*This article is the first entry in a series leading up to this year’s Giving Day, taking place Tuesday, Dec. 3.*
The mission of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and Leavell College could never be accomplished without the generous donations of partners who support the institution.
These donations enable students to follow God’s call to prepare for ministry service and support the faculty and staff who help train these students. Many of these generous donations are the result of intentional fundraising efforts by NOBTS.
Mike Wetzel, vice president for institutional advancement, explained NOBTS has experienced recording-setting fundraising success in recent years, which is having a school-wide impact.
“Fundraising impacts every single thing that we do and also keeps tuition as low as we possibly can,” Wetzel said.
“God really is blessing us.”
Since Jamie Dew became president of NOBTS and Leavell College in 2019, the average yearly fundraising total for the institution has nearly doubled.
The average fundraising total for the last five years was $10,413,077, while the 15 previous years averaged $5,933,065.
Three of the institution’s top five fundraising years have taken place during Dew’s administration, including the school’s most successful fundraising year.
Wetzel said this recent fundraising success, along with the generous giving of Southern Baptists through the Cooperative Program, has made a vareity of new updates around the school possbile.
These updates include renovations to campus facilities such as the Luter Student Center and student housing, the creation of new academic programs and the establishment of new student scholarships.
Wetzel explained this type of fundraising success does not just happen. It takes an intentional school-wide effort beginning with President Dew and going all the way down to the faculty and staff.
“For fundraising to be successful and effective it takes everyone,” Wetzel said.
“Dr. Dew will always say ‘it’s all hands-on deck.’ We have a president who is extremely gifted at communicating a vision, and we have an entire team that works really hard.”
“There is a whole lot of work behind it and it takes an emphasis.”
Giving Day
One fundraising method Wetzel and the entire institutional advancement team have heavily emphasized in recent years is Giving Day.
The Tuesday after Thanksgiving, Giving Day is understood to be the largest day of philanthropy in the world.
This renewed emphasis on Giving Day has already paid dividends.
NOBTS has surpassed their stated Giving Day goals the past four years, including raising more than $400,000 in 2023. The highest giving day total for the school before 2019 was just over $10,000.
As this year’s Giving Day approaches, Wetzel is grateful for the generous donations of all who support the seminary.
“We can’t do this by ourselves,” Wetzel said. “We refer to our donors as partners, because that is what they are doing. They are partnering with us.”
He said ultimately NOBTS can work and strategize all it wants, but it is God who meets the need.
“We as a team talk about this all the time; we can do everything correctly, but unless God blesses it, it doesn’t matter,” Wetzel said.
“It comes down to having a strategy and praying hard that God will provide. And He does.”
This year’s Giving Day goal is $500,000. To learn more about Giving Day, click here.
*The remainder of this series will highlight several different NOBTS students who have directly benefited from the institution’s recent fundraising success. Forthcoming articles will release throughout the rest of November leading up to Giving Day.*
