October 26, 2006 | Read Time: 3 minutes
Q. My college has always relied on our wealthy founder and his foundation to support it financially, but we are now starting a development office to raise money. Can you suggest some free resources – or point me toward some real-world examples of other small colleges that have started development offices – to help us put together a strategic plan for our fund raising?
A. Carole Carpenter, vice president for university relations at Ave Maria University, in Naples, Fla., knows all too well the challenges of creating a fund-raising department from scratch.
The private Catholic university was established in 2003 by Thomas S. Monaghan, the founder of Domino’s Pizza, with $250-million.
“With the need to attract good faculty and students, purchase a temporary campus, build a permanent campus with adequate buildings to accommodate classes, recreation activities, offices, and residences, it soon became evident that we needed to build a strong fund-raising plan to supplement the founder’s very generous gift,” says Ms. Carpenter.
Ms. Carpenter recommends some inexpensive tools that helped her get started. She advises joining the Council for Advancement and Support of Education and the Association of Fundraising Professionals, both of which offer conferences, classes, and opportunities to talk shop with others in the field.
Fund-raising software will also make it easier to keep track of donors and process gifts. She also hired a consultant to conduct a donor-feasibility study and assist with major gift planning.
Traditional fund-raising techniques like direct mail and special events – of which Ave Maria holds up to five per year – are critical for up-and-coming institutions without a deep pool of alumni to draw on, says Ms. Carpenter.
Ave Maria had no alumni to tap when it started fund raising, so to build its annual fund, it created a “founders” direct-mail program and sent out pleas to Catholic families and others that the university believed would be supportive, asking for just $10 a month, or a one-time gift of $120. Nearly 17,000 “founders” donated money in just three years.
The university is now building Founders Clubs around the country to aid in fund raising and to help attract admissions applications, says Ms. Carpenter. The clubs meet monthly and receive updates regarding critical needs. Some are beginning to help raise money for specific goals, like scholarships, building construction, and academic programs.
While you’re still building a pool of individuals to support the institution, also consider tapping corporate, foundation, and government coffers, says Marcus Lingenfelter, vice president for university advancement at one-year-old Harrisburg University of Science and Technology, in Pennsylvania. “All three have significant resources that are accessible and nondependent upon longstanding relationships and cultivations,” he says.
Send top-level representatives to visit with state and federal elected officials to talk about how to obtain government support, suggests Mr. Lingenfelter.
Budget earmarks – often derided as “pork-barrel spending” – can aid an up-and-coming organization in need of funds. “Congressionally-directed grants at the federal level, while coming under fire in recent years, are valuable for providing resources and exposure,” he says. “Many state legislatures and agencies have discretionary resources available to support worthwhile projects or politically useful organizations.”
Corporate grant makers are typically straightforward about what they support, with guidelines often available online. And officials of corporate-giving units are often willing to meet with potential donors, says Mr. Lingenfelter.
As for foundation grants, he suggests investigating any relationships your institution’s board members and influential alumni have with foundations, setting up internal grant-seeking policies and procedures, and carefully reviewing guidelines of any grant-making programs for which your organization may qualify.
Says Mr. Lingenfelter: “For an organization that either has a disaffected alumni constituency or simply has not attended to them sufficiently, looking to the corporate, foundation, and government sectors for support can provide a bridge until an individual support program can be properly developed.”
