Fund raising 2
Making money and making friends:
Corporate ideology and friendship in university fund raising
Fund raising is big business in America. According to a recent survey (American
Association of Fund-Raising Counsel, 2000), Americans gave approximately 190 billion
dollars to nonprofit organizations in 1999, and seventy-five percent of those dollars came
from individuals. Furthermore, it is conservatively estimated that over the next fifty
years, $41 trillion in wealth will be transferred from one generation to the next, with
approximately $6 trillion of that money going to charities (Schervish & Havens, 1999).
On the cusp of what may be the greatest transfer of wealth in the history of modern
society, America’s nonprofit organizations are preparing for a half-century of feverish
fund raising.
University-level fund raising is widespread and profitable for institutions of
higher education as they vie for a portion of the $6 trillion. Carbone (1989) found that
41% of the fund raisers he surveyed worked for colleges, universities and schools. Kelly
(1998) estimates that there were probably at least 30,000 full time fund raisers working in
educational institutions in 1998. Studies indicate that educational institutions
consistently receive the second highest percentage of gift dollars in America at 12%,
second only to religious institutions, which receive 46% (AAFRC Trust for Philanthropy,
1997). As the American economy worsens and state budgets tighten, gaining private
donations could become increasingly important for public universities. At the start of the
21
st
Century, nine of the eleven Big Ten universities are continuing or kicking off capital
campaigns, each seeking to raise $300 million to $1.3 billion dollars over the next ten
years.
Convention