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Chris Tobin wants The Daily Orange’s fundraising to be more reflective of what donors appreciate. Instead of getting a complimentary bumper sticker when contributing, he said people would rather feel like they’re a part of The D.O.’s team.

Tobin, the fundraising manager, along with Business Manager Chris Nucerino joined The D.O. over the summer. Both are in part-time roles within the organization.

“I think the type of fundraising that works best is ‘we’re going to win your philanthropy and your vote of confidence by virtue of our ideas,” Tobin said.

In January, Nucerino began building his own business in financial consulting, but said he had some extra time on his hands and wanted to do something meaningful. Chris Tobin is also in the process of setting up his own consultancy business, Rootstock, alongside a friend of his. But as he’s building up his client base, he said has the ability to do more.

“I’ve got enough … freetime to where I felt like I can still contribute to a worthwhile organization,” Tobin said.

The new hires are meant to create a more sustainable future for The Daily Orange, said Beth Fritzinger, the vice chair of The D.O.’s Board of Directors. The board concluded that the organization needed more leadership for both fundraising and business management, the roles Tobin and Nucerino now hold.

Over the last decade, The D.O. has slowly moved toward fundraising as a form of revenue. SU alumna Haley Robertson, who formerly served as the paper’s editor-in-chief her junior year and as fundraising coordinator her senior year, said even over the last few years the focus on fundraising within The D.O. has shot up.

“Before I got involved with fundraising at the Daily Orange it solely existed within the responsibilities of management, and fundraising campaigns were all related to specific special projects,” Robertson said.

Previously, Nucerino and Tobin’s roles took the form of a single position, General Manager. Mike Dooling, who left the organization this past summer, was the last person to have the role.

Robertson now works as a development associate with The Ground Truth Project, the parent company for Report for America, doing work similar to her role as The D.O.’s fundraising coordinator in 2021.

Stephen Dockery, chair of the board of directors, wrote to The D.O. in an email that he hopes fundraising becomes “an established pillar of our revenue stream” within the next one to two years. Tobin said he is excited to get to work helping The D.O. elevate its fundraising.

“My role is really to help to execute the systems and the practices, but also build some new strategies and a greater culture where philanthropy and alumni engagement are there to help The D.O. flourish and succeed and grow,” Tobin said. “That’s my job.”

Both Tobin and Nucerino said their first few weeks with the organization have been spent getting to understand both its systems and its culture.

Tobin said he specifically wants to understand what’s “under the hood” of The D.O., figuring out what fundraising efforts have succeeded in the past and how the newspaper operates. He also said he wants to help pinpoint the message of The D.O.’s fundraising efforts.

Like Tobin, Nucerino also wants to examine the business. His first year at The D.O. is about watching and learning both from the students who work within the company and its board of directors. For now, Nucerino wants to act as a support.

Nucerino has been working with local YMCAs for almost 30 years. For the last six years, he’s worked as the CEO of the YMCAs of Auburn and Skaneateles. Working within the YMCA, Nucerino said he found he enjoyed working with the typical college age group, both within programming and employment.

At The D.O., he considers his job to be about trust.

“(It’s about) building that trust in the community and with the students and with the school and with the board,” Nucerino said, “making sure that we’re doing everything that we need to do as good stewards of the income that comes in, the expenses and, of course, donations.”

Dockery wrote that The D.O. has “lucked out” with both Tobin and Nucerino.

“They have decades of experience in their fields, with top notch organizations in the higher education and non-profit space,” he said.

Published on August 21, 2022 at 10:14 pm

Contact Kyle: [email protected] | @Kyle_Chouinard