Institutional attempts to raise private funds, once limited almost exclusively to private colleges and universities, are now commonplace at public colleges and universities. To increase private support, many public institutions have reorganized and refocused their development efforts to meet these changing needs. Because of the growing importance of private funding, it becomes important to study and better understand fund raising at public institutions of higher learning. It appears that certain institutional characteristics, variables or factors affect fund raising. Variables such as mission, type, age and size of institution along with size, age and management style of development effort and foundation appear to be important factors in fund raising. This study identified and examined several of these variables at four public institutions in the Commonwealth of Virginia and found that several of these factors do indeed affect fund raising results. / Ph. D.