Abstract
The former president of Morehouse College, Dr Benjamin E. Mays, once said, ‘Higher education for Blacks has always been in a precarious position. These institutions were founded on short grass financially, and they live today on short grass.’ Today, many public and private historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) have found success in fundraising endeavors, with the schools taking advantage of the opportunities extended to them. Although these colleges are not on the same long, financial grass as are other institutions with larger endowments, larger advancement staff and larger alumni pools, the advancement offices and top fundraisers at public HBCUs are striding toward greater fiduciary goals and heights. This paper examines the experiences of 27 institutional advancement officers at public HBCUs. The practitioners interviewed believed that they were in the dominant coalition that guided the university's decisions. However, practitioners were constrained or limited in their roles by the lack of financial or personnel support for their function. The fundraisers enacted the expert prescriber, problem-solving facilitator and technician roles described by Kelly (1998).
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