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Building strong partnerships with your faculty: A collaborative approach to effective fundraising
Journal of Education Advancement & Marketing,
2
(4),
319-328
(2018)
Abstract
External university partnerships rely on the internal faculties’ innovative thinking to deliver on their research programmes and ideas supported by the external partner’s funding. Likewise, development officers (DOs) often say their most important relationship is with the faculty members at their institution. Yet when asked privately, faculty and DOs are often candid about the hurdles they face in their relationships with one another. Unsurprisingly, this tension can be counterproductive when both parties are trying to work towards one goal of fundraising for the faculty member’s work. As a counter measure, UC Davis Foundation and Corporate Giving team, of which this paper’s two authors are a part have developed tools for the DO to help them build strong long-term partnerships with their faculty that are based on professional expertise, trust and respect. These tools illustrate the value proposition that a DO brings to the relationship, which sets the foundation for a mutually respectful, productive and successful dynamic between academic stakeholders. The specific guide, while tailored to university DOs who specialise in corporate and foundation fundraising, can readily be adjusted to suit the work of fundraising professionals in other settings. The outcomes of integrating our tools and approaches are better relationships with faculty for the DO, which likely translates into increased private funding for the faculty member.
Keywords: faculty engagement; faculty partnerships; foundation relations best-practices; value proposition of fundraising professional; building awareness; building rapport
The full article is available to subscribers to the journal.
Author's Biography
Traci Galbaugh is the Director of Foundation Giving at University of California, Davis (UC Davis) where she focuses on working with faculty to identify and pursue funding opportunities from non-governmental entities and building relationships with these entities. Prior to UC Davis, Traci worked at Northwestern University for 10 years where she originally started as postdoctoral fellow. Having a knack for working with faculty as well as successfully obtaining non-government funding as a scientist, the transition to fundraising was a natural one. Traci and Lauren White, co-author of this paper, recently spoke at Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) Corporate and Foundation Relations (CFR) conference on building and sustaining meaningful faculty relationships. She has a PhD from Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USUHS).
Lauren White is the Associate Director of Development for the Office of Corporate and Foundation Giving at UC Davis. In addition to connecting companies with UC Davis educators, leading to partnership investments, Lauren has spoken at local and national conferences, including CASE Corporate and Foundation Relations (CFR) conference, on faculty/fundraiser relationships. She and Traci Galbaugh, lead author of this paper, lead a group of national CFR professionals in conversations around best practices in corporate and foundation fundraising throughout the year. Lauren has held fundraising positions at UC San Diego and in a private charity and has a BA in communications from UC San Diego and an MBA from Point Loma Nazarene University.
