Washington, D.C.
October 14-16, 1998

Confronting the Challenges of the Digital Era

Fundraising for the Digital Era
Dr. Dwight F. Burlingame, Associate Executive Director
Indiana University Center on Philanthropy

Thank you very much. I'm standing here actually between you and your break, so I will try to make this concise. And I can sort of summarize part of this in the sense of just saying the joy of giving, the joy of giving, the joy of giving.

So I will speak to the point by saying where is the wisdom we have lost? You might recognize that quote from Eliot, and I think it's an appropriate one as we think about the role of the academic library in the 21st Century, particularly as it relates to the theme of this conference, and that is virtual reality. Maybe the wisdom we have lost is actually out there someplace in virtual reality. When one begins to observe our surroundings, we will get a sense that, in fact, maybe that is true.

We are placing so much emphasis on the virtual and all the opportunities that the Internet provides us that we sometimes forget about the historical old age human relationships that we've heard a lot about this morning. Eliot's insights also remind me that it is partial madness to try to predict what's going to happen in the 21st Century. However, I feel somewhat compelled to venture into that kind of madness, because it can be good for the spirit.

Will this global network that we now have in place change how we go about doing fund raising? I thought a lot about that, and I want to just briefly say that, no, I don't think that it will change much, but it will change somewhat. And we will need to develop certain aspects of what we do to raise funds to a greater degree than we've done in the past.

As we think about libraries in the 21st Century, we can't help but recognize that we have this additional resource and we must ask how to use the digital library in terms of the overall fund raising process for the library. I think we do that in two ways. One is, we will seek funds for the virtual library. In other words, all of this will allow us another opportunity to demonstrate to potential funders or donors that there's a reason to be supporting the library as we know it.

Virtual libraries will provide the electronic access to our collections and create the opportunity for many more patrons to interact with us. I see this as a possibility for us to develop a larger group of potential funders. Yet we will continue to rely on rapidly changing technology to get the information needed in today's research environment to our constituents.

Another reason the digital library will change our fund raising strategies is the number of people who are interacting with the library by distance. How are we going to view those people, with whom we don't have personal relationships with, as potential donors? This leads me to another point: We will use the Internet to communicate the libraries' message. The library is as well positioned to build support for the mission of the library by using the Internet.

We may even use the Internet to solicit patrons, although I think that's going to be down the line. Some people are doing that now. In Indiana, as you probably know, one of our candidates for senator has opened up an Internet site for solicitation. He's collected $250 so far.

(Laughter.)

But there are other examples. More importantly, the Internet allows us to provide information about our services, about the need that we're serving in society.

The are several other ways we can look at that need. With the increased visibility which is offered by the Web, we really need to consider how we can use this technology, not only in terms of the effects on services that we provide users, but also how technology affects resources we acquire for the library.

I think that successful library interaction with students will allow us to have the basis on which we can engage former students in fund raising for the library. So when you have an opportunity for someone to give to your institution, they will already know why they're giving. And that's always, of course, the precursor for gift giving. One idea I want to suggest in this regard is that libraries can play an important role as a connector between non-profits and foundations by serving as the regional Web site of philanthropy to connect givers with non-profit organizations that address those things that the donors believe in. If you did that on your webpage, that has a lot of potential for support and would be providing a service which would again show that libraries are important players in 21st century virtual reality.

The leadership required for library fund raising differs from that of other non-profits. In private fund raising, you rely upon volunteer leadership, you build a campaign structure. You also have a board of directors who become an integral part in the fund raising program.

You don't have that in libraries that are nested within universities to the degree that you would typically have in other non-profits. Instead, you rely upon the librarian. In many cases it's your job to become the major player in terms of the asking and solicitation of gifts, rather than a volunteer group.

There is a general perception out there that libraries don't fair well in capital campaigns because of internal competition within universities. I think that's only antidotal evidence. If we really examine the history of fund raising for libraries since the establishment of Harvard Library in the 1600's, I think we'll find that, in fact, that's not true. Libraries actually fair quite well. And we'll be hearing more about that this afternoon in terms of your conversations on examples among university libraries and research libraries.

I also wanted to take the opportunity today to commend your cooperation with researchers who are doing work on the role of libraries and fundraising, in particular Jennifer Postenbau who is from Oklahoma State, their director of development, who is working on a Ph.D. at Indiana University on the role of libraries in capital campaigns in university settings.

Certain fund raising principles will be more important for the digital library. One is a clear mission statement that articulates why the library exists and what needs it meets in society. You're not going to try to raise funds for--well, we need to convert the collection or we need to preserve "X." That's not the need that you're going to communicate to the donor.

You want to communicate to the potential donor why that kind of activity is important. What need is being met in society when that is done? Number two is knowing what services and collections make the library distinctive and special. We sometimes hide those kinds of things, and I'm just emphasizing that this is going to become more important as the competition becomes greater. Number three is knowing what is of interest to the researcher and student of today, and what is likely to be of interest in the future. This is where the long term approach is very important. We can no longer rely upon the good old personal interaction that we've had in terms of our existing donors.

We have to look to the experts in the younger generation, because over the long term they are going to become old. And in that process, we need to be sure they identify with the library. In all likelihood, they're going to have a greater sensitivity and interaction with the new communication tools that we use. Having the right people to carry out the fund raising function is evident.

Here, I want to emphasize the importance of the commitment of senior library and campus leadership. You've already heard that commitment on the part of our previous speaker. I quite agree that the role of the development officer within a library is to manage the process and to provide the opportunities for your donors and potential donors to interact with you and your ideas for the library. And, in fact, it is a lot of fun, and I think anyone who has done fund raising to any great degree would say that it's a lot of fun.