A passion for growth

Seth Speyer’s job as AU’s major gifts officer for planned giving hits close to home. Helping potential donors understand the intricacies of a charitable gift annuity, he says, is not as far removed from helping a two-year-old navigate the milestones of toddlerhood as you might think. For Speyer, in fact, both jobs spring from the same passion. “I really like the idea of helping nurture growth,” he explains. “It is the underlying principle that ties together my life at home and my life at AU.”

At home, this fascination with growth is fed by two-year-old son Stephen, with whom Speyer and his wife Linda spend almost all of their free time. “It’s so interesting to see him develop,” he explains, describing his wonder at the sudden developmental leaps Stephen made physically when he mastered talking. “When he was comfortable communicating, he suddenly became less risk averse. Suddenly he was jumping everywhere. I looked at him and I thought, ‘Wow, he’s going to be a gymnast!’”

At work, Speyer’s interest in growth feeds off his efforts to build AnewAU by helping current donors and others with long-term AU ties find creative ways to support university programs and still afford a comfortable and fulfilling retirement. To help potential donors do this, Speyer guides them through the complexities of tax law and investment strategies in a range of gift options that go well beyond simply including AU in a Will. Through a charitable trust or charitable gift annuity, for instance, donors can combine philanthropy and retirement planning by making a donation to the university and set it up in such a manner that pays them and or another individual guaranteed income for a term of years or even a lifetime. “I really enjoy working with a donor and helping them realize they can provide for themselves and their loved ones even when supporting a favored charitable mission,” says Speyer.

Most of all, however, Speyer enjoys contemplating the role his work plays in the long-term development of the AnewAU campaign and the university. “The more success the campaign has, the stronger the university will become,” Speyer explains. “The stronger the university becomes and the more people hear about the success of AnewAU, the more successful future campaigns will be. It just snowballs that way, and that’s exciting to me.”

Living walking distance from the university, the connection between home and work for Speyer also goes beyond this shared theme of growth. Having been with the university since September 2003, he regularly enjoys bringing his family to campus on weekends. “On Saturday mornings you’ll see my kid running around the quad,” he explains. “AU is our playground.” —MG