In March 2016, Lil O’Rourke took over as president of the University of Rhode Island Foundation. Previously, she served as senior vice president for principal gifts and international advancement at Syracuse University. An alumna of Syracuse, O’Rourke earned a bachelor’s degree from the College of Arts and Sciences in 1977, and a master’s degree in public administration from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse in 2004.
PBN: Prior to working at the University of Rhode Island Foundation, you worked at Syracuse University. What did you do there and how did you transfer those skills to your new position?
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O’ROURKE: While at SU, I held a variety of positions all in areas of university advancement and governance. My last position was overseeing international advancement; understanding how a complex research university operates and how to successfully serve as a connector and bridge between the institution and its external constituencies is a key to successful fundraising, no matter if you’re public or private.
PBN: You’ve served as the URI Foundation’s president for a little over a year, what are the greatest challenges you’ve faced in this position and what advantages do you feel URI brings to the state?
O’ROURKE: We have over 120,000 alumni, including 50,000 in Rhode Island, many of whom are not aware of the important research and scholarship going on every day at their alma mater. URI is a key economic engine for the state in not only bringing many out-of-state visitors but also working closely with industry and government in order to attract and retain talent and leverage faculty research for the benefit of local industry.
PBN: What are the greatest achievements you and your team have celebrated in that time?
O’ROURKE: The university’s 125th anniversary is providing us with a unique opportunity to keep URI in front of the community this year. We’ve raised more money this year and continued to share many points of pride about URI with our alumni, current parents and friends. We are thrilled to have proud URI alumnus and former CEO and chairman of CVS Health, Tom Ryan, as our new board chairman. He is fully committed to the university’s success and his leadership will take us far as we look to expand the footprint of the foundation and engage many more alumni and friends of URI.
PBN: Looking forward, what are your goals for the coming year and five years down the road?
O’ROURKE: Besides the Rams making it to the NCAA Championship, I predict URI will succeed at engaging more of its alumni, who will become more actively involved, and that efforts to secure private gifts and investments supporting all of the remarkable facets of the university will bear positive results that will further lift the entire community, impacting the state, the nation and the world.
PBN: How would you categorize the state of philanthropy to URI?
O’ROURKE: URI is the flagship university of the state and in order to continue our current upward trajectory, we must engage many more alumni and friends to become donors. Our endowment is very low compared to our New England peers, as is the percentage of alumni who give. Endowments are the cornerstone of ensuring long-term support to any university. To grow ours, we’ll need to count on far more of our alumni, especially those in Rhode Island, to join us in assuring that our students benefit from a high-quality educational experience, with minimal debt, and we are able to attract and retain faculty who are great teachers and researchers.
It’s our job – and our responsibility – to make sure alumni know what an amazing institution URI is and how the innovation, discovery and creativity occurring here every day is influencing our region and the world. And it’s also our job to show them that their support contributes to making it all possible.
Emily Gowdey-Backus is a PBN staff writer. You can follow her on Twitter @FlashGowdey.
