This article addresses the checkered history of school-college reform initiatives with regard to increasing college access among low-income youth. It considers what is missing in the reform movement and why policymakers and funders have grown impatient. Focusing on what is possible, this article suggests what is needed, recommending three…

Increasingly, K-12 administrators must address the need for greater funding for their systems and schools. This article presents methods used in higher education that may be of use to its K-12 colleagues. It further suggests professional development to support school leaders in making use of these strategies.

Confronting two unhealthy approaches that surface frequently in philanthropy--the tendency for grantmakers to think they alone have all the answers and the tensions that arise when national and local funders try to work together--this case study is intended to help grantmakers think more deeply about the concept of "engaged partners," one of…

Women's colleges in the 1970s and 1980s faced highly uncertain futures. Soaring popularity of coeducation left them with serious enrollment downturns, and challenges from proposed equal rights legislation threatened to render illegal their single-sex admissions policies. These perilous external conditions drew together the presidents of U.S.…

Creating paths for the active engagement of Californians serves as a unifying theme for The James Irvine foundation as it pursues its mission of expanding opportunity for the people of California. Through the foundation's grantmaking programs in arts, California Democracy and Youth, it aspires to a California where opportunities to participate…

When foundations reduce their support to a field, they generally offer brief explanations for their actions, citing a record of past achievement, a new constellation of social needs, and a consequent reconfiguration of priorities. Other rationales for the foundations' recent rift with higher education include friction between foundation agendas…

Analysing foundation charters, this article explores the various purposes universities have been said to serve at different periods of time, how the distinction between universities and other educational establishments has been made, and how the actions of the academic community have been justified. The data consist of 225 charters of foundation…

This paper provides senior leadership teams with a body of literature that will guide the development of "fund-raising strategy" and provides an "interdisciplinary" context for understanding "donor motives". Consideration of these "theoretical foundations" can help shape the fund-raising philosophy of the institution. These perspectives also have…

In 2001, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation launched a 10-year, multi-million dollar initiative, the Washington State Achievers Program (WSA), to increase opportunities for low-income students to attend postsecondary institutions in Washington State. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation granted funds to the College Success Foundation…

The purpose of this investigation was to build the blueprint of Taiwanese public higher education's fundraising. This study applied three surveys (NSH, NSC, and NSF) to three populations' samples (public universities, corporations, and foundations in Taiwan) as well as qualitative interviews toward these three populations in order to explore…

Understanding educational advancement is important both for institutions, which increasing rely on its revenues, as well as professionals. This paper examines the knowledge base present in 241 doctoral dissertations on advancement, 1991-2006. Most dissertations are produced in education departments, using fundraising/philanthropy as a framework.…

To provide an even more intensive learning experience at Grantmakers for Education's 2006 conference, the program featured a conference "study group." This special small-group program track focused on foundation strategy and the value of a well-crafted theory of change for increasing strategic clarity and impact. This report is intended to make…

In fall 2005 the John M. Olin Foundation dispensed the last of its funds, liquidated its belongings, and vacated its offices. John Merrill Olin intended his wealth to promote conservatism in academia, and for 52 years his foundation pursued that aim by creating grants for individuals and organizations that have become founts of right-wing…

This is the fifth edition of the State Governance Action Report that has been produced since 2000 by the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges' (AGB's) Ingram Center for Public Trusteeship and Governance. Focusing primarily on state and higher education policies directly affecting governance, trusteeship, and institutionally…

MDC's mission is to help organizations and communities close the gaps that separate people from opportunity. The organization has been working to create positive change in disadvantaged communities for 40 years--by conducting research and demonstrating effective programs at the community level. MDC focuses on three areas: education, economic and…