Only 4% of new college and university presidents advance to leadership from full-time advancement roles, yet many college presidents report that fundraising is one of their top priorities and consumes a significant amount of their time and energy. Based on the presenter’s recently-published doctoral dissertation and the personal experience of one new college president, this session will explore fundraising challenges and expectations that first-time college and university leaders face upon assuming the presidency.



This qualitative, multiple case study analysis was built on in-depth conversations with six presidents serving in their first presidential roles. The study explored how prepared the participants felt for fundraising work and expectations, how they engaged with their professional advancement staff in their pursuit of fundraising outcomes, how they overcame the fundraising experience gap, and what drove them to work hard at fundraising. This session will explore the answers to these questions and provide a summary of findings from this study.



Learning Objective 1:
Better understand how the president/CEO perceives the need for fundraising within you organization.



Learning Objective 2:
Envision ways in which you can make your working relationship and framework for collaboration with your president/CEO more effective.