Degree Name
EdD (Doctor of Education)
Program
Educational Leadership
Date of Award
8-2015
Committee Chair or Co-Chairs
Dr. W. Hal Knight
Committee Members
Dr. Bethany Flora, Dr. James Lampley, Dr. Richard Manahan
Abstract
As funds dwindle and costs rise university advancement staff have been given higher fundraising goals to meet the needs. In addition, university advancement staff have received pressure to review and lower the costs of fundraising to become more efficient (Drezner, 2011). To enable university advancement staff to attain goals, advocate for resources, or enhance processes, university advancement staff are challenged to measure their effectiveness. However, the process of measuring university fundraising success is unclear as there are many variables to consider and several ways to determine success. For this study the Delphi Technique (Hsu & Sanford, 2007) was used with 3 rounds of questionnaires. Seventeen experts of fundraising analytics were asked to identify both quantifiable and nonquantifiable variables that should be included in a comprehensive model to determine success in university fundraising. Findings include quantifiable measures such as return on investment, growth in giving reports, new and recaptured donors, and fundraiser performance and activity metrics. In addition, findings include nonquantifiable measures such as institutional and environmental forces were identified by the participants as critical components to comprise in a comprehensive model. Further findings include a variety of other metrics, both quantifiable and nonquantifiable, that were identified by the participants as critical components to comprise in a comprehensive evaluation model.
Document Type
Dissertation - unrestricted
Recommended Citation
Wilson, Krystal L., "Determining the Critical Elements of Evaluation for University Advancement Staff: Quantifiable and Nonquantifiable Variables Associated with Fundraising Success" (2015). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 2565. https://dc.etsu.edu/etd/2565
Copyright
Copyright by the authors.