This article talks about a report on fund-raising campaign done by universities and colleges to support their educational programs. According to the "Voluntary Support of Education" annual report released by the Council for Aid to Education, alumni and other individual donors gave just more than half of the total amount raised. The country's…

In today's climate of accountability, many grantmakers struggle to determine the impact of the activities they support. This report seeks to summarize and make available much of the information from a special member briefing Grantmakers for Education organized to help funders--especially those from foundations with modest budgets--confront this…

This article presents an interview with Mary Bitterman and James Narduzzi. Mary Bitterman, former President and CEO of The James Irvine Foundation, is President of The Bernard Osher Foundation and Immediate Past Chairman of the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). James Narduzzi is Dean of the University of Richmond's School of Continuing Studies.…

Background/Context: In 1994, the Spencer Foundation embarked on an ambitious experimental initiative to support the preparation of education researchers. Over the 13-year span of the Research Training Grant (RTG) program, the foundation made multiyear awards to more than a dozen leading institutions in the United States and South Africa. This…

The context in which boards are making endowment spending decisions has changed remarkably in the past year. In January 2008, Senators Max Baucus and Charles Grassley, chair and ranking minority member, respectively, of the Senate Finance Committee, cited "explosive college endowment growth" as evidence that college and university boards should…

This study critically examines the influence of philanthropic foundations on the educational development of African Americans, especially from 1932 to 2007. Attention is given to the positive and negative motives of philanthropists as well as to the ways African Americans utilized funds and leveraged the provided opportunities. In addition, the…

Looking at potential sources of funding for education reform, Frederic Fransen outlines the dynamics in play as a pragmatist might calculate the worthiness of a cause for his philanthropy. Preeminent is bang for the buck, of course. And though the way to reinvigorate the insatiable blob of higher education isn't readily apparent to Dr. Fransen,…

The first round of attempts to extend the access of working people to higher education began in 1873 with an imitation of the University of London on the prairies of Illinois. For all practical purposes, it ended in the legislature of the State of New York in 1892, although it took more than a decade to formally close all of the external degree…

In the post-World War II era, efforts to improve the accessibility and quality of higher education rose to prominence in US educational debates and policymaking. In retrospect, a confluence of factors helped to forge this growing social consensus about the need to create educational opportunity and to diversify the nation's colleges and…

Blended learning can be seen as the means to achieving a greater sense of "localness" on the part of colleges and universities. Blended learning has been evolving for several years and while definitions vary from one institution to another, it is defined in this paper essentially as a combination of face-to-face and online learning. Localness is a…

Background/Context: The Research Training Grant (RTG) program at the University of Pennsylvania's Graduate School of Education aimed to create strong research training experiences for predissertation fellows through generous financial aid, mentored research apprenticeships, and cocurricular experiences. Collectively these offerings sought to…

The economic benefits of a college education are well documented; however, data from studies of young people transitioning out of foster care indicate that the college graduation rate for this population is very low. The child welfare system has traditionally done a poor job of encouraging foster youth to pursue postsecondary education. Although…

This experimental study assessed the effectiveness of fundraising messages. Based on recent findings regarding the effects of message framing and evidence, effective fundraising messages should combine abstract, statistical information with a negative message frame and anecdotal evidence with a positive message frame. In addition, building on…

In early January 2004, in connection with its centennial, The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching began a 30-month appraisal of relations between influential philanthropic foundations and educational institutions (both K-12 and higher education) with the goal of strengthening those relations. The authors, both co-directors of the…

In these uncertain economic times, leadership is among the most frequently used (and misused) terms in public discourse. And the vast literature on this topic certainly encompasses considerable discussion of the policies and practices that can equalize leadership opportunities for women and people of color. In reviewing the status of women in…