Factors for Success: Academic Library Development Survey Results - Statistical Data Included

Library Trends, Wntr, 2000 by Irene M. Hoffman, Amy Smith, Leslie Dibona

Table 6. Top Five Fund-Raising Activities and Program Success Rating

Fund-Raising Activity                    Rating

1. Book plating (in honor/memory of)     Very successful
2. Endowments (tied with) Social
   Events/Donor recognition events       Very successful
3. Planned giving and bequests program   Moderately successful
4. Annual fund                           Moderately successful
5. Fund-raising events (tied with)
   direct mail campaigns                 Moderately successful

FACTORS OF SUCCESS

One of the goals of this survey was to identify factors for success in academic library fund-raising. First, we had to define "success" for the purposes of this study. The most important indicator of success was the amount of money raised in the fund-raising program. Clearly, this "bottom-line" approach does not take into consideration many other factors that can determine success, so we looked at dollars raised in conjunction with the following key factors to determine success:

* Age of the program. The most statistically significant factor was the age of the library fund-raising program. As most of us know, it takes time and cultivation of prospects to raise money and, as a result, the number of years engaged in fund-raising efforts is a critical factor of success. The most successful program in terms of dollars raised is the one that has been in existence for twenty-five years. Next, on average, are those programs in existence for 6 to 15 years. In fact, programs seven years or older raise the most funds although some younger programs have had success. Not surprisingly, average funds raised are insignificant for the first two years of a program and seem to remain quite low until the sixth year. This information is important for those libraries planning to implement a fund-raising program. The new program may take several years of support before the benefits of the program are visible.

* Size of the donor pool. The next significant indicator was the number of donors in the database. Not surprisingly, libraries with the largest donor pools have the greatest success. It turns out that these libraries are the ones with mature fund-raising programs. This fact then established a direct correlation between the age of the program, size of the donor base, and amount raised.

* Involvement of the library director. Another success factor was the involvement of the library director in the fund-raising effort. Involvement could loosely be defined as any type of hands-on fund-raising, including developing donor strategies, setting fund-raising goals, donor cultivation, campaign planning, and gift solicitations. We found that those institutions with the highest dollars raised had directors who were involved in fund-raising, on average, 50 percent of the time. We also asked the development directors to provide a rating indicating their perception of the director's involvement. According to the results, 24 percent of the library directors are always involved (i.e., accompany the director of development on visits to donors, etc.), 46 percent are usually involved, 28 percent occasionally involved, and only 2 percent are never involved.