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German partner looks for insight into meeting fundraising challenges
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| LMU’s medical school has over 5,000 students and 190 professors. |
Since 1996 the Harvard-Munich Alliance has fostered collaboration
between Harvard Medical International and Ludwig Maximilians University
(LMU). LMU’s Munich-based medical school has been a leader in German
medical education reform, and much progress has made been made in the
university at large. The school is now tackling an issue that impacts
its ability to
maintain this momentum: fundraising.
Cornelia Glees, the spokesperson for LMU’s top leadership, joined
HMI in Boston for six weeks of interactions geared to help her develop
an infrastructure to support resource development at LMU. Like many schools
in Germany, LMU, a state-sponsored research institution with about 45,000
students and 18 faculties, is experiencing the pains of a recent economic
downturn, leading to funding cutbacks that threaten the survival of some
areas of the school. Still the university is moving forward with ambitious
plans, including the construction of a new biomedical facility. To stay
on course, LMU is directing efforts toward increasing the amount of funding
it receives from private donors.
New challenges call for new traditions
As Glees pointed out, this marks a shift in the way the Germans view
the funding of their educational institutions. Tradition teaches that
the state, not private citizens, are responsible for supporting universities,
and so most people in Germany, including university alumni, do not donate
money to the educational system—and unlike in the United States, there
is no tax incentive to do so. In 2002, private funding made up only about
seven percent of LMU’s total resources. A school this large—LMU’s
medical school alone has over 5,000 students—is an expensive operation.
The German states, still recovering from a shaky economy, have not been
eager to increase the amount of money they devote to universities. Therefore
people like Ms. Glees are exploring ways to generate more private funding.
During her stay in Boston, Ms. Glees had the opportunity to hear different
perspectives on private fundraising from development professionals at
Harvard University (including both Harvard Medical School and the Kennedy
School
of Government), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and the
Goethe Institute, an organization which promotes German cultural and
educational policy abroad. Ms. Glees analyzed LMU’s key needs, and
looked at fundraising methods that she could apply at LMU.
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| Cornelia Glees (second from left) discussed LMU’s fundraising challenges with members of the HMI team. |
What Glees learned is worth another look even for those who have already developed a resource development infrastructure. Ms. Glees gained a greater understanding of the importance of building relationships—with alumni, individuals, foundations, and corporations—that can be nurtured over time and form the strongest pillars of an ongoing fundraising initiative. As she said during a presentation to HMI at the end of her stay, “It is people who make it happen, not just money.” She described five basic lessons that she hoped to take back to LMU:
1. Fundraising is a top-down process that requires strong leadership from the highest levels of administration.Creating a culture of private giving
2. Although the pressure is high to raise money today, universities must embrace a long-term perspective. Before asking a resource to donate money, the university must first take steps to educate them about the school’s efforts and then involve them.
3. Fundraising is staff-driven and requires dedicated professionals focused on that particular goal.
4. Communication and interpersonal skills are crucial to developing relationships with potential donors.
5. University fundraisers must develop a clear set of objectives before embarking on any initiative, and allow these objectives to drive their efforts.
Jeffrey Newton, dean for resource development at Harvard Medical School, said that the climate for fundraising is beginning to change in Europe. In order to meet its goals, LMU must raise the status of resource development. At Harvard Medical School, for example, a team of around 40 people are dedicated to fundraising; in the university at large, around 300 people. One of the president’s major responsibilities is to attract the resources to enable the faculty to do its job. Serious fundraising has been ongoing at Harvard University since the 1920s; Newton stressed that the same tradition of giving—and the infrastructure to support it—could be built in Munich, but it will take time and commitment.
The first challenge, he said, will be “educating the internal leadership of the university” and “changing the minds of the people at the top.” One of LMU’s main obstacles is a governing structure that does not yet understand how development works. Glees and the team LMU develops to address this challenge must help to raise the status of resource development. What LMU must attempt to do, Newton said, is “pull together a relatively select group of wealthy, influential people—opinion leaders—who are connected with the institution, and have them lead the way. Most serious fundraising,” he said, “is conducted very quietly and involves people whose personal gifts have the potential to change a culture.”
Faculty have a role to play as well. “The faculty I would investigate first would be those in the hard sciences, because they are more likely than others to have had partnerships with commercial organizations,” said Newton.
Ms. Glees believes that LMU is well positioned to accomplish these goals. Greater Munich is Germany’s leading economic region, and there is great potential for developing a donor-friendly environment.
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