Community college education foundations and transformational philanthropy: Resource management, stewardship and professionalism

Public community colleges in the 21st century continue to face a decline in state subsidy and increasingly look to their foundation to build the financial means with which to respond to institutional needs in the long term. The future of post secondary education is reliant upon colleges having a professional foundation, proper stewardship, and accountability of its foundation. The three cases presented are Dabney Lancaster, Patrick Henry, and Southwest Virginia Community Colleges. All three belong to the Virginia Community College System and have active foundations with proven track records in fund raising. The system has an inactive education foundation at present.;Public administration, economic, and education theory regarding public-private collaborations, professional leadership, and strategic planning should be part of the new thinking in the community college foundation field. The published works of Grace, Grace and Wendroff, Glass and Jackson, Covey, Davis, Evans and Wurster, Milliron and Lerch, and Hedgepeth provided the major theoretical foundations of this study. This study urges combining extant public administrative assumptions and approaches to the need for transformational leadership and the desire for increased sources in two-year colleges. It also adds to community college discourse on the following topics: the value of the education foundation; process development for an educational foundation; proper stewardship of the gift; management of change; and long-term planning.;Among other things, this study proposes a sample multi-source flexible model that foundation administrators can use to start or develop a foundation. Findings indicate that there is still much work to be done in order for community college foundations to be competitive with other public and nonprofit foundations. Some solutions to funding problems can be found within educational administration and, as well, other fields. In addition, the system foundation can serve a broader role as an information vendor rather than compete for funds with its constituent community colleges.