As Old Funding Models Erode, Fundraising and Donor Stewardship Are Tools to Shape the Future

For two decades, the century-old funding model for higher education and, downstream of that, libraries, has been steadily, and at times dramatically, eroding. Many higher education leaders still believe that the current variability in federal and state funding is temporary and will reset with a change in federal executive leadership. I don’t share that view. The mold has been broken, and when norms are broken, assuming they will return is irresponsible and shortsighted. As leaders, our job is to stay agile, plan for worst-case scenarios, and design accordingly. For academic libraries, the model that once sustained us is under real pressure.

Because of this, for library deans, fundraising and donor stewardship should not be viewed as bonus skills or peripheral responsibilities; instead, they are as essential as budgeting, collections, or personnel management. Done right, fundraising and the ongoing stewardship of donors constitute a form of leadership and stewardship that impacts your institution not just during your tenure, but deep into the future.

Fundraising is a craft and a strategic undertaking. Anyone can luck into a significant gift. Sometimes a planned gift comes through, or a donor appears out of nowhere with a transformational contribution. But raising funds consistently, year after year, especially at universities without resource-rich alumni bases, requires process, relationships, and vision. It’s about seeing the library not as a static institution but as a living platform for possibility, and using stories and tight procedures to connect that vision with the people who can help make it real.

Vision must be at the center. You cannot raise money around a vague idea that the library is essential. Donors invest in transformation and in the people leading it. You have to be able to show them how the library is driving innovation, advancing research, supporting students, and engaging the community. That means telling stories about the people and projects that make the library’s impact real: the student who found her voice through an undergraduate research program, the faculty project that evolved into a community collaboration, the special collection that reconnected generations.

At the Kraemer Family Library, we have renegotiated every one of our endowments, some dating back decades, to ensure that donor investments actually honor donor intent and make a meaningful impact. We have also leveraged institutional and system funding to renovate half of the library, replace the roof, replace furniture, and add new gender-neutral restrooms. Moreover, we have raised millions to support innovation, including roughly a million as an endowment for collections, close to a million for quasi-endowments, and in-kind gifts to special pollections worth millions more. We have also built partnerships with private donors and foundations and public-private collaborations that extend the library’s reach into the broader innovation ecosystem. At an institution without a large alumni base, a deep history of library fundraising, or a dedicated development officer, all of this fundraising success came from a multi-year cultivation of donor relationships, consistent communication, strong stewardship, and connecting vision with impact.

The most important aspect of this work, and the most fun, has been building and sustaining authentic relationships. Outside of the largest brands, and especially in libraries without a natural alumni constituency, donors are not simply giving out of college loyalty—they want to invest in leaders they trust and initiatives with visible impact. To earn their trust, library deans need to focus on building lasting, consistent connections. Spend as much time as possible building real, non-transactional relationships with alumni, community members, and civic partners. Instead of focusing on raising money during these conversations, listen with genuine curiousity to what excites them, what community needs they think the library can fulfill, what they care about, and where their passions align with the library’s mission. This is the long game, built on consistency and sincerity. Over time, the relationships you develop will open doors you can’t predict. (And if they don’t, you’ll have met some pretty cool people.)

Just as meaningful are the relationships inside the library. Staff and faculty are your best storytellers. They’re the ones doing the work that inspires people to give. Your job as dean is to make sure they’re seen, valued, and equipped to share their stories. Celebrate their projects, invest in their growth, and help them understand how their work connects to the bigger vision. A library where people feel inspired will naturally project that energy outward, and donors will feel it.

Stewardship typically doesn’t get a press release or news article, but it’s equally important to raising the gift. Every contribution, no matter the size, represents a relationship to maintain. Once someone has invested in your vision, or even in a previous leader’s vision, you owe them transparency, appreciation, and consistent communication. In action, this means regular updates, personal notes, visits, lunches, appreciation events, and consistently showing the tangible impact of their gift. Donors should feel like they are part of the community they helped build. Listening is also essential, as excellent stewardship includes hearing donors’ ideas. The best outcomes occur when donors feel that their vision and yours are being co-created, not simply aligned after the fact.

