Intelligent Giving. Insights and Strategies for High Education Donors.

摘要

For well over a century, American higher education has set the world standard for academic excellence and equitable access for all citizens. Over two million degrees are conferred each year across nearly 4,000 public and private institutions, including some two-thirds of the best universities in the world. It is often said that the 'margin for excellence' for this vast enterprise comes from voluntary donations, fully 40 percent of which comes from alumni and other individual donors (see Figure S. 1). Major donors to higher education give for many reasons and, through this giving, seek various rewards. Yet all face a common challenge: how to make enough sense of the U.S. higher education system, the higher education fundraising process, and the options for higher education philanthropy to be able to give intelligently and meaningfully. While higher education fundraising has grown increasingly sophisticated in its approach, higher education philanthropy has remained in large part an 'amateur' exercise. Donors follow the casual advice of friends and colleagues and their own hearts in deciding what to give, to whom, how, and when. The purpose of this book is to augment this approach with insights and strategies for giving based on donor objectives and interests. The collective wisdom presented herein comes from those people who have the most direct and personal experience with giving to higher education: development officers, institutional leaders, and donors themselves.