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Donor Profile

Cecelia Jane de Luca, known as CJ to her friends, is the only child of Boeing’s most prominent engineer

and the first female dean of the University of Washington’s School of History; having gone through the

Peace Corps after getter her BA in anthropology from UC Berkeley, CJ now owns 7 restaurants around

Seattle. Each restaurant have a different culinary concept behind, all are inspired by cultures she studies

while in school are lived with during the Peace Corps. Raised in Madison Park, one of Seattle’s most

affluent neighborhoods, Cecelia Jane never wanted for anything while growing up. However, her parents

still required her to take a job every summer so that she would understand the value of hard work; since

her allowance was ample, her mother and father also required that CJ donate all of the money she earned

to one or more charities of her choosing. At first it irritated CJ that she was not allowed to keep her

 paychecks, but after receiving a hand-written thank you note from a child at a low-income daycare she

fell in love with philanthropy.

The summer before moving to Berkeley for college, Cecelia Jane came out to her parents as a lesbian.

Both of her parents were supportive, and even defended her against her conservative grandmother. Last

December, CJ married her long-term girlfriend after Washington legalized same-sex marriages. Cecelia

Jane’s wife is the CFO at a local software company. Despite the fact that Cecelia Jane and her wife have a

household income of over $350,000 they live in a modest, three bedroom, two bath house in Seattle’s

Madison Valley neighborhood, just over the hill from CJ’s parents. The couple has two large mutts from

the local animal shelter, and have been talking about adopting a child in the next five years.

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Cultivation Plan

Project to be funded 

The Pacific Science Center is the premier science and engineering museum in Washington State.

Throughout the school year, most of the students in the Seattle Public School District will spend at least a

week taking auxiliary classes at the Science Center. During the summer, the Science Center holds a large

number of science or engineering focused day camps. These camps are expensive, costing anywhere from

$750-$2,000 for the two weeks the camp lasts. Historically, the Pacific Science Center would offer at

least a partial scholarship to any student that could not afford the camp. The scholarships were need

 based, but students are still asked to write an essay about why they want to go to camp so that the kids

may feel like they have earned the scholarship. The money for these scholarships was provided by the

State of Washington, and was one of the first things to be cut during the budget crisis of 2008. The

Science Center has a reserve fund that is has been drawing from over the past few years, but the money in

the fund is about to run out. As the Director of Development, I will be asking Cecelia Jane de Luca to

contribute $100,000 over 5 years to the Pacific Science Center Summer Camp Scholarship Fund, and to

host two fundraising dinners at each of her restaurants each year where all proceeds raised will go to the

Fund.

Approach

Cecelia Jane and her wife have been donors to the Science Center for many years, on average donating

$1,500 per year in addition to getting a family membership. I first met with Cecelia when I was still the

Major Gifts Officer at the Science Center, and she expressed to me a great admiration for what the

museum did. As the daughter of an engineer, she understood the importance of science and engineering,

and the importance of getting kids excited about it at a young age. I have heard Cecelia Jane make a joke

 before that her father wasn’t upset when she came out as a lesbian, but when she told him she switched

her major from applied mathematics to anthropology… well, that is a different story! The Science Center

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development team has always intended to cultivate CJ for a larger gift, but we have been waiting for an

appropriate project to come along.

Cecelia Jane and her wife are people that value education, and living in Madison Valley, they see a mix of

financially comfortable, and underprivileged children in their community. As an entrepreneurial donor,

Cecelia Jane is more likely to be motivated by giving back to her community, and helping those in need

(Burnett, 2002). By highlighting to CJ and her wife that their donation and the restaurant fundraisers are

not a just a contribution to the Science Center, but an investment in the next generation of Washington

State scientist, I will be helping to connect Cecelia Jane with key motivating factors from their donor

 profile.

It quite clear to everyone involved that ‘The Pacific Science Center Summer Camp Scholarship Fund,’ is

much too long of a title, so as a thank-you for her generous support, we would allow Cecelia Jane to

develop a new name for the Fund. Given her modest nature, I do not want to assume that Cecelia Jane

would want the Fund named after herself. Knowing her close relationship with her family, I assume she

will probably end up naming the Fund after her parents, Frank and Helen de Luca. I would also offer her

the choice of having her name and signature appear on the letters sent congratulating students on

receiving the scholarship.

Cecelia Jane has a history of supporting her community, has held a life-long appreciation for science

education, and is already connected to the Science Center as a donor. This Scholarship Fund presents the

 perfect intersection of organizational need, and donor interest to approach CJ about a substantial and

meaningful gift that will leave a legacy in the community.

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References

Burnett, K. (2002). Relationship Fundraising. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.