Qualities of a Fund-Raising Dean

By Jerry F. Smith, CFRE, President and CEO, J.F. Smith Group

I was recently visiting with a university president, and we began to talk about how to get deans and department heads more involved in fund-raising. I told him that in over 30 years in the fund-raising business I have only come across one dean that I thought was truly effective as a fund-raiser. But what were the qualities that made this dean so good? Great question. 

To be an effective administrator in raising private support you must have the following qualities:  (1) You must truly believe in the school, college, department or other areas within the school you represent.  (2)  You must speak to prospects with passion and enthusiasm.  (3) You must make fund-raising a priority, not "I'll try to work in a meeting with a prospect if my schedule permits."  (4) You must have a specific plan (project) on how you will spend the prospective donor's gift.  (5) You must be willing to follow the advice and guidance of your development team.  (6) You must follow up immediately after a meeting with a hand written note or call to the prospect.

These six qualities seem simple enough for anyone to comprehend and learn, but as I said, I have only worked with one dean that had all six.  I believe the reason more administrators are not good at fund-raising is because of one word ... and that word is spelled F E A R.  If that is the case, we as development professionals must have patience and work closely with these individuals to help raise their comfort level.  We need deans, department heads and other administrators out with us to help make the case.  Why? Because these people are the decision makers and the prospects always want to speak with the decision makers.

The more administrators we can work with to develop these qualities, the better fund-raisers we will be!