2014Advancement Business: 2014

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the case for industry-academic deep partnerships

Universities are often the birthplace of innovation and play a critical role in supporting economic growth and entrepreneurship. They train workforces, they shape leaders, they produce research that results in new ideas, technologies and process and they can even incubate new companies and entrepreneurs. 

However, in a time when traditional sources of revenue for universities are shrinking and expenses are rising, it can be a struggle for universities to excel even at their core activities of research and teaching, let alone spur growth and innovation. Though it may seem antithetical to faculties who are struggling to make ends meet to cover the teaching needs required of them, I would argue that the way to overcome this challenge is through investing resources in developing deep partnerships with industry. 

Yes, it's true that industry-academic partnerships are flourishing these days within fewer universities, as companies become very strategic and work with only those institutions that align with their specific needs.  Corporations are investing (both philanthropic and research dollars) less frequently and in smaller amounts due to a dramatically changing corporate landscape of mergers, consolidations, and unpredictable markets.  But these conditions can be overcome if corporate relations and advancement offices at institutions of higher education rethink their opportunities for deepening their relationships with partners. It is not sufficient any longer for development staff to work solely with companies on gifts, nor for research staff or faculty members themselves to work solely on sponsored research agreements. According to a 2011 white paper published by the Network of Academic Corporate Relations Officers "corporations no longer consider themselves 'donors' to academia; they consider themselves 'investors’, and as corporations approach colleges and universities on an enterprise level rather than a philanthropic level, they are looking to institutions as partners in solving the needs of their organization.”

These needs include dealing with decreasing in-house R&D for broad future-looking research, and the retirement of baby boomer employees leaving a huge gap in human capital.  Universities can help companies overcome these problems by offering faculty and student research partnerships and working side by side in research labs, by building an early and customized talent pipeline, and by offering customized and ongoing professional development, executive education and skills upgrading.

The size of investment a university receives from a company will depend in part on the number and quality of these engagements. When universities engage companies on an enterprise level and help them fill their needs, the investment that flows in return, including philanthropic investment, will greatly increase.

What that means to universities is better classrooms, labs and equipment. It means more research funding and unique projects to collaborate on. It means more jobs and experiential learning opportunities for students which then allows for greater recruitment success and repuational growth. Which in turn leads to more revenue and more investment in faculty recruitment and retention. 

Deep partnerships build the human capital needed to drive innovation and growth. Over time, a well-managed alliance produces a growing number of students, graduates, researchers, corporate employees and leaders who connect in key areas of interest and work harmoniously to define big and common strategic goals.

Deep partnerships require deep knowledge and understanding of the parties involved, including their mission, values, goals, needs, processes, people and resources. They are about developing a mutual respect and desire for mutual success. They are about long-term vision and innovative thinking. And so they need to be invested in as a priority of the universitiy, and resourced properly. Different universities may have different solutions for resourcing this work, but certainly they need to collaborate across campus to work with corporations in a unified way. 

The academic world may sometimes still be leery of corporate partnerships and the university resourcing directed to attracting and retaining them. However, deep partnerships will benefit every part of the university and deliver value to all of it's stakeholders (including communities and economic regions) in the long term. For universities who wish to continue to birth new innovation and cultivate new generations of thinkers, builders and leaders, deep partnerships must be part of their vision and supported at every level. 

the key to securing major gifts: action

More and more, alumni are giving their hard-earned money to their alma mater not because they believe in the cause, not because they are loyal to the institution (although these things are also necessary), but because they see action taking place. Our alumni are sophisticated and care about making the world a better place, so they want their gifts to go to those institutions with leaders who can get things done. Lots of times we see alumni who give generous but modest gifts to an institution steadily over the years, but aren't inspired to give to their full potential until they see a big idea finally put to work.  

So what can advancement officers do to both spur action and make sure our alumni see it?

  • First, we need to listen to the things the donor cares about and is intrigued by (as I wrote about in this post). 
  • Next we need to have the ear of university leaders to relay these things to them. Since we are on the front lines, we can often see trends when they are just beginning to form. 
  • We can then offer university leaders the resources needed to take action by connecting them with alumni who can lend their advice and connections. 
  • We can be task masters in setting out timelines and keeping academics and leaders on track to accomplishing these new things. 
  • We can include our alumni in the strategy and planning. 
  • And we can certainly report to alumni the results along the way, and give them their due praise for instigating the change.
  • At this point we can often take a project to the next level when a request for support to the engaged alumni is successful. 
  • And finally, we can acknowledge the donors publicly once something new is established and widely communicate the impact of the change. Which of course brings in even more support.

I've seen this happen a lot lately, as I am fortunate to work directly with a leader who is a big thinker, listens to alumni and industry, and then takes swift action where needed. It is very rewarding to allow a donor the opportunitiy to instigate change and then help make it a reality through gifts of time, talent and treasure. This is how real progress happens. And it's a lot of fun.