One of the largest challenges facing community colleges in the new millennium is identifying leaders who possess the necessary skills and competencies to successfully navigate the modern presidency. Facing a dynamic shift in the fiscal landscape, community college presidents are tasked with filling the gap between institutional needs and existing…

It is not effective to focus on the process of public relations, student recruitment, or fund-raising. In the 1990s, public relations must use rigorous research to achieve measurable results, not just more paperwork. (Author/MSE)

The experiences of three institutions (Oberlin College, Ohio; University of Nebraska; and St. Christopher's School, Virginia) illustrate how effective a carefully developed marketing scheme for planned giving can be. Staffing, budgets, average funds raised, and average deferred gifts are reported for each. (MSE)

Although volunteers serve many useful functions in fund raising, soliciting gifts should be left to staff. Volunteers are hard to recruit, keep, motivate, are unreliable, lacking in expertise, and they can balk at the realities of development tasks. Development offices should carefully think through the appropriate roles for these individuals.…

A guide to planning college and university anniversary celebrations that attract the attention of both friends and strangers recommends creating substantive programs related to current public interest; faculty involvement; broad-based and varied programing; media participation; attention to both past and future; and adequate budget. (MSE)

An unprecedented wave of private donations was pledged to college and universities in fiscal 1998; the total amount of gifts is up 15%. Donations to public master's universities and private liberal arts colleges have increased the most. Nothing in the performance of either group foreshadowed the growth in donations. (MSE)

Based on survey data from 70 universities, this study concludes that differences in the organizational structure of development offices have no significant effect on fund-raising efficiency. However, because decentralized offices may be able to expand their activities more rapidly than centralized programs, decentralization may facilitate overall…

Pepperdine University's (California) 1980s fund-raising campaign was designed to raise overall institutional visibility, establish an image of quality education, improve institutional image in the business community, increase fund-raising momentum, and raise significant money for immediate capital needs. Theme, staffing, and advertising were key…

College and university fund-raising programs that combine some characteristics of centralization and some of decentralization can be very successful and also pose unique administrative challenges, as illustrated in the experiences of a number of diverse institutions. Collaboration and clear communication are keys to effective administration. (MSE)

A survey of alumnae of three Catholic liberal arts colleges investigated applicability of a theoretical model proposing that selected demographic, background, and opinion variables would affect alumnae giving. Results indicate that most of the demographic/background variables studied had only weak to moderate correlation with giving patterns.…

The University of Texas at Austin has established a highly successful graduate training program for community college administrators, with a high rate of participation by minorities and women. Aggressive fund raising, outreach, recruitment, leadership education, and quality faculty characterize the program. A number of distinguished administrators…