The art of academic development in academia is very much like taking an extended trip: While you have an idea of where you’ll end up (and you hope you make it there safely and in a timely manner), there’s no way to predict every side trip and adventure along the way. But if you don’t learn to speak the language of the locals and understand their values, it can be difficult to communicate and impossible to get where you need to go.
In academic fundraising, too, you’ll encounter people with significantly different backgrounds from whatever yours happens to be. You’ll need to interact effectively with professors, administrators, staff members, corporate leaders, nonprofit managers, financial planners, legislators, trustees, alumni, parents and people from a host of other professions, all of whom have their own ideas about what a college is and what it should be doing.

This book is a guide to journeys of this kind. We can’t possibly cover all the cultures you’ll encounter during your travels as an academic fundraiser, but we have collapsed them into the five you most urgently need to understand: the academic world, the development world, the world of the advisory or governing board, the world of parents and alumni and the wider world. If you master the language and perspectives of these five cultures, you’ll find that your journey will be easier, more pleasant and far more productive.

CASE Product #29623