Community College Times, October 26, 2007, Friday

Community College Times, October 26, 2007

Community College Times

The state of fund raising at community colleges

By CCTIMES, Published October 26, 2007

In October 2006, the Chronicle of Higher Education published a provocative article on the shortcomings of community college fund-raising efforts by Donald Summers titled “Why are Community Colleges so Slow to Jump on the Fundraising Bandwagon?” Summers, who will be the opening speaker at Growing Giving, a conference next month on securing private support for community colleges offered by the Institute for Community College Development (ICCD), has worked in community college and university development offices. He is now a fund-raising consultant.

“To my mind, nothing would be better for American democracy and education than for community colleges to rake in the billions they deserve,” Summers told ICCD Executive Director Barbara Viniar.

Viniar recently asked Eduardo Padrón, president of Miami Dade College (MDC) in Florida, to comment on some of Summers’ criticisms. (MDC was cited in the article.) The following is the Q&A with Padrón.

One of the critical areas Summers addresses is board appointments. He says that governors need to be more attuned to the fund-raising ability of the board members they appoint. What role do your publicly appointed board members play in fund raising?

Our board members are actively engaged in the entire range of college activities, and that certainly includes the realm of fund raising. Contrary to Mr. Summers’ contention, they are prominent members of the community with plenty of business and fundraising savvy. As such, they are integral to the planning and implementation of fund-raising initiatives. They advocate before government officials on behalf of the institution and helped in developing critical partnerships with both individuals and business entities that have lent support to the college.

What state policies/practices support fund raising? Which are barriers?

In particular, two state matching programs support programmatic and facilities fund raising. The Philip Benjamin Matching program, named after a St. Petersburg Community College trustee who was instrumental in founding the State Board of Community Colleges, provides a 40/60 match on program development and a one-to-one match on scholarships against private fund raising. The Facilities Enhancement Matching program provides a one-to-one match with private monies. Both of these programs were driven to fruition in the legislature by community college presidents.

Over the past 10 years, the state has supplied $440 million in matching funds to community colleges through these two programs. The downside is that the state has not always met the required match in a timely manner, a fact that tends to discourage private contributors.

What role do you and your colleagues in Florida play in developing public policy that will help you raise private funds?

What is most needed is a new awareness—a renewed determination—to make community colleges financially secure. The Council of Presidents of Florida’s community college system, as well as the boards of trustees of the 28 institutions, have a strong voice in Tallahassee, the state capital. The legislative arm of the council is very active in lobbying the legislature and affecting policy, but most important is the understanding that will precede any new policy.

According to Summers, community college leaders lack the entrepreneurial temperament for significant fund raising and usually have no prior fund-raising experience. What fund-raising skills or experience do you look for in the leaders you bring to MDC?

Mr. Summers may be basing his comments on a prior era. I know no institution, certainly not MDC, that isn’t conscious in its hiring of the skills needed to promote financial growth. Skills are part of the equation; the other element is the passionate belief in the value of one’s enterprise. The leaders of this institution are true believers in the mission of the college. Our board and administrative team constantly engage the people and organizations that can make a difference in the college’s fortunes. As much as each of these individuals fulfills a role at the college, they are also members of the community through civic participation. Good fund raisers are good partners with other concerned people.

What in your background has made you a successful fund raiser?

Passion for the mission, recognition of the pressing need to provide access to higher education and recognition of the undeniable partnership the college shares with the larger community. Relationships are built on common understanding and a shared sense of ownership. MDC is of this community, and as such, it is fundamental to the prosperity of the region. It should be everyone’s concern, and that message is not one that I shy away from.

It is not what’s in my background but more importantly, the foreground.

Summers compared the nine people MDC employs in fund raising and alumni relations to the several hundred usually found at universities of comparable size. How big is your development staff now and what would you see as the benefits or downsides to greatly increase its size?

Mr. Summers can rest assured that this institution is constantly aware of the need to expand our resources through private partnerships. We have concentrated on building a loyal following of alumni, not an easy task given normal allegiances to four-year and graduate alma maters. But this is a unique community. Most of the successful contributors in South Florida—corporate, civic, government and more—came through MDC. We’re building a foundation of support unlike any in the country, and our development team will grow accordingly as projects come to fruition.

If Donald Summers were writing his article today, what would you like him to say about community college fund raising? About MDC?

His first order of business ought to be an apology to the development personnel, who have amassed, available via public records, the largest endowment of any community college in the nation at $209.7 million, which surpasses the endowments at most fouryear institutions. He might also acknowledge that MDC’s foundation staff has grown by five times the earlier numbers over the past year. Our approach to fund raising, however, goes beyond our development staff, and includes a full range of leadership personnel, from campus presidents to school directors and department chairs. All continue to contribute leads and build partnerships with the private sector.

Mr. Summers also subscribes to out-of-date thinking with regard to supplementing the salaries of our faculty. MDC has 85 endowed teaching chairs, rewarding outstanding MDC faculty, funded with private money and matched by state funds.

Summers ought to be acutely aware of the entity he proposes to serve, appreciating the essential nature of these institutions in the present makeup of society, particularly urban society. In fact, to be effective, his argument would need to be more incisive—that these educational institutions are the great hope of towns and cities struggling to find social and economic footing today. If he wrote that support for open access institutions is the essential building block of urban development, he would, finally, be right on the money.