection and a member of several Boards.