Barbara Wessel (Syracuse)

Why is supporting the Gamma Phi Beta Foundation meaningful to you?
I value the friends I have made and kept along my Gamma Phi Beta journey, especially those who served on the Foundation board with me in the 1990s when we worked so hard to build a comprehensive development program. We organized a Development Committee to replicate a university’s development office with each Committee member separately and specifically responsible for a component of a development program: annual giving including parent giving, major gifts, planned gifts, corporate and foundation giving, donor recognition and stewardship, promoting/marketing the Foundation to sorority members and creating the Foundation’s presence at Conventions. I give in honor of and gratitude for those incredible hardworking Trustees.    

What motivated you to start the 1874 Society?
Donors give for various personal reasons – all admirable. It did not take long to notice how important it can be to a Gamma Phi Beta to be known for her involvement, devotion and loyalty. Before we had a full-scale development operation, the Foundation had been giving due recognition to its most significant donors whose generosity created new programs or strengthened established ones – we named programs or endowments for them and had items placed in The Crescent about them. However, as powerful as designated gifts can be, the more valuable annual and estate gifts for any organization are unrestricted. Except the letter acknowledgement they received for tax purposes, little was done to recognize our unrestricted givers. It was time to demonstrate the Foundation’s gratitude and to honor them publicly. It was time to proclaim the importance of their support. Unrestricted giving had plateaued for years. We announced the formation of the 1874 Society with annual unrestricted giving levels of $1,874, $2,500 and $5,000 and noted the recognition to be given for each level. We added a $10,000 level a few years later once confident of responses at that level. There were 27 $1874 Society members the first year, which if memory serves me correctly was 1990, with membership growing steadily since. We gave a beautiful 14-carat gold carnation brooch to honor ten years of membership and added a tiny diamond to the brooch every five years hence. Wearing them brought further attention to 1874 Society Members. We began an 1874 Society recognition luncheon at Convention. Then came even stronger motivation to create the Sustainer recognition level once we saw how loyal membership had become and how important loyalty had become to funding the Foundation mission. In the Foundation’s last campaign, I pledged to continue my annual giving for the remainder of my years plus make a $50,000 bequest to endow my annual membership – but only after at least four others had done the same. The purpose of this condition was to strengthen attention to Sustainer status, to make other 1874 Society members aware of the opportunity, and to assure public recognition of this ultimate level of unrestricted generosity. Sustainers are so named because their gifts will continue/sustain 1874 Society membership in perpetuity whilst assuring the Foundation of this income. Within 18 months we had ten 1874 Society Sustainers and several other commitments in the works. I should note what whilst creating the 1874 Society, we created the Tau Epsilon Pi Society to recognize further those who make estate gifts. Tau Epsilon Pi are the Greek initials for Gamma Phi Beta’s open motto founded upon a rock and seemed the perfect name for this permanent financial base for the Foundation. 

Were you involved in naming the 1874 Society? If so, what inspired the name?   
Yes, I was involved. In strategizing potential names with my husband David, he insisted it must be The 1874 Society. I agreed. I reported David’s recommendation to the Foundation Development Committee and then Board; the name seemed obvious and both voted unanimous agreement. David was tremendously pleased and proclaimed himself father of the 1874 Society. Board members commended David; some stayed in touch with him personally for several years to report the annual growth. David took his recognition so seriously that each year he would remind me to give.

What would you say to members who are considering donating to the Foundation, even if it’s a small amount?   
Think of all you have gained and enjoyed from your years as a Gamma Phi Beta. Do not think in terms of giving back but rather of giving forward to those who will come after you in the unending chain of Gamma Phi Beta. The programs and scholarships you enjoyed in your collegiate years were there because of the donors who gave to create and sustain them. Do the same for those Gamma Phi Betas yet to come. Give whatever you can, give from the heart, give because it feels good, give for the joy of sisterhood.   

How has Gamma Phi Beta positively impacted your life, personally or professionally?
It is important to acknowledge Gamma Phi Beta for having given me a second profession and career. Gamma Phi Beta Sorority and Foundation kept me active for several decades in various volunteer roles. Those experiences and resulting proficiency launched my attractiveness to other nonprofit boards and schools as board member, employee and consultant. Syracuse University launched my career in computer technology and Gamma Phi Beta gave me a subsequent career in philanthropy. After my years as an IBM Systems Engineer, then stay-at-home mother and community volunteer, I became the Development and Alumnae Relations Director for Cazenovia College and then for NY State’s Upstate Medical Center, Senior Director of Development at Syracuse University, Vice-President of Advancement for St. Michael’s College in Vermont and finally consultant for nonprofits, colleges, charitable foundations and even a couple NPC sororities as well as individual Gamma Phi Beta chapters. My Gamma Phi Beta involvement gave me the background and confidence to pursue a career in philanthropic fundraising. 

Describe what our sisterhood means to you in a few words or phrases:
I urge all who read this to be active not only in local alumnae chapters but at regional and national levels. One will make new lifelong friends who will remain close for the rest of one’s life. No matter how much one gives to Gamma Phi Beta, Gamma Phi Beta gives more in return. Gamma Phi Beta has given me friends, encouragement to grow, strength to take chances, and the satisfaction of being part of something significant. It has allowed me to touch lives of women I know and of many others I shall never know.

Is there anything else you’d like to share about your journey within Gamma Phi Beta, especially as it relates to your support of the Foundation?
My support of the Foundation is given with love specifically to strengthen Gamma Phi Beta’s ability to give to others what it gave to me. I shall always cherish having been named to Gamma Pi Beta’s Honor Roll for my involvement in the Foundation.  

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