Career Fund Raiser Finds Lots of Appeal in New Role as Director

When Marcia Kerz quit her job teaching emotionally disturbed children in St. Louis to create and head the Missouri Governor’s Conference on Education in 1975, her goal was to help overhaul the state’s education system.

Her first responsibility: raise $350,000.

Ms. Kerz has been raising money for nonprofit organizations ever since, including five years as vice president of the Missouri Historical Society, where she oversaw the charity’s $20-million capital campaign, and eight years as director of development and public relations at the Missouri Botanical Garden.

Now in her latest job as president of the Oasis Institute — a national education and volunteering charity in St. Louis that seeks to improve life for people 50 and older — Ms. Kerz says fund raising will remain on her list of top priorities as she seeks to increase corporate and foundation support as well as cultivate individual donors.

Ms. Kerz, who had been the charity’s chief operating officer since 2000, succeeds Marylen Mann, founder of the 20-year-old charity. Ms. Mann now serves as chairman of the group’s Board of Directors.

In addition to fund raising, Ms. Kerz says she plans to heighten the organization’s visibilty among people 50 and older — a population that is projected to grow to more than 70 million within the next three decades — and increase members’ access to computer technology and online courses.

“I’ve always believed that anyone who wants to be successful in development has to be engaged in every area of an organization,” Ms. Kerz says. “Those working in development must be able to speak knowledgeably and enthusiastically about the organization at all times; they have the greatest opportunity to create lasting impressions in the minds of prospective donors.”

The Oasis Institute, created in 1982 with a two-year, $184,000 grant from the U.S. Administration on Aging, offers older Americans classes in the arts and humanities, preventive health care, and technology, as well as volunteer opportunities tutoring public-school students. It has centers in 26 cities where members can take classes and receive training in tutoring.

Oasis now has 340,000 members who participate in its education and volunteering programs. Although membership is free, the charity charges a small fee for its classes, which accounts for 26 percent of its $20.5-million annual budget.

Oasis’s largest private benefactor is the May Department Stores Company, which has provided space in its stores for Oasis centers since the charity was created. Ms. Kerz says that while the charity plans to continue its long affiliation with the company, it has also begun to cultivate new sources of corporate and foundation support.

“What May has done for Oasis as a philanthropic commitment is quite unusual,” Ms. Kerz says. “But we know that a stronger and diverse financial base is critical to the survival of any organization, including our own.”

In an interview, Ms. Kerz discussed her new position.

What steps are you taking to ensure a smooth transition?

The transition was expertly handled because Marylen Mann understood the importance of bringing someone in and giving that person time to grasp what it is Oasis does, how it works, its unique qualities. Marylen had been exploring and really thinking very carefully about leadership and removing herself from the day-to-day activities as president. She had spent a couple of years thinking about where Oasis should go in its next phase of development. I started as chief operating officer in September of 2000. That was a new position, created as a transitional position for me, with an emphasis on expanding support.

Have you been successful in attracting new support for Oasis?

We’ve shown 7-percent growth in support since last year. When I came, I put into place the Friends of Oasis program, our individual-donor program. We didn’t have one prior to 2001.

The first Friends of Oasis mailing we did was mailed September 5, 2001, and of course because of September 11 our return wasn’t what we anticipated, even though we did OK. But we have shown a 40-percent increase in response from 2001 to 2002. This past year we raised $237,000 and brought in about 4,500 new donors. Individual donors now make up about 6 percent of our overall income, but we’d like it to be 10 percent.

Last November we were awarded $970,000 from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to pilot a four-year program called Active Living Every Day. Its goal is to help adults 50 and older make behavior changes by placing physical activity into their lives every day.

Who are Oasis’s target members?

There are a lot of mature adults who would not necessarily want to go to a senior center or a center for adults to take classes. If they can go to a department store and take a class, there’s no stigma attached.

We also have an intergenerational tutoring program, which is our main volunteer component. Our members are in 100 school districts and have tutored more than 100,000 students in kindergarten through third grade who are at risk in reading. We are now piloting a tutoring program for fourth graders.

What are you doing to raise Oasis’s profile?

We are beginning to explore ways to work with AARP. They have played a role in the Active Living Every Day project, and they are providing us the opportunity to reach AARP members with that program. We are currently talking about ways that we might begin to prepare courses on weight management and activity. I see a wonderful opportunity to work with state AARP organizations, which I believe will be a relationship and additional partnership that will be beneficial to everyone.

What qualifications do you bring to this position?

What I bring first and foremost is a passion for the mission. The mission of Oasis is to enhance the quality of life for older adults, and since I am 55, I am part of this mature-adult population.

My belief is it doesn’t matter where you are in an organization, if you have a passion for the mission and if you can present your case in a strong and vibrant manner, support will follow.

ABOUT MARCIA KERZ, NEW PRESIDENT OF THE OASIS INSTITUTE

Education: Earned a bachelor’s degree and master’s degree in education from Illinois State University.

Previous employment: Vice president of the Missouri Historical Society; director of development and public relations for the Missouri Botanical Garden.

Charitable interests: Serves on the boards of directors of the Missouri Historical Society and the St. Louis chapter of the Association of Fund Raising Professionals, and on the advisory committee of the Regional Arts Commission of St. Louis.

Books she is currently reading: The Hours, by Michael Cunningham, and The Children, by David Halberstam.