The Rise and Professionalization of the American Fundraising Model in Higher Education

Abstract:American higher education has been grounded in entrepreneurialism and focused on private philanthropy from its creation. However, fundraising was not always such a highly professionalized process. Higher education administration engaged in fundraising were cognizant of their efforts as they strove to build a professional field, which sought as its mission the advancement of higher education. Through their associations they developed norms, practices, and defined the standards of their field. Today, institutional advancement in higher education is an established enterprise, often organized under a mission to raise funds for the university from private sources. Through a textual analysis of Council for Advancement and Support of Education's (CASE) monthly periodicals, Currents, the American College Public Relations Association's (ACPRA) monthly periodicals, Pride, and the Greenbrier Report, this paper examines how professional associations actively and intentionally defined the purpose, practices, and standards that created the field of institutional advancement in the United States.