SAN MARCOS -- With recent estimates placing the state's impending budget deficit at $16 billion, the California State University system is feeling the pinch.

For a young campus such as Cal Sate San Marcos, the situation can be even more dire. The university doesn't just need to pay for things such as faculty, maintenance and electricity. The 9,000-student, 304-acre campus still needs roads, buildings and sports fields.

And that's where Neal Hoss comes in.

"To some extent, private support is more important than ever," said Hoss, the university's new vice president of university advancement.

According to his mission statement, it's Hoss' job to "develop greater understanding and support for university goals."

In other words, fundraising.

Hoss served as vice president of finance and administration until January, when he moved into his new position after the departure of former university advancement chief Rick Keith. He said he decided that before he did anything else he needed to know how the university has done in recent years with fundraising.

"I've been in this role about six weeks now and I'm just starting to get my arms around that data," said Hoss, who described fundraising as "somewhat flat" over the last few years. "We've had a few large gifts, so it makes it difficult. You have to reflect on the data a bit more in terms of trends."

University officials have said that fundraising averaged $4.1 million between 2000 and 2007, but that it fell $1.8 million in the 2005-06 cycle and $2.8 million in the 2006-07 cycle.

The fundraising staff has also fluctuated in recent years. In the 2004-05 fiscal year, the department hit a seven-year peak with the equivalent of nearly 11 full-time employees, although the count has twice been as low as six.

Unlike private universities, which have long relied on donors for financial support, the Cal State university system is relatively new to institutionalized fundraising, according to Lori Redfearn, vice chancellor of advancement for the 23-campus Cal Sate University system.

Redfearn said that through the 1970s, there had been enough state money to keep Cal State afloat. She said that by 1993, state funding for public universities had declined to the point that raising private funds became necessary.

Fundraising programs at smaller campuses such as Cal State San Marcos, which opened its doors in 1990, are "pretty lean and mean," Redfearn said.

At San Marcos, the "cost to raise a dollar" is 13 cents, Redfearn said, calling the San Marcos operation "efficient."

"With San Marcos you have a relatively new institution, and fairly young alumni donor base, and so they're really at the stage of building their programs and bringing donors to the university to show them the wonderful things that they're doing," Redfearn said.

Tools of the fundraising trade include donor management software that organizes research on potential donors, including biographies, interests and donating history, as well as tracking existing donors and contributions.

But people play as big a role as computer programs, Redfearn said.

"It's a lot about relationship-building and hiring a good professional staff to spend time with donors, helping them achieve their dreams by supporting the university," she said.

Ken and Carole Markstein of Rancho Santa Fe have helped the university in a big way.

They said their relationship with Cal State San Marcos began in the late 1980s, before the university evened opened its doors.

"It really first started in a small way," said Ken Markstein, who graduated from the Cal State's San Jose campus. "We contributed as founders. We were involved in the business advisory board. And Carole and I had talked a long time about wanting to do more for the university."

Now the couple, part of the San Marcos-based Markstein Beverage Company family, are the biggest donors in the university's history. Three years ago, they gave $5 million toward the creation of what is now the Markstein Hall business studies building.

"We realized there were a lot of things that needed to be done for that above and beyond what the state was going to pay for," Markstein said.

University officials had to convince the couple to let the building be named after them, though, Carole Markstein said.

"We didn't want to do it, really. They sort of twisted our arm in hope that we could raise the awareness of what was going on in there -- that if local people knew that local people were giving, that would spur some people on the same way."

Even people who don't have a direct role in giving and receiving can play a part in helping the university, said Patty Seleski, history professor and head of the faculty union.

"Obviously, deans and presidents and vice presidents can tell stories secondhand, but it's faculty that can talk about needs, about successes, about students," Seleski said. "Most successful advancement operations use everybody."

That includes alumni, even alumni who may not be giving to the university yet, said Larry Thomas, president of the Cal State San Marcos alumni association.

"It basic marketing. We're that campus' product," Thomas said. "If you're impressed by a product, you're inclined to go back to it. If (potential donors) come across one of our alumni and they're feeling philanthropic, they might give to the university."

Still, Thomas said, getting alumni back on campus is a high priority for the association because it can build tradition and a financial foundation.

"It eventually leads to donations to the campus," he said. "We need to push it to the next level."

University leaders have high hopes for the coming years. In her address to the community earlier this month, President Karen Haynes announced a 2010 goal of raising $15 million for scholarships, faculty development, new buildings and sports fields.

A major fundraising campaign is also planned, with initial results of a feasibility study due this spring.

Hoss said he's optimistic about the future of fundraising in the department he's now leading.

"People like giving to higher education. It's a noble cause and I think it's easy to give to," he said.

Contact staff writer Colleen Mensching at (760) 739-6675 or cmensching@nctimes.com.