Dr. Deidre Mercer Martin from Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College received the Georgia Education Advancement Council 2018 Award for Excellence in Educational Fundraising at the recent GEAC annual conference in Savannah.

“Giving to the ABAC Foundation has increased 196 per cent since her arrival,” Paul Williams, Vice President of External Affairs and Advancement at ABAC, said when he presented the award to Martin.  “Campus participation in our annual ‘Give Back to ABAC’ campaign has increased 568 per cent.  She is just phenomenal.”

Martin, ABAC’s Chief Development Officer, joined the ABAC advancement office in 2015 after retiring as the Vice Chancellor for University Advancement at the University of South Carolina Aiken.  She moved to the family farm in Omega, just a few miles from the ABAC campus in Tifton.

“When Dr. Martin decided complete retirement might not be her cup of team, we had a need at ABAC that fit her like a hand in a glove,” Williams said.  “The rest is history.”

Williams said Martin bolstered the sponsorship at the annual fundraising event, “An Evening for ABAC.”  He said sponsorship levels were 96 per cent more in 2018 than the year prior to Martin joining the ABAC advancement team.

“In addition to her contribution to the culture of the Office of College Advancement and the recognition of what we contribute to the campus internally, Dr. Martin’s leadership has resulted in the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) awarding our office a 2018 Educational Fundraising Award for Overall Fundraising Performance for the first time in ABAC history,” Williams said.