Perceptions of Alumni/foundation Directors from American Community Colleges Regarding which Alumni Relations and Fundraising Practices Provide the Greatest Value

Download or read book Perceptions of Alumni/foundation Directors from American Community Colleges Regarding which Alumni Relations and Fundraising Practices Provide the Greatest Value written by Lisa Williams and published by . This book was released on 2017 with total page 165 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Community colleges play a critical role within the realm of higher education in the United States, enrolling nearly half of all post-secondary students including a disproportionate number of low-income and minority students relative to four-year institutions. Yet, reductions in government appropriated funding provided to higher education institutions that were instituted as part of budget cuts enacted in response to the "Great Recession" of 2009 and largely remain in effect today have had a lopsided effect, taxing community colleges to a far-greater degree than four-year institutions. The impact of these budget cuts on community colleges have been two-fold as they have resulted in the elimination of programs offered by community colleges and a decrease in the quality of their offerings. Since the onset of the "Great Recession" of 2009, community colleges have begun focusing on alumni relations and fundraising practices to a previously unprecedented degree. During this time, certain colleges have outperformed their peers in terms of obtaining alumni donations and private gifts by large margins based on the annual Voluntary Support of Education (VSE) survey results. The purpose of this dissertation was to bridge an existing gap in research by providing insight into which alumni relations practices at community colleges generate the greatest value in terms of their impact on fundraising from the perspective of Alumni/Foundation Directors at community colleges that have had the most success recently in raising money relative to their peers. The analysis employed the social exchange theory as a theoretical framework for understanding the relationship between alumni donors and institutions. The most recent VSE survey results were analyzed to draw a purposive sample of institutions that have had the most recent success in obtaining alumni donations, and the Alumni/Foundation Directors of the institutions identified within the purposive sample received a survey instrument designed by the researcher, which was comprised of multiple-choice/fill-in, Likert-Scale, and fill-in questions. With respect to implications for practice, the findings offer administrators at community colleges insight into how to best allocate limited resources designated for alumni relations and fundraising to maximize the return-on-investment. Opportunities for future research are also provided that build on this research in order to further advance the understanding of alumni relations and fundraising practices at community colleges in the United States.