experience as a volunteer to help others.
For Jim Moore ’66/69, every day at work is a blessing. Moore, executive director of the Wichita Community Foundation and former executive director of the WSU Alumni Association, labels his 17-year tenure at the foundation as “a remarkable experience.”
“I thoroughly enjoy this job,” he says. “I don’t leave here a day without feeling like we’ve helped make the community a better place. When you think about that, that’s a rare opportunity.”
Moore, however, has decided the time is right to retire and spend more time with his family of two children and four grandchildren who range in age from 4 to 14. His family has a couple of other Shockers in it, too.
Son Jamie Moore ’90 and daughter Jana (Moore) Price ’92 both followed in their dad’s footsteps through WSU. Along with his family, Moore likes to spend time cultivating his love of music. An ardent fan of popular songs from 1954 to 1973, he has a collection of what he estimates are “thousands” of recordings from that span. He also plays music, or, as he puts it, “picks up a guitar every now and then.”
He also wants to do some traveling. “I want to get out and do some things for myself. It seems like almost everyone who retires says those types of things, but it’s true,” he says.
However, Moore, 65, isn’t going to disappear from the Wichita nonprofit and social services community. He plans to use his years of experience and skills volunteering and helping out as time permits. “You have the ability at this stage to be a bit more selective with what you want to do,” he says. The actual retirement date is not set, as the board has a search under way for a replacement, but Moore plans to leave by the first quarter of 2009.
A Wichitan since his childhood, Moore graduated from WSU in 1966 with a degree in history and a minor in political science. Three years later, he earned a master’s degree in education administration. WSU, Moore says, provided him with “a great education,” and he still has fond memories of the numerous professors who taught him.
A student of modest means, he didn’t have the financial resources to head off to a big-name college, but that was fine with him as Wichita State, he says, more than met his intellectual needs. And although a traditional-aged college student himself, Moore reflects positively on having older, nontraditional students in the classroom with him. It’s a great benefit to attending WSU, he notes, because of the inspiration they can bring to others. “They’re often married and almost all of them are working, and they’re very serious about getting an education,” he says. That situation, he relates, helps everyone.
After leaving WSU, Moore spent six years with the Shawnee Mission, Kan., school district before working in a number of different administrative positions in the Wichita public school system. Then, a conversation with longtime alumni association supporters Lynn (Kincheloe) ’64/92 and Don ’59 Stephan sparked his interest in a related line of work: university advancement. There was, the Stephans told him, a job opening for the executive director position at the alumni association.
“He had done such good work, I said: ‘This (director) job ought to be the perfect job for you,’” says Don Stephan. Stephan, owner of Stephan Advertising Agency Inc. and a former president of the alumni association, says Moore has a special talent of working with a board of directors and knows how to “put them together. He’s a good planner and administrator."
During Moore’s tenure as director, the association grew and gained membership, Stephan says — and adds that Moore displayed a lot of patience with him and other members of the board.
“He was willing to listen to some of our off-the-wall ideas,” Stephan says with a chuckle. “Really, he always did a good job.”
Moore remains good friends with Stephan. If there’s one thing Stephan always recalls about his friend, it’s his keen ability to collect and recall a plethora of facts. “He’s a trivia nut,” Stephan says of Moore. “He has a great mind — and it seems like he wrote the book on trivia.”
Moore, who served as the association’s executive director from July 1984 to October 1989, has pleasant memories of the group and its members. “I look back at that time very, very fondly,” he says. “I had a great time.” One of the many highlights of this time at the association, he says, was the advent of the group’s national chapter program, which kicked off with groups in Chicago and Washington, D.C.
Moore left the alumni position for a stint as executive director of planned giving at the WSU Endowment Association, the forerunner of the WSU Foundation, before moving over to WCF in 1991. It was a new endeavor for him, but he created a network of mentors, asked questions and built relationships, which is what much of the philanthropy field is based on, he says, adding that his work at WCF has been a rewarding one.
“People are basically good,” he says. “We believe the best in people, and we believe from time to time people need help.” Donors responded to that need, and the bottom line has changed dramatically at the WCF during Moore’s time there: Donors gave $84 million, and WCF’s assets increased from $3.7 million in 1991 to $61.4 million. While that’s important to Moore, what’s even more important is the impact the $47 million in WCF grants have made on area residents since the foundation’s inception in 1986.
One of those programs is “Share the Season,” which WCF undertakes with the help of local sponsors between Thanksgiving and Christmas. The program’s mission is to help the working poor with special needs, such as family illness. “It’s unique because it’s helping people who are normally not helped during the holidays,” Moore says.
The feedback is gratifying, he says, along with seeing those assisted in the past now helping others: “This year we probably got three or four donations from people who said: ‘This meant a lot to me when I got help, now I want to help somebody else.’”
This kind of success — helping change lives for the better — is one of the key reasons why Moore says he feels so fortunate to have had the career he has.
The Jim Moore File:
Class: 1966 history major with a minor in political science, ’69 master’s degree in education administration.
Residence: Wichita.
Occupation: Executive director, Wichita Community Foundation.
Age: 65.
His “Secret” Talent: A knack for trivia.
Quote: “I look back at that time very, very fondly. I had a great time.” — Reflecting on his years as executive director of the WSU Alumni Association
