The SRA Symposium - College of Medicine

sponsored programs offices have very small infrastructure and capacity relative to the external
resources available and to the effort required to acquire needed external resources. Also note that
a large amount of money and resources available to higher education institutions may not be available
to many MSIs as it relates to required institutional infrastructure and capacity. Information
and materials are presented in this paper that addresses the acquisition and management of money
and resources for MSI research and sponsored programs administrators and presidents.
GENERATING RESOURCES
Papers
Every job description for a President, Chancellor, or Chief Executive Officer of an institution of
higher education (IHE) contains language that requires the president to lead the effort to raise
money. Bringing in resources and managing these resources are key responsibilities of a presidency.
For new presidents, this requirement may be somewhat overwhelming. Yet accepting a
presidency means that you understand and can do the job. In most instances, the responsibility of
acquiring and managing research and externally sponsored funds and gifts, donations, and fund
raising is assigned to the research or sponsored programs administrator and development offices,
respectively.
Obtaining external funds is never easy, especially for MSIs. As financial support from state and
federal sources declines, IHEs must become successful at finding other sources of funds, thus, the
need for fundraising. IHEs cannot continue to rely on tuition increases to keep the doors open,
build strong programs, provide comprehensive quality student services, and keep up with the
competition. Without new dollars, IHEs, specifically a large number of MSIs, will be at a disadvantage
in recruiting students, attracting and retaining high quality faculty, and in general, maintaining
the quality standards of their institutions.
Successful student enrollment information may be provided by Noel Levitz regarding student access,
recruitment, retention, graduation, and customer service. The web site is http://www.noellevitz.com.
Foundation and philanthropic resources may be identified by accessing The Foundation
Center at http://fdncenter.org or http://fdncenter.org/funders/. Federal agency resources may be
identified by accessing www.grants.gov; federal legislative branch information may be accessed at
http://www.firstgov.gov; the U.S. Senate may be accessed at http://www.senate.gov/senators/index.
cfm; the U.S. House of Representatives may be accessed at http://www.house.gov/house/Tying_it_
all.html.
The United States Department of Education Center for Education Statistics indicates that grants,
cooperative agreements and other sources of federal funds represent a significant portion of the
operating budgets of HBCUs nationwide. However, private gifts represent one-fourth less than
federal funds; hence there is an apparent need for HBCUs to increase private giving. Statistics for
HBCUs, for example, indicate operating budgets of approximately 25.5% from tuition and fees,
21.6% from the federal government, 24.8% from state government, 2.7% from local government,
5.8% from private gifts, grants, and contracts, 0.8% from endowment income, 17.9% from sales
and services, and 1.9% from other sources. While the need for private gifts is evident, it is less easy
to identify the sources of private gifts for which HBCUs nationwide may compete. Succinctly, the
majority of the private gifts given to colleges are from individuals (alumni). Further, when the
private gifts are not from alumni, they are from community residents who have an interest in the
local HBCU community. Thus it is impracticable to define a useful database from which HBCUs
may solicit private gifts. However, it is interesting to note that through the new Kresge HBCU
Initiative, Kresge is attempting to encourage private gifts to HBCUs by giving national recognition
to individuals who make significant contributions to HBCUs.
2005 Symposium Proceedings Book 45