Creative fund raising efforts in three Virginia community colleges.

摘要

The purpose of this study was to examine the degree of success or failure of three Virginia community colleges to establish viable educational foundations and to identify the characteristics enabling them to do so.;Studying Virginia community colleges provided an opportunity to observe fund-raising efforts made in the state where government appropriations decreased the most (during the period 1990-94) and, therefore, had the greatest potential effect. Three colleges with distinctly different geographical locations might shed light on the impact of cultural/social/economic factors on philanthropy; and three institutions of differing sizes (small, medium, and large) might address an economic environment in which 'bigger is better' functions as an assumption for success.;Descriptive data for all 23 community colleges in the Virginia Community College System were gathered from a fourteen-item questionnaire mailed to the development office of each institution, and from unpublished VCCS reports of student enrollment and of system productivity analysis. The three case study colleges were studied through their respective publications (viewbooks, alumni newsletters, annual reports, college catalogues), and through face-to-face interviews with four persons at each institution--the college president, director of development, a significant donor and Educational Foundation Board member, and a faculty representative.;The basic research question addressed in this study was: Do the attributes and activities of the educational foundations affiliated with three community colleges parallel the ten factors for effective fund-raising described by Duronio and Loessin (1991) and Kerns and Witter (1992)? The ten characteristics formed the basis for the theoretical model and the framework for the case study interview questions; a positive relationship was expected--and found--between the characteristics and attributes of three educational foundations.;It was concluded that the ten characteristics used as the model accurately reflected the characteristics for effective fund-raising in community colleges, and that each of the colleges was consistent with the model to a greater or lesser degree. It was also concluded that three factors are especially significant for fund-raising success: a clear institutional image, a professional development office (and director), and accurate and adequate communication among all constituencies.;Further study is needed to evaluate the processes of communication employed on community college campuses and their suitability for institutional needs. In addition, some further research of creative and unique fund-raising efforts by colleges is needed, which the methodology used in this paper did not uncover.