SUNY Schenectady plays a pivotal role in New York’s Capital Region, offering accessible, affordable education to a diverse community of students, including many first-generation college students and adults pursuing new careers. As the college approached its 50th anniversary, its leadership faced two significant challenges: an outdated library that no longer met student needs and growing financial barriers to access.
To address both, the SUNY Schenectady Foundation launched The Promise of Our Common Future—a capital campaign designed to fund a new state-of-the-art Learning Commons and expand endowed scholarships. But with no history of campaigns at this scale, the Foundation needed a trusted partner. They turned to the Winkler Group to help them plan, execute, and sustain this ambitious effort.
What began as a capital campaign soon became something much larger: a catalyst for long-term growth, stronger donor relationships, and a bold strategic vision for the future.
Our Work Together: One Unified Vision for Student Success
Through a feasibility study, we confirmed donor enthusiasm but also uncovered a need for sharper messaging that centered student success. We helped the Foundation refine its case for support around two themes:
Access: Expanding scholarships to remove financial obstacles for students.
Success: Transforming the library into a modern Learning Commons that fosters collaborative learning, tutoring, and academic support.
The campaign’s strategy emphasized student impact and community benefit—positioning the Learning Commons as an investment in both academic achievement and local economic vitality. State and county funding commitments helped build early momentum, and private donors responded enthusiastically.
The Promise of Our Common Future exceeded its goal, funding one of the largest capital projects in the college’s history while also growing scholarship funds. Donor engagement didn’t end with the campaign—major gifts continued to flow in afterward, including the two largest gifts in the Foundation’s history.
Recognizing this new momentum, the Foundation once again engaged the Winkler Group—this time to craft a strategic plan to guide its next chapter. Working closely with board members, staff, and community stakeholders, we developed a bold but actionable five-year plan centered on: growing flexible funding by 5% annually, strengthening partnerships with alumni, businesses, and civic groups, enhancing scholarship programs to maximize student impact, and deepening board engagement in fundraising and advocacy.
The Foundation also restructured its board committees to align with these priorities, ensuring that its fundraising infrastructure could support continued growth.
