Leadership strategies of effective presidents in fund raising programs at small, private colleges
The Union Institute, Cincinnati, OH, PhD Thesis, (1998)Abstract
A change from the traditional view of a college president as an academician to one who must also be a seasoned fund raiser is the trend indicated through the leadership characteristics that define the parameters of the role of the president in the next decade. According to the research, effective leadership characteristics of successful presidents will focus approximately 50\% of the time of the president toward fund-raising activity. Data used consists of a quantitative survey sent to 305 presidents who are members of the Council of Independent Colleges in Washington, DC. One hundred and eighty-four presidents responded. The results indicate a definite relationship between the amount of time, resources and programs in which the president is involved and the degree of success in the fund-raising efforts. The thread throughout the data indicates that effective leadership characteristics of successful presidents are directly related to the degree to which a president develops relationships with his/her donors. The research indicates that the more time spent developing a relationship with the donor the greater the size of the gift. Effective college presidents spent more than fifteen hours each week in fund-raising activities and most exceeded twenty hours. In contrast, representative presidents spent 10 or more hours but less than 15 hours in fund-raising activity. Significant blocks of time were spent with categories of donors as indicated by the following: (1) alumni (15\%); (2) trustees (15.5\%); individuals (14.5\%); and major donors (15\%). Representative presidents, on the other hand, spent time as indicated by the following: alumni (8\%); trustees (8.3\%); individuals (8.8\%); and major donors (7.6\%). Effective presidents, identified as successful by the survey, indicate that they spend ten percent of their operating budgets for fund raising, whereas representative presidents indicate that they spend only 5\% of their operating budgets in fund raising. This study validated the work of Fisher and Tack on effective leadership in higher education. Our research used the survey instrument used by Fisher and Tack (1988) in The Effective College President. Their research included public and independent institutions in higher education in general with a universe of more than 3000 institutions. Our research has validated what they found to be true in the private sector in institutions usually with enrollments of under 5000. Our research added a fund-raising perspective which can be assumed to be true for the public sector of higher education as well. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)