The Perceived Advantages of Centralized and Decentralized Approaches to University Fundraising Programs

Fundraising in higher education has continued to grow in importance, providing critical resources to the operation of colleges and universities. With such importance, college leaders must work to identify the most effective and efficient ways to organize their fundraising efforts. Sustained dialogue among these college leaders has been whether it is more effective and efficient to centralize fundraising efforts on a campus with a singular reporting line, or whether a decentralized approach provides better connection with potential benefactors. The purpose for conducting the current study was to identify the agreement of senior development officers regarding the benefits of centralized and decentralized approaches to fundraising programs in higher education. Using a three-round Delphi survey, 15 senior development officers were asked to identify, and then rate their consensus about the advantages of centralized and decentralized fundraising efforts. This identification resulted in 24 non-duplicated advantages to centralization and 20 non-duplicated advantages of decentralization