MARKETING IN THE CORPORATE BOARDROOM: A STUDY OF CORPORATE FUND RAISING FOR HIGHER EDUCATION

Date of Completion

January 1984

Keywords

Education, Higher

Degree

Ph.D.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to collect and organize data on college and university fund-raising efforts during the past year (1982-83). It examined development directors' familiarity with and utilization of modern marketing techniques, and sought to document the relationship between selected variables and fund-raising success.^ This was a survey research project with an ex post facto design. The population for this study was comprised of development directors or officers from 525 institutions of higher education randomly selected from the 1981-82 National Center for Education Statistics Directory: Higher Education. The Corporate Fund-Raising Practices Survey and the Marketing Application Survey, both developed by the investigators were used to collect the data for this study.^ The existence of corporate fund-raising programs among all institutional types studied was extensive. On the average, development directors were somewhat familiar with modern marketing concepts, but their level of utilization was relatively low.^ Among the respondents, most perceived their fund-raising achievement to be satisfactory (36%) and unsuccessful (31%). Disaggregation of the data disclosed significant differences (.05 level) between institutional types and sizes, highest degree offered and student body mix in patterns of purposes addressed, organizational and institutional factors, patterns of fund-raising operations, methods of corporate cultivation, solicitation and follow-up in corporate fund-raising programs during the past year (1982-83).^ In a multiple regression exercise to test the efficacy of familiarity with and utilization of modern marketing concepts as predictors of fund-raising success, four significant (.05 level) predictors emerged: utilization of consideration of corporation's goals and interests, familiarity with an objective-based fund-raising budget, utilization of an objective-based fund-raising budget and utilization of market segmentation of target corporations. These four variables accounted for a modest amount of variance (12%).^ Further study in the areas of implementing marketing training for development directors, developing communications networks among development directors and understanding the vagarities and nuances of corporate fund raising for higher education was recommended. ^

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