Perspectives: Survey Says … Black Colleges Need To Complete National Surveys: An essay about surveys may sound like boring fare. However, when it comes to understanding Black colleges — their strengths and challenges — we don’t have good data. There are myriad questions that go unanswered by researchers, policymakers, and Black college administrators themselves that could easily be addressed if Black colleges would participate more fully in national surveys.
Only 13 Black colleges participated in the recent National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO) survey, and 23 completed the Voluntary Support of Education (VSE) survey. Failure to participate has a harrowing impact on the way that Black colleges are viewed in the fundraising world — not only by researchers but by potential donors. As a result of not completing the NACUBO and VSE surveys, researchers, donors and policymakers know virtually nothing about Black college endowments and, more important, endowment growth over time. Moreover, they know little about alumni giving at Black colleges. Of course, any fundraiser in the college and university setting knows that donors want to discern if alumni support a particular institution before they make a donation. Stated bluntly, research shows that donors are more likely to give if there is an institutional commitment on the part of alumni.
