The purpose of this study was to examine the planned giving activity in the 15 community and junior colleges in the state of Mississippi. As all community colleges become increasingly dependent on private funds to offset cuts in government support, they must explore all avenues of fundraising. One avenue that has not been embraced as readily as others is planned giving; however, research has shown that this type of giving can contribute to the overall fundraising effort, and community colleges should make it a part of their basic fundraising platforms. This study consists of a review of available literature on community college planned giving and a survey of the 15 chief fundraising professionals in the community and junior colleges in Mississippi. The survey examined the overall characteristics of the colleges’ fundraising and planned giving programs, the amount of planned gifts raised, and the reporting measures for counting planned gifts. It also explored deterrents to planned giving and the support of the planned giving effort by presidents and boards of the colleges. The findings revealed that community colleges in Mississippi are not actively pursuing planned giving in a manner that could benefit their overall fundraising operations. While several responses reflected the current research that suggests that community colleges consider planned giving a low priority, other data suggest that the successful implementation of a planned giving program at these colleges may be easily attainable.

Recently, the Mississippi community college system has experienced significant budget cuts. Although fundraising has long historical significance, it has not been fully embraced by the community college system. With the transfer of wealth estimated to be $41-$136 trillion over the next 40 years, there has never been a better time for community colleges to tell their story. Studies reveal that planned giving is a key strategy for fundraising and that new innovative ideas must be developed to take advantage of private sources of funding. Planned giving in the form of forestland donations is an innovative avenue that can benefit the institution and the potential donor through charitable estate planning. Although there are examples of planned giving through donations of forestland, there is not any extensive research on this subject involving community colleges. The purpose of this study was to use the concept of the Bulldog Forest at Mississippi State University to determine if the idea of the community college foundation forest would be feasible and valuable to implement within the Mississippi community college system. Holmes Community College (HCC) alumni, who fall into the non- industrial private forest landowner category, were surveyed to determine their interest in donating their forestland to the institution through charitable estate planning options. Through the use of growth-and-yield models, hypothetical management regimes were employed on hypothetical forestland donations to produce long-term cash flow scenarios for a specific rate of return for a specific rotation. These scenarios determined the level of funding that could be generated through a planned giving program involving forestland. The findings revealed that HCC alumni do not have an immediate interest in donating their forestland to the HCC foundation. It is recommended that personal connection(s) be established with these alumni along with the facets of planned giving explained by a trained professional. The findings also revealed that the donation of forestland can be very profitable for a community college foundation. However, further research is needed to explore the other charitable estate planning options since it was assumed that all of the hypothetical forestland donations were outright gifts.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI)