Intelligent Giving: Insights And Strategies For Higher Education Donors: Insights And Strategies For Higher Education Donors

Provides an intellectual framework for guiding prospective major donors in giving more effectively to higher education.Although most major gifts are profoundly motivated by charitable intentions, the noble impulse to give to higher education can quickly generate complicated choices. Which school? Which program? Under what terms or conditions? Even very talented people who have enjoyed exceptionally successful careers in business and other fields can become disoriented by academe_s idiosyncrasies. This book provides an intellectual framework for guiding prospective major donors in giving more effectively to higher education. It supplies some insight into the higher education sector, donor opportunities, the development process, and how to think about and get the most from a _negotiation_ with the institution of the donor_s choice. The insights and strategies are culled by a RAND research team mainly from interviews with development officers, institutional leaders, and donors themselves. Ultimately the giving process that works best for any donor will depend on his or her individual interests and needs. The best advice is to be clear on what effect the donor wants his or her gift to have, to seek as much information on the school/situation as possible, and to consult with an attorney and a good financial advisor at all stages of the giving process. This book is for those wishing to make a major gift to an institution of higher education who are looking for an intellectual framework for deciding how much to give to which school, for which purposes, over what periods of time, or with which (if any) restrictions. Higher education fundraising has grown increasingly sophisticated, but higher education philanthropy has remained in large part an amateur exercise. A donor can give an institution any amount for any purpose at any time, but there are some subtleties concerning the gifts that are most effective in achieving the donors purpose. Some gifts cannot be accepted; an example would be gifts not available to underrepresented minorities. Other gifts may not be accepted because accepting the gift is prohibitively expensive. Higher education philanthropy can be viewed as a formal social exchange between an individual or family donor. The most common situation is for donors to make a gift and trust the institution's leadership to identify the schools needs and priorities. Other donors, those with an agenda to satisfy or those who may be categorized as social entrepreneurs, want to fund something that may not be a top priority for the school. In this situation, a donation may involve negotiation. Ultimately the process that works best for a donor depends on his or her individual interests and needs. One appendix describes additional resources for donors, and the second contains the interview protocol used to gather information for this report. (Contains 20 figures, 6 tables, and 60 references.) (SLD) Provides an intellectual framework for guiding prospective major donors in giving more effectively to higher education. Although most major gifts are profoundly motivated by charitable intentions, the noble impulse to give to higher education can quickly generate complicated choices. Which school? Which program? Under what terms or conditions? Even very talented people who have enjoyed exceptionally successful careers in business and other fields can become disoriented by academe's idiosyncrasies Jonathan P. Caulkins ... [et Al.]. Mr-1427. Includes Bibliographical References.