Parallel surveys of Chief Executive Officers and Chief Development Officers at community colleges reveal significant gaps in perspectives by these senior leaders with respect to fund-raising goals, resources, and their respective roles.
The Council for Advancement and Support of Education recently conducted the two surveys of CEOs and CDOs at community colleges. Some key findings of the “Mind the Gap” surveys include:
- Fifty-five percent of Presidents believe their institution has adequate resources to grow giving compared with 24% of CDOs, a gap of 31%.
- Seventy-one percent of CEOs and 53% of CDOs agree that their institution’s goals are realistic. This finding indicates that nearly 30% of CEOs and half of CDOs do not believe their fund-raising goals are realistic.
- Nearly 90% of CEOs are confident that they understand the fund-raising process while fewer than 65% of CDOs agree, a gap of 26%.
- Eighty-two percent of CEOs say they are comfortable asking for gifts; 55% of CDOs believe their CEOs are comfortable, a gap of 27%.
- Nearly 45% of CEOs believe they are spending enough time on fund-raising; 30% of CDOs agree. Both parties, therefore, wish that the head of the institution could dedicate more time to fund raising.
The survey also revealed a number of factors that appear to correlate with fund-raising success at community colleges, including:
- Maturity of the fund-raising program. Established fund-raising programs (two full-time fund raisers for more than 10 years) generally raised more in the previous fiscal year than did start-up programs (two full-time fund raisers for 10 or fewer years).
- Presidential time spent on fund raising. Institutions at which the president spent at least 25% of his or her time fund raising were more likely to report giving totals of $1.5 million or more.
“We believe the results of these surveys will help foster honest dialogue between Community College Presidents and Chief Development Officers about their respective roles, goals for the institutions and how they might better collaborate to achieve them,” says John Lippincott, CASE President.
Additional ISM resources of interest
The Board’s Role in a Successful Capital Campaign, ISM Webinar on December 12
Looking After Your Leadership Donors, ISM Recorded Webinar
ISM Collection: Key Development Theory
