August 7, 2003 | Read Time: 2 minutes
Fund Raising From Black-College Alumni: Successful Strategies for Supporting Alma Mater
by Marybeth Gasman and Sibby Anderson-Thompkins
Many predominantly black colleges raise significantly less money from their alumni than do institutions that are primarily white, write Marybeth Gasman, an assistant professor of higher education at the University of Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia, and Sibby Anderson-Thompkins, a Ph.D. student in the department of educational-policy studies at Georgia State University, in Atlanta. For example, at half of the 53 historically and predominantly black colleges for which the authors gathered fund-raising data, 10 percent or fewer of the alumni donate.
Ms. Gasman and Ms. Anderson-Thompkins say that many colleges fail to explain to alumni the extent of their budgetary needs or make clear that support from government and other sources is inadequate. The authors suggest that those reasons, coupled with a tendency among many blacks to mistrust institutions, contribute to the fund-raising difficulties black colleges experience.
Based on interviews they conducted, the authors report on how fund raisers approach prospective donors and on how alumni respond to solicitations. They also review research on what motivates black philanthropy and discuss whether colleges have made effective use of that information in crafting their appeals. For example, some studies suggest that blacks often cite a desire to “uplift the race” when making charitable donations.
Among the fund-raising techniques colleges could use, suggest Ms. Gasman and Ms. Anderson-Thompkins, is to present information about the contributions of past alumni and discuss how institutions strive to help current students reach their goals.
Each chapter concludes with specific tips for increasing alumni support, such as encouraging faculty members to maintain relationships with alumni; capitalizing on alumni affiliations with churches, fraternities, and sororities; involving current students in the fund-raising process; and investing sufficient money not only in fund-raising software but also in training and salaries for fund raisers.
Publisher: Council for Advancement and Support of Education, 1307 New York Avenue, N.W., Suite 1000, Washington, D.C. 20005-4701; (202) 328-2273; fax (202) 387-4973; http://www.case.org; 119 pages; $36.95 for members; $48.95 for nonmembers; I.S.B.N. 0-89964-377-9.