Intergenerational stewardship poses particular challenges and opportunities. We are in the midst of the most significant wealth transfer in US history; as long-time donors transfer assets to children, grandchildren, or trusts with limited connection, affinity, or loyalty to recipient institutions, those institutions face real risk. At the same time, this moment presents a significant opportunity for intentional, long-term relationship building. Deans and senior leaders should focus on stewarding the entire family, not just the primary donor, through regular communication, relationship-based engagement with children and grandchildren, and fun experiences that build affinity over time. This approach strengthens stability, deepens trust, and supports thoughtful planned-giving conversations across generations.

No dean can do this work alone. Advancement, development, and leadership partners must be part of your daily world. Know the directors of development, the frontline fundraisers, and the people managing the portfolios. Build authentic relationships with them, too. The closer you are to advancement, the more naturally opportunities will flow your way. They will bring you into conversations because they know you are engaged and responsive, and they understand the rhythm of donor relations. And those collaborations are what turn small opportunities into sustainable pipelines.

Process also matters: you can have a great vision, but without transparent processes and procedures, you can’t consistently fundraise or steward. Define a process for tracking leads, following up, and managing the donor journey. Utilize tools like Salesforce or your institution’s preferred CRM to maintain a documented and transparent system. You should also establish a straightforward process for communication between development and potential leads. Provide development staff a 90-second elevator pitch on your vision and each possible project, so they know who and what to pitch. Finally, when a donor gets close to making a gift, hand the final ask and negotiation to advancement professionals. They are experts in that phase, and a separation of responsibilities keeps the relationship clean. Your job is to build the trust, the donor intent, vision, and momentum; theirs is to finalize the numbers and terms—with your input, of course.

Then there’s the unglamorous but critical work of fund management. Many libraries have inherited gift funds that were created decades ago under conditions that no longer make sense. Some are so restrictive that they can’t be spent at all. These funds are sleeping capital. Take the time to work with advancement, legal, and the donor’s representatives, if possible, to modernize them. These renegotiations can take months or even years, but unlocking those funds can make a real difference in what your library can do right now. It also honors the donor’s original intent, which is integral to stewardship.

And once those funds are usable, spend them. Responsibly, yes, but too many institutions treat gift funds like savings accounts for a distant future that never arrives. Donors gave that money to make an impact. If it’s sitting idle, they won’t offer again. Use it to build, to pilot, to inspire. That visible impact will fuel future investment.

And remember that fundraising is also about stewardship that extends beyond your own tenure. The work you do today, especially in building endowments and modernizing funds, might not pay off in dramatic ways during your own time as dean. A million-dollar endowment may only spin off $40,000 annually, which isn’t going to transform your operations overnight. But through compounding interest and sustained management, a decade or two from now, that same endowment will be serious money. Thinking in such terms is part of the responsibility of leadership. You raise funds and negotiate terms not for immediate impact but to make a future dean’s life easier and to hand off an institution that’s better positioned to thrive.

In the end, consistent fundraising is about waking up every day and investing time in people, including your team, alumni, community, and partners. It’s about seeing fundraising as part of the daily culture and rhythm of leadership. When everyone in the library understands that philanthropy powers their work and that they have a role in sustaining it, the organization can weather uncertainty and keep moving forward.

Libraries sit at the intersection of knowledge, technology, and community. They are the connective tissue of universities, uniquely positioned to drive transformation if they have the resources to do so. As the old funding models continue to erode, the ability to build and steward external support will determine which libraries grow and which fade into maintenance mode. Fundraising isn’t just a skill. It’s a habit of leadership. It’s the difference between running a library that reacts to the future and one that has the resources to shape it. Fundraising and stewardship are long-game leadership: plant trees now so that future leaders, librarians, students, and communities can sit in the shade.