Alumni and friends of the University have been widely recognized for helping raise $3.2 billion in the eight-year Michigan Difference Campaign that ended last year. But one donor group has remained under the radar: University faculty and staff.

At yesterday’s meeting of the faculty’s top governing body, the Senate Advisory Committee on University Affairs, Vice President for Development Jerry May spoke to the board about the faculty’s impact on the campaign.

Faculty and staff contributed more than $100 million in cash pledges and more than $60 million in bequests to the campaign, according to May.

Throughout the course of the campaign, an advisory committee from the University’s Office of Development collaborated on ways to seek donations from University employees in an appropriate manner.

May said the development office doesn’t believe in “arm twisting” to get people to give, adding that the office makes sure department chairs didn’t ask for donations from the faculty who worked under them.

“We believe that philanthropy is a voluntary act,” he said. “We don’t believe that you should be asked by somebody who is your superior for a gift.”

While May said faculty willingly gave money, participation stretched past reaching into their wallets.

During the last seven years, about eight to 12 faculty members traveled to alumni events in Palm Beach, Naples and Sarasota, Fla. — three of the University’s largest alumni and donor populations.

At these events, faculty gave academic lectures and met with nearly 400 alumni to discuss their latest research.

The University Office of Development paid for the travel expenses. Though it was costly, May said it pays off in the end.

“It costs a bit of money to do this — to have 12 faculty members travel, plane flights and everything else — but we find that all it takes is a couple hundred thousand dollar gifts and million dollar gifts, and it stimulates those relationships,” he said.

Most of the people who come to the events are large donors who, May said, leave with a renewed sense of philanthropy after hearing interesting presentations about stem cell research, the presidential campaign or African American history.

“They have a new appreciation for the quality and caliber of the faculty members that reinforces their commitment to the University,” he said.

While similar seminars have been organized on campus — more than 50 alumni attended one a few weeks ago — the development office will take a dozen faculty members to California for the first time this April.

At the meeting, Robert Frost, SACUA member and associate professor of Information Studies, agreed with May that faculty members can have a significant influence on donors. He said he saw similar results when he gave lectures during Alumni Association tours last summer.

“During those tours, it’s pretty clear that faculty doing exciting presentations to alums is a very powerful sort of way to get people to donate,” Frost said.

Since the Michigan Difference Campaign ended last December, the development office has been in post-campaign mode — focusing on thanking the 372,931 donors.

But fundraising is still going on, May told the group.

“Hopefully, we’re going to raise between $200 and $300 million (this year) for the traditional kinds of needs that we do for people that haven’t been exhausted by the last campaign,” he said.

In his 29 years in fundraising, May said he has found faculty members and students to be the two key factors that encourage people to donate and make goals achievable.

“In my experience, there are two things that make the biggest difference in a donor feeling philanthropic…being stimulated by exciting, vibrant students and knowledgeable, articulate faculty,” he said.