October 2016

As we work our way through October, we’re preparing for an exciting new end of the year “Unrestricted Futures” annual fund campaign, as well as the upcoming November board meetings and fall dinner. The Development and Communications teams are reaching the culmination points of a number of large projects, including a new donor database, the new BTI website, and working with designers to develop exhibits at the original BTI building in Yonkers, NY. At the same time, the new AD of Communications, Keith Hannon has also been working to build relationships with faculty and researchers while creating exciting new media content.

Philanthropic giving is currently at $174,110 towards the budgeted goal of $246,000, and much of this number is thanks to the generosity of our board members and National Advisory Council. Last year at this time, $20,000 had been raised and December closed with a total of $102,000 raised for the year. This leaves us with a goal of just about $72,000 to be raised by the end of December. This leaves us with a goal of just over $100,000 to be raised by the end of December. The team has worked with senior leadership, including board chair Laura Phillips, on developing exciting incentives for the Unrestricted Futures Campaign, and we will be reaching out to the board in the coming weeks to let you know how you can help to make the campaign a success, and help us to reach our goal despite a nearly half-year lapse in development leadership.

Based on suggestions from board and committee members, the team has been putting together some tools that will be helpful to all of us as we work together to raise awareness and support for the BTI mission.

BTI Ambassadors

If you are connected to Facebook, consider joining the BTI Ambassadors closed group (https://www.facebook.com/groups/1117254265029875/), a private location where we will provide ideas and tips on how to use social media to support and raise awareness for BTI’s mission.

Video and Streaming

Moving forward, video and streaming technologies are going to play an important role in BTI’s communications and outreach efforts. In the past month, two new video series have been started: Research Spotlights and BTI Science in Seconds. The research spotlights (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7w5yVUWsqxU)  are more in depth looks at a particular lab’s work, and the Science in Seconds (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFFT4lfbx7s)  are very short, easy to comprehend bytes of information that can be shared quickly and easily, even in the space of a conversation. Simply sharing these videos with your connections that might have an interest in BTI’s mission can go a long way in helping us on our journey to build philanthropic giving.

As suspected, the streaming of seminars from the BTI auditorium is proving to be an effective way of increasing our followers as well as the engagement of current followers. One recent seminar, Translating Scientific Innovation into Solutions for Global Health, by Dr. Chris Wilson, a Senior Advisor for the Global Health Program at the Gates Foundation had more than 4500 views, and brought us 40 new page followers in one day. Streaming technologies allow us to reach large audiences for very little cost, and will play a key role in future outreach initiatives. Be sure to follow BTI’s Facebook and Twitter accounts if you’d be interested in watching any of these streamed seminars, either live, or after the event. If a particular topic matches the interests of someone in your network, please consider sharing it with them.

Yonkers Update

The Yonkers exhibits are still underway, and are set to be publicly unveiled in the Spring of 2017. I will be taking a trip to Yonkers at the end of October, and will be taking some video and photographs of the building and exhibit progress, which will share with you and on social media. Simone Development, who is supporting the exhibit development, has a live cam on their website where you can watch the renovation progress. (http://www.earthcam.net/projects/simone/boycethompsoncenter/?cam=mpr)

Legacy Giving

Have you included or do you plan to include BTI in your estate planning? Please let us know! Usually when we receive a bequest, it comes completely out of the blue, and we’d like to change that, with your help! Contact Josh Clark, jmc657@cornell.edu. 

Cultivation Events

Fall Board Dinner, November 10, 2016

This year’s fall dinner will take place at the Meyer Seminar Room in Cornell’s Warren Hall. The theme will be BTI: Big Ideas, Talented People, and Innovative Research, and guests will enjoy a cocktail hour, live music, programming highlighting the “who” of BTI, and dinner. Guests will include the BTI board, select donors and stakeholders, and staff ambassadors.