Our partner organization is the Work Colleges Consortium (WCC), which coordinates federal funding for the nine work colleges in the United States. The seminars made a clear plea for support around their unique identity and the work program model. F4) The World Council of Churches is a functioning alliance that focuses on relations with the federal government on behalf of working schools.
F5) The working school fundraising staff and the WCC are interested in coordinating WCC fundraising on behalf of the working schools. Tutorials are a category of academic institutions that require students to work as part of the college learning experience. In addition, the WCC shares information on best practices among colleges, assesses the results of the tutorial program and provides research grants to tutorial colleges.
The mission statements and taglines of the work schools included in this study are shown in Table 3. Without incremental support, some of the work schools are at risk of financial failure, which will affect the underprivileged populations they serve. In the next phase of the review, the value of vocational colleges and the consequences of insufficient financial support are considered.
Although vocational schools were not included in this study, they share many of the qualities of the reviewed institutions. Finding One: The vocational schools expressed a clear case for support built around their unique identities and the work program model. Find three: Vocational colleges are under-resourced and their geographic location may contribute to the lack of business support.
Research question three: How can colleges and the World Council of Churches better position themselves for more corporate funding. Fourth conclusion: The World Council of Churches is a functioning alliance that focuses on relations with the federal government on behalf of working schools. Finding Five: Working School Fundraising Staff and the WCC are interested in WCC coordinating fundraising efforts on behalf of the Working Schools.
Some of the working colleges felt that the WCC could act as a conduit for corporate gifts. As such, a consideration of how long it will take colleges to invest in WCC's corporate strategy would be important.
The WCC should implement a pilot program to develop corporate philanthropic support on behalf of work colleges
Job colleges have expressed concern about their inability to identify and build relationships with corporate contacts. In order to promote corporate relations, the CHP should examine the best practices of corporate foundation officers within nonprofit organizations, as the creation of this position tends to be associated with higher corporate donations (Dunn, 2004). More recent research suggests adopting relationship marketing skills to build connections through follow-up.
While these competencies can be learned, we recommend that WCC hire an individual with specific corporate fundraising experience who already possesses the required skill sets. We suggest that job colleges with the highest level of financial security fund this project, with the understanding that they will receive the initial unrestricted corporate gifts as reimbursement. Job college presidents should engage in conversations about this pilot with their institutions and especially with fundraising staff.
Essential here would be a clear understanding of tactics for researching, identifying and obtaining corporate gifts. It is crucial that this team utilizes the knowledge of the presidents and fundraisers at the vocational colleges. For example, the one working college that has an established corporate partnership program in relation to their working program can provide useful insights that will benefit the WCC.
Additionally, there may be fundraisers at work schools who have specific business knowledge that could be useful. Finally, it is imperative that this fundraising team, housed under the WCC, has open and regular communication with the operating schools to ensure that existing business relationships are not hampered or compromised by the new business efforts. As part of this pilot program, the WCC should consider adding an outside individual to the board, as identified in the RDT's conceptual framework (Pfeffer & Salancik, 1978).
One approach that can be used here is to change the size and composition of the board. WCC should consider adding a board member who has a deep understanding of corporate philanthropy and should be able to not only advise WCC but also bring meaningful and relevant corporate connections. For example, an executive working for a company that identifies education as an important philanthropic cause will bring valuable insight to the WCC board.
The work colleges and the WCC should develop a process for allocating donations received, allowing for any donor-imposed restrictions
Within the RDT paradigm, there are five approaches by which an organization can increase its level of power over its external environment. Pfeffer and Salancik (1978) noted that board members bring wisdom, access to new information, resources, and legitimacy. This is likely to be a potentially controversial issue and we propose that the WCC board participates fully in the development of the policy.
An initial consideration could be to mirror the current federal award process that the WCC oversees. A further point to consider is the handling of donor-imposed restrictions, which may apply differently to work schools. The written policy, developed by the WCC and approved by the working college presidents, should outline the handling of donor-imposed restrictions.
It is useful to note that Pfeffer and Salancik (1978) warned in the context of RDT that the attempt to create an alliance to manage the external environment creates new dependencies on partners and may have unintended consequences. Applied here, if the CHP becomes the intermediary for corporate support on behalf of job colleges, this new alliance is likely to create a dependency. For example, working colleges may become increasingly dependent on the CHP and allow their individual fundraising activity to decline, thereby reducing diversification of income source and increasing financial risk.
An awareness of such dependence is useful as WCC continues corporate fundraising on behalf of vocational colleges.
The WCC should focus corporate fundraising efforts in support of the work-study ideal, emphasizing the combination of education and social justice that this ideal
The ability to address poverty in this way enables WCC to build a case for support in education and social justice. While some fundraisers expressed concern about differences between individual working colleges (ie, political orientations), all agreed diversity could serve as a strength for the alliance, not a hindrance. Further, by offering corporations the opportunity to impact the lives of more than 6,000 underprivileged students, this plan offers corporations the opportunity to have a far greater impact than just supporting a job college.
The literature shows that the desire for influence is one of the main motivations for giving (Worth et al., 2020). Therefore, we recommend that WCC's fundraising efforts focus on work-study ideals to develop and emphasize a cohesive brand—one that focuses on the valuable educational work colleges offer students in need and poverty alleviation as action. social justice. This effort will require the WCC to allocate resources not only for fundraising staff, but also for branding efforts.
Moreover, as one fundraiser noted, the WCC is "not a cohesive group." RDT argues that operating in an alliance is likely to generate greater returns than operating independently (Pfeffer & Salancik, 1978). For example, WCC could offer fundraising staff training and development, which could facilitate improvements in overall fundraising, personal growth, and employee morale in working colleges. In addition to the regular meetings of the presidents of the work colleges and those responsible for the implementation of the work programs, the WCC should form networking groups for different roles at work.
Such a proposition is supported by the observations during campus tours and interviews, which included comments about how fun and beneficial it was to spend time with other fundraisers at work colleges.
The WCC should consider attaining 501(c)(3) status
As some colleges faced financial difficulties, a survey of external support found that support from the business community was negligible across the board. To help work schools explore ways to gain more support from the business community, we conducted interviews with seven work schools and the WCC. Our findings indicated that work schools do indeed share similar missions, helping students develop a strong work ethic and transferable skills, ultimately helping students overcome the lifelong poverty that is willingly imposed on them.
We also found that working colleges are constrained in their corporate giving strategy, by both limited resources (such as staff) and their geographic locations (most are positioned rurally). Finally, we discovered that job colleges are interested in helping the CHP with a corporate gift strategy. In addition to interviews with fundraising staff at job colleges and the WCC, an analysis of twenty corporations by Double the Donation confirmed this.
This finding offered positive indications for the viability of significant corporate support for work colleges. Based on the literature and the research findings, this project sought to help the job colleges with their corporate fundraising. As such, we recommend a pilot program at the CHP to develop and implement a corporate fundraising strategy whereby corporations can give to the CHP, instead of individual job colleges.
Earning to Learn: How America's Job Colleges are Bridging Equity Gaps and Connecting Education to Employment. For example, if a corporate partner wanted to support a dozen scholarships, would you be comfortable with the details of the sponsored individuals being shared with the corporate partner. What support, if any, would you like from WCC in this process of identifying the appropriate building blocks for corporate support for your institution.
What support, if any, would you like from WCC in the process of identifying corporate partners. How involved should you be in the messaging that the business partner has provided in their support for your institution. What support would you like from WCC to help you through the process of matching your support case with your business partner's needs.
