Fundamentals of fund-raising: fund-raising for academic libraries

Abstract:

Fund-raising and donor cultivation are the mainstays of private philanthropy. In order to understand this process it is necessary to understand how private philanthropic foundations work, and how they proceed with the evaluation of the hundreds - and, in many cases, thousands - of requests for funding that they receive each year. There is a process to be followed which in many cases is very particular to the foundation or corporate giving program that one is trying to procure funding from. It is also important to understand the types of grants (gifts) that private philanthropy supports. This chapter also provides a brief history of how private philanthropy has evolved and where this very important sector of our economy stands.

Key words

fund-raising efforts

corporate giving

grant type

proposal

philanthropic foundations

institutional development

donor base

not-for-profit

cooperative agreement

donor cultivation

grantor

grantee

Private foundations and corporations

Fund-raising is the process by which public and private agencies or institutions solicit contributions, in the form of money or economic resources, from external sources in order to secure the means necessary to accomplish their goals or mission. Fund-raising takes place when agencies request donations from individuals, businesses, corporate giving programs, charitable foundations or governmental agencies. The term generally refers to the effort of identifying and soliciting financial help for not-for-profit organizations, as well as to the efforts to identify potential donors or investors and solicit their contributions or investments into the grant-seeking operations, whether in the form of financial resources or other types of contribution. It is the legitimate process of collecting money by requesting donations from the government or private grant-making institutions.

Many not-for-profit organizations receive annual funding in the form of endowments. An endowment is a sum of money that is invested to generate an annual return. Later, this return, or the interest earned from the main investment amount, is utilized to fund and support the projects or programs of the not-for-profit organization. Many endowments are created when a sizable gift is received from a donating agency or individual, sometimes from a direct clause in a will or a specific request from a person in a donating institution. Otherwise, endowments typically are the result of many gifts over time from a variety of sources.

One of the most common ways to raise money is through grant proposals. Even though grant proposals for private funding are very easy to put together, actually getting the funding agencies to agree to contribute to or fund them is extremely difficult. Most not-for-profit organizations raise funds by competing for the grant funding programs of funding agencies, which could be private philanthropic foundations, charitable trusts, corporate giving programs, government agencies or private individuals.

A grant, also known as a cooperative agreement, is a monetary award given by the grantor (the agency or individual giving the money) to the grantee (the agency or institution receiving the monetary award). A grant request or grant proposal is an advance promise of what the grantee proposes to do when the grantor fulfills the request for funding. The difference between a grant and a cooperative agreement is the degree of federal or governmental participation or involvement during the performance of the work or activities. When a governmental agency participates in the activities of the funded project, then the grant is called a cooperative agreement. When the applicant is the sole implementer of the project activities, it is called a grant. A grant proposal is usually a more free-flowing grant request which involves putting down in writing the grantee's ideas about his/her organization and the project or program targeted for funding.

Some of the biggest and better-coordinated fund-raising efforts in the United States are conducted by colleges and universities. These fund-raising efforts are commonly designated as development initiatives and/or institutional advancement programs, and they are directed and strategized according to the type of funding that the academic institutions will be pursuing, whether in the form of funding for specific institutional projects, annual fund appeals or major capital campaigns. Gifts of appreciated property are important components of such efforts because of the tax advantage they confer on the donor, therefore encouraging larger gifts. The process of soliciting appreciated assets is better known as planned giving.

The donor base (often called a file) in higher education institutions includes alumni, parents, friends, private foundations and corporations. A typical development program at institutions of higher learning includes prospect identification, prospect research and verification of the prospect's viability, cultivation, solicitation and, finally, stewardship, this last being the process of keeping donors informed about how past support has been used.

Relationship building or donor cultivation is the foundation on which most fund-raising takes place. Most development strategies divide donors into categories based on their annual gift practices. For instance, major donors are those that give at the highest level of the organization's fund-raising scale and mid-level donors are in the middle. More sophisticated strategies use tools to overlay demographic and other market segmentation data against the database of donors, in order to more precisely customize communication and target donors and resources more effectively. Aspects of donor relations and stewardship by professional fund-raisers include recognizing and thanking donors in a fashion that will cultivate future giving to the not-for-profit organization.

What are the sources of private philanthropic giving?

 Individuals are the largest source of funding for not-for-profit organizations. According to Giving USA (http://www.givingusareports.org/), total charitable giving in the US reached more than US$300 billion in 2008. Of that amount, 75 percent came from individuals.

 Corporate giving programs donate in order to get exposure, publicity, community respect and market share. Their grant-making activities are more episodic, revolving around particular campaigns, events and projects. Corporate funding is usually a potentially good source of support for new initiatives, special programs and special events which could be connected with the business activities of the specific corporation being targeted as a potential donor.

 Federal, state and local governments. Many not-for-profit organizations benefit from all levels of government funding. Obvious examples are public education, higher education and the public media. Federal, state and local government cooperative agreements fund many programs provided by not-for-profits, especially in areas such as social services and healthcare.

 Federated funds or charitable trusts, such as United Way, United Arts, the United Negro College Fund (UNCF) etc., can be steady sources of relatively large amounts of money. These are available only to well-established not-for-profit organizations.

 Grant-making public charities. These organizations are a cross between a private foundation and a charity. They typically receive funding from the public and from government and private foundations. They may engage in public service, but primarily they raise funds and provide grants to charitable not-for-profits that provide direct services. One can always find such grant-making public charities in local areas. Some are associated with an overarching national organization.

 Philanthropic foundations come in various sizes and types but their grants can be important and substantial.

- Private foundations include:

    Corporate foundations: which are private foundations but with a board often made up of corporate officers. Their endowment funds are separate from the corporation and they have their own professional staff. Family foundations: which receive endowments from individuals or families. Many large, iconic foundations are family foundations - such as the Gates Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation and the Ford Foundation. These family foundations have endowments in the billions. Most family foundations, however, are much smaller and tend to target their grant-making activities locally, often with little or no professional staff.

- Community foundations are public foundations and they pool the assets of many donors. They work to improve their local communities through grant making, awarding scholarships and providing services to donors. Community foundations are very active in providing donor-advised funds for donors who want to become more purposeful in their giving but who do not want to set up...