The current funding challenges affecting public colleges and universities place a greater reliance on philanthropy, and women represent one of the most attractive donor segments. As private giving becomes increasingly essential to ensuring access to quality public higher education, the need exists to better understand women’s philanthropic patterns, motivations, and behavior so that practitioners of higher education fundraising can apply the knowledge tools that will facilitate more effective strategies when cultivating, soliciting, and stewarding major donors. This qualitative study explored an existing conceptual framework with the intent to substantiate its application with women who were major donors to public higher education. The framework, coined by its authors (Shaw & Taylor, 1995; Shaw-Hardy, 2005; Shaw-Hardy & Taylor, 2010) as the Six Cs Plus 3 of Women’s Giving, consists of nine themes, each starting with the letter C, that embody the motivations and outcomes of women philanthropists. Using collective case study methodology and cross-case synthesis as an analytic technique, a composite of six women was presented and reported as a representative case to protect the confidentiality of the study’s participants. The representative case displayed evidence of support for five of the nine C s in the women’s philanthropy framework (create, connect, celebrate, control, and confidence). Across the cases, minimal or no support surfaced for four of the Cs (change, commit, collaborate, and courage). Based on the data collection criteria relating to geographical parameters, the study introduced an additional C, context, as a motivation to donate. From these findings, suggestions on the application of the women’s philanthropy framework in relation to donor giving levels is proposed. Moreover, the study’s conclusions underscore the call for continued scholarship in the area of women and philanthropy, particularly as it relates to women making significant financial contributions.

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Doctor of Education / Department of Educational Leadership / Trudy Salsberry / Institutional advancement is a constant challenge for leaders at institutions of higher education. The continued threat to historically black college and universities (HBCU) survival, due to the lack of resources they need to operate and compete, is at the forefront of concerns for many HBCU presidents and supporters. Research suggests that to have success in acquiring more resources, universities will need to work with their alumni associations and foundations. The purpose of this qualitative, multi-case study was to contribute to the limited research on the relationships among HBCU leaders responsible for growing resources. Numerous aspects contribute to increasing alumni giving and this study will contribute to that knowledge. The discussion of inter-organizational relationships and how the processes of cooperation, coordination, and collaboration transpire should be a part of the dialogue. Exploration of these relationships and processes can highlight possible solutions and deficiencies in the success of institutional advancement. Sites for this study were purposefully selected to examine these inter-organizational relationships. Data included in-depth interviews and related documents and artifacts. Thirty patterns and three themes emerged from the data analysis. The three themes include an understanding that (a) “working together” enacts cooperation, coordination, and collaboration; (b) human capital and organizational structures affect coordination and the ability to reach goals; and (c) the goal for increased resource capacity focuses the efforts of cooperation, coordination, and collaboration. This study extends the discussion to looking at inter-organizational relationships as another perspective to enhance resources. This investigation also introduces dialogue about alumni association and foundation volunteerism as an important component in developing effective solutions. The understandings portrayed in the identified themes will help university officials, practitioners, advancement volunteers, and supporters of higher education enhance their institutional advancement strategies and help set forth norms for productive behaviors.

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