Volunteer Spotlight: Randolph Nelson ’85, P ’13, P ’16, P ’18

Growing up, did you have conversations about philanthropy, and were there any expectations to give back?

When I grew up in Tulsa, Oklahoma, my grandparents, who were refugees from Nazi Germany, modeled generosity by being philanthropic leaders in their adopted community and country. In turn, my mother, who is also a grateful immigrant, has been extremely philanthropic. She has been particularly generous to her alma mater, Bryn Mawr College, for which she served as a co-chair of two capital campaigns. With this background, I like to say that my support of higher ed as a fundraising volunteer is “working in the family business.”

How did you first become involved with Yale as an alumnus? How has your relationship with the university evolved over the years?

I started volunteering for Yale in 1985 as an agent for the Quarter Century Fund (what is now the Senior Class Gift or Senior Roll Call). After being a Yale Alumni Fund agent for many years, I chaired 1985’s 10th Reunion Gift Committee. Advocating for Yale was such a fulfilling experience, not only because of what our class accomplished for the university, but also because of the relationships I established with classmates as prospects and fellow fundraising volunteers. Subsequently I joined the Yale Alumni Fund Board of Directors, where I expanded my connections to Yale alumni from across the decades. I soon discovered that I was part of a community of alumni volunteers that functioned very similarly to the community of students to whom I connected as an undergrad. Yalies are so bright, enthusiastic, and fascinating; we all share a bond through the collective perspective that our education bestowed upon us. It has been an honor to serve and form deep friendships with such dedicated volunteers and to work with so many wonderful staff members in New Haven.

How have you changed your fundraising approach to meet the changing needs of the university and the new challenges facing our world, particularly over the last 18 months? Especially when someone says, “Yale doesn’t need my philanthropy”?

While Yale and its close peers are blessed with great resources, their funds are still finite and do not match the size of complex global problems like the pandemic. Universities have certainly proven their value over the last two years. Their labs, clinics, and hospitals have generated the technologies and therapies that have been so effective at treating COVID-19. Furthermore, university experts in fields like economics, psychology, law, business, and history have helped us address the secondary impacts of the pathogen. While the various policies deployed around the globe have been far from perfect, the collective response, informed and implemented by our best minds, has been incredibly impressive.

In addition to the health care crisis, the world has other long-term challenges, including climate change, the negative secondary impacts of rapid technological innovation, inflammatory diseases, and deteriorating mental health. With enough investment, each of these can be meaningfully addressed through research on university campuses where there is a spectrum of specialties that can be coordinated to solve them. Yale researchers are contributing some of the most thoughtful investigation into a variety of problems in collaboration with each other and colleagues far beyond New Haven. Of course, our university’s faculty is also training the future leaders who will eventually have their turn at discovering and implementing answers to our most vexing questions.

You have served as a reunion gift co-chair in the past. In what ways, if any, did this role help prepare you to serve as co-chair of the For Humanity campaign? How do you think reunion giving volunteers can effectively promote the For Humanity campaign to their classmates?

As reunion gift chair over repeated cycles for 1985, I learned the skills to be an effective volunteer fundraiser for Yale. Volunteers are critical because most donors want to gain the perspective of peers, in addition to development officers, faculty and administrators, before making a gift. Volunteers inspire through the example they set and are often critical in initiating a philanthropic relationship between a donor and the university. Once a relationship has been established, a volunteer can promote a productive dialogue between the contributor and the institution, instigating and stewarding gifts that are meaningful to both parties. To be effective in this role, volunteers must have an active and authentic interest in learning both about the individuals they solicit and the university. To get more familiar with the campaign and why it is so important to Yale’s strategy, volunteers can seek out the materials prepared and published online on the For Humanity website.

What excites you the most about the For Humanity campaign?

As you can tell, I am most passionate about the various ways the For Humanity campaign will impact the world outside of our campus. Yale has cultivated a unique and valuable perspective through its long history. It has had an enduring effect on society because it has promoted lofty, well-considered, and robust virtues. Yale has shaped theology, promoted culture and the arts, trained leaders who have served at the very highest levels in a broad range of fields, and developed innovations in the social and natural sciences. To enhance and maintain Yale’s contribution to an intensely more complicated, technological, and delicate world, the institution needs the resources that this capital campaign will raise.

What are you for?

I have always been for the acquisition of knowledge for the sake of knowledge and for the investment in discoveries that have the promise of dramatic impact. I am also for access to knowledge on a fair and unhindered basis to those who can do the most with it, not only in the academy, in government or within industry, but in all areas of society.