Bravery the most important word in Jeffrey's vocabulary [by Vivienne Rowland]

Starting in a new position at the fourth university to be called her employer, you would think that Clare Jeffrey is carving out a niche for herself in higher education.

As a matter of fact, this is not the case and she describes herself as someone who has two career paths: as a mother and a mother who works – and she has had great success on both fronts.

Jeffrey took over the reigns as the new Director of the Wits Development and Fundraising Office (DFO) in January 2011 and says it has been a revelation to see how similar and uniquely different universities are everywhere in the world.

A Wits alumnus and mother of three who describes her children as her biggest project, Jeffrey has worked at the University of Cape Town (UCT), University of Stellenbosch and Oxford University in the United Kingdom, in between stints at various other organisations.

“I apply something called ‘bravery’ to every decision that I make. Coming back from the UK and taking the position at Wits when my heart will always be in beautiful Cape Town was an act of bravery, and this is what I always use as a decision making tool,” says Jeffrey.

Starting as a first year student in 1970 at a time of political unrest and initially without her parents’ blessing, she completed her studies in 1974, with the help of a bursary from the Johannesburg City Council. Her entrance into the employment sector followed with her first job at the Johannesburg Public Library until 1977. Thereafter she joined the Standard Bank Investment Corporation as a Librarian in the Economic Research Division, where she got her first exposure to “the very real world of information as a powerful and highly effective business and marketing tool, as well as an excellent public relations exercise,” she says.

While being a homemaker and full-time mother between 1979 and 1988, she also ran a successful Guide Dog breeding programme in Cape Town for the South African Guide Dog Association as well as a recruiting, training and managing a puppy-walking scheme for the Association.

“My children are my greatest project and I am glad I took the time off to raise them. They are the most extraordinary people ever and they have wonderful careers and relationships. From them I’ve learnt a strong sense of self and a feeling of huge satisfaction for helping them to achieve their own goals,” says Jeffrey.

When her youngest went to school, it was time to join the world of work full-time again, so in 1988 she started the National Cancer Information Service for the Cancer Association of South Africa (Cansa).

“The main focus of the Information Service, which was a first in the country, was not only to address the cancer information needs of the public, but also to function as an integral marketing tool for the Association. It meant developing a collection of information about cancer that patients could understand – helping patients understand what was happening to them, what their treatment options meant and helping them ask intelligent questions about their own illness,” she says.

After a decade she bade the Association farewell and was appointed as the Database Fundraising Executive at the Red Cross Children’s Hospital Trust in 2000, where she worked on the completion of the Public Appeal. A year later she joined the University of Cape Town’s Faculty of Health Sciences as the Faculty Campaign Manager for the Institute of Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine.

“At UCT I worked for a very inspirational man, Wieland Gevers, who taught me how to work hard and smart. He taught me the importance of knowing that our team is the only team who will do the work at hand and if we gave up, it will all be lost. It was a complete concentration of effort and an integrated approach to running campaigns where failure was not an option,” she laughs.

A stint as the National Director of the CHOC Childhood Cancer Foundation in Johannesburg followed, where Jeffrey, as the first national director, implemented human resources systems, database development, marketing and communication strategies to support national and divisional fundraising; with consolidated budgeting and accounting processes, amongst other things.

Just a little over a year later she went back to Cape Town and joined the University of Stellenbosch as the Project Manager for the Strengthening Clinical Research Initiative in the Faculty of Health Sciences. There she worked with an academic team establishing the first Masters programme in Clinical Epidemiology in South Africa and helped to pilot and implement a short course in clinical research methodology. “This is where I’ve gained huge respect for academic planning and the boosting of research enterprise – it was a wonderful experience,” she says.

Early in 2009 Oxford University beckoned and she left South Africa’s shores for the UK. Her title was Head of Development at the Jenner Vaccine Foundation and says she brought some ‘South Africanisms’ to the English institution.

“I told them about the positive spin-offs of translating your institution’s case for support and being focused deep within the projects so that you can speak with passion about it. My South African passion and energy for the projects also brought another dimension to fundraising there, I think, because at Oxford they employ a quieter, more sedate way of fundraising,” she says.

She says her time in the UK afforded her the opportunity to look at things from a global perspective.

“I never felt ashamed of being a South African development professional. South Africans do not have to hide their talents at all, we can speak with passion and articulation about our projects here. We tend to hide in the international arena but there is no need for that. We are just as good as the rest.”

The position at Wits came along when she was scoping out new opportunities and, after applying her philosophy of bravery, she took the leap and came back to her home country.

“I am in my element at Wits, I have had so many offers of assistance from everyone I have met since starting in January. I have to prepare a very strong DFO engine to be able to cope with Wits’ 90th birthday next year and think ahead of Wits’ 100 year celebration. I would like to get the DFO to look beyond the Big Five Capital Projects that were undertaken a while ago, and apply more daringness, passion and innovation into what we do,” she enthuses.

“Although we still have a lot of work to do, it is heart warming that faculties can see they are part of the bigger picture. We look at fundraising more holistically and view the entire Wits enterprise as part of the initiative in a broader sense, which is, hopefully a massive step in the right direction,” she concludes.

We wish her luck in her new position and hope she will be a part of Wits for many years to come!