I begin this series of posts with a shout out of thanks to a former colleague, Rebekah Basinger, for a post on her blog Generous Matters entitled 10 time-proven laws of fundraising. Rebekah’s post began with a statement that had a very familiar ring. “While cleaning out a file cabinet that hasn’t been touched for several years, I came across…” Within the past two years, I have had to pack up my library and 40 years of work files. As I carefully examined the books and files, “I came across” many books and files that I had not thought about for years. Although the ideas from these items were not at the front of my mind, nor on the tip of my tongue, they were not foreign to me. I had saved these books and files for a reason, and as I scanned them, those reasons came back to me.
Rebekah’s found treasure was an article dated 2003, entitled The Ten Immutable Laws of the (fundraising) Universe. She continued her post with a comment which constantly rings true in the academy: “I’m reminded that the more things change in our world, the more they stay the same.” Experience teaches us that the near future is closely tied to the immediate past. In an upcoming series of posts that I have tentatively entitled, “The Future of the Academy,” I will be playing off of that idea in discussions of the structure, form, purpose, economics and outcomes of higher education.
Rebekah’s post quotes Carl Richardson, the author of the original article, by suggesting that fundraising is “guided by certain provable statements.” Rebekah brings the topic up-to-date by observing that Richardson’s time-tested laws still determine the success of today’s fundraising efforts.
My initial reaction to the Ten Laws of Fundraising was that these ten principles were applicable to three other aspects of academic life. These laws could be applied directly to admissions, retention and alumni relations. As I thought about these three aspects of academic life, I was drawn to an analogy of the life stages of butterflies to the development of successful and engaged alumni. I then constructed my metaphor comparing prospective students, students, and alumni to caterpillars, pupa, and butterflies. These developmental levels represent the life stages of alumni and butterflies.
In order to keep each of my posts to a reasonable length which makes them easier to read on mobile devices, I have decided that I must extend this series of posts to at least 15 posts. The current plan is to have Part II as the development of the metaphor comparing alumni development to the life cycle of butterflies. Part III will be a synopsis of the ten laws of fund raising that sparked my original interest in this topic, with some comments reflecting my thoughts on fundraising.
In Parts IV through XIII, I will address each of the ten laws as it relates to the three groups of people of special interest to colleges. For each of the laws, I will note similarities and differences in how colleges must interact with prospective students, students, and alumni.
In Parts XIV and XV, I plan to return to a discussion of how a college or university can implement a coordinated program to develop successful and engaged alumni. Since many of these posts are already written, I should be able to complete the publication of this series of posts within the next three weeks.
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