All higher education institutions have concerns about their fiscal health, and many have engaged in fundraising practices to augment and supplement other sources of revenue. Community colleges have been slower than their 4-year counterparts to engage in fundraising. Despite enrolling almost half of all students in postsecondary education, they…

The community college sector of higher education has, over the past 20 years, become highly engaged in fundraising. Typically relying on business and industry sponsorships, institutional leaders have begun to shift their development strategies to focus increasingly on individuals who have the capacity and disposition to support the work of their…

Community colleges have become increasingly reliant on diversifying their revenue sources, and turning to private fund raising has become a common strategy for many of them. Although fund raising has been a common practice in higher education since its inception, it has only emerged in the two-year college sector in the past several decades. The…

Donations made to the American nonprofit sector have grown exponentially in the past 10 years to an estimated $298.4 billion dollars in 2011 (Giving USA Foundation, 2012). Although consultants offer many different solutions as to how organizations can best capitalize on the e-philanthropy trend, communication theory may offer some of the most…

Kelly (1991, 1998) theoretically grounded fundraising within the paradigm of public relations. The Internet can potentially help nonprofit organizations boost their volunteer, donor, and fundraising opportunities through effective website management (Kang & Norton, 2004). The work of Kent and Taylor (1998, 2002) and others provides fertile…

This study used the lens of Resource Dependency Theory to examine the mindsets of nine community college presidents in California as they responded to the decline in state funding. The literature indicated that community colleges are pursing alternative sources of funding and emphasized presidents' roles in leading and engaging in many activities.…

The increased focus on private fundraising poses challenges for community colleges (Jackson & Glass, 2000). A challenge is a lack of fundraising experience within community colleges and their foundations. There now exists a donor-focused fundraising model for community colleges to use to enhance their fundraising initiatives and increase the…

This descriptive study surveyed current, lapsed, and major gift donors to explore the impact of college communications on donors' decisions to contribute to the college, the likelihood of donor financial support for various college projects, and the philanthropic motivation profiles of the donors of a midsized, multicampus community college in…

This article describes the Voluntary Support for Education (VSE) Survey, an instrument created by the Council for Aid to Education. Our objective is to explain VSE's potential value as a tool to inform both institutional and academic research regarding fund-raising activities at community colleges. Of particular interest is how the data available…

Community college administrators frequently need to deal with program enrollment shifts resulting from economic and demographic shifts. Reallocating resources between areas of the college to adjust to those enrollment shifts can become a difficult process if there isn't a careful monitoring of enrollment patterns and program costs. The authors…

This study conceptualizes entrepreneurial forms of community college revenues as undermining finance equity and examines their distribution through a single-state case study. The hypothesis that colleges serving wealthier communities will be more successful in obtaining revenues from performance funding and private fundraising is tested. Based on…

Identifies and rank orders emerging trends and critical issues affecting private fund-raising among community colleges. Development officers representing 42 North Carolina community colleges participated in the study. The greatest number of participants identified trends related to business and industry, the need for private funds, and increased…

Outlines the historical background of fundraising in community colleges, contrasting these efforts with those of four-year institutions, and discusses the matter of integrating resource development with institutional planning processes. Provides examples of successful community college development efforts, along with a discussion of several…

Describes the role of the community college president as both a fund raiser and a development team leader. Argues that the development team (trustees, foundation board members, and resource development professionals) should work closely with the president to plan and implement strategies to secure external funds. (74 references.) (JDI)

Many community colleges are struggling to find alternative sources of funding. This article presents a case study of a community college that established a foundation. It examines why the foundation was begun, what factors influenced its development, and how it has evolved over time. Contains 41 references. (TGO)