Five Questions: Trudi Pischer

Trudi Pischer’s new position, which started Dec. 4, with the University of Missouri system has similar responsibilities to her former job: development director with Boys and Girls Town of Missouri in Springfield. She had been with the organization since 1981, when it was called Springfield Children’s Home. A successor has not yet been named. Pischer’s UMR job focuses on fund-raising, specifically through major gifts.

Q: How did you get into fund-raising?

A: I’ve been fund-raising professionally since 1990. Richard C. Dunn, the executive director of Boys Town of Missouri, as soon as he met me, started encouraging me to consider fund-raising and public relations. I really was kind of reluctant to take on the job of fund-raising, but he just said I was a natural for it, and he even promised me that I wouldn’t have to raise any money in the beginning – it would strictly be public relations. Within 24 hours of accepting the job, he called me and said, ‘Trudi, we need $5,000. You’re going to have to start fund-raising.’ I always tease him about that when I see him.

Q: What prompted your decision to move to UMR?

A: You reach a point in your life where you just realize you need to do something different, to grow and stretch yourself. It was really interesting, because about the time I (knew I had reached that point), I got a call from a friend who has worked at UMR for five years, and is now the assistant vice chancellor for development. She called me out of the blue and said, ‘Would you consider coming to work for UMR?’ After I talked to her and to the vice chancellor, I felt it was the right place for me.

My husband, Roy, worked at Boys Town, too, and that’s actually where we met. He left Boys Town last year after having been there 20 years. I saw such a change in him, and he was able to look at things in such a different way, that I thought I needed to do that too.

Q: What experience from Boys and Girls Town will serve you best?

A: I learned a lot. I have this whole list of rules – I call it Trudi’s List of Rules for Surviving Special Events and Sometimes Life in General – and I really learned how to coordinate special events. The last three years, I’ve really been focusing on major gifts, pulling more and more away from the special events. I’ve been going out and meeting with individuals and talking to them about Boys and Girls Town and soliciting major gifts, and that’s pretty much what university fund-raising is all about.

Q: Was it difficult to leave?

A: I’ll tell you what was really so hard – it wasn’t the decision to leave as much as the people I had to say goodbye to. The lady who used to come in and dust my office every morning, the clerical staff, the day care workers, the people who work so hard every day in the trenches are part of what I’ll miss. There’s also the interaction with the kids. Right now, I’m interacting with students, but it’s a completely different world at UMR. It’s going to take some adjustment.

Q: What advice do you have for the person who will fill your old job?

A: Be flexible. Be very flexible, and I think that holds true not just for the development director but for any professional fund-raiser. You have to be flexible, and you have to listen more than you talk. It’s one of those rules for life in general – you should listen more than you talk.[[In-content Ad]]