Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Practitioner Response to Rooney, Brown and Mesch Paper

2007; Palgrave Macmillan; Volume: 7; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1057/palgrave.ijea.2150064

1744-6511

Cheryl L Altinkemer,

Couples Giving -Strategies and SolutionsTwenty years ago, as a new development director at a college of predominantly female alumni in a large land-grant research university, I found myself in a dilemma.The university had announced a campaign, but there was a perception that the college couldn ' t raise much money because so many of the graduates were women.In a review of the household giving of our top alumnae, we found that giving was signifi cant to the spouse ' s academic colleges or athletics, but very meager to the college once known as Home Economics.The college had recently changed its name to Consumer and Family Sciences and the research performed was of interest to any person -male or female.Among the topics researched were healthy nutrition, child development, issues of gerontology, family fi nance, consumer issues, and even the hospitality industry.We knew the college had a great mission -but how to get alumnae households to begin at least giving equally within the university?The dean at the time was wise and humorous.The college had the number one-ranked marriage and family therapy program as well as the number one hospitality program in the nation.During a weekend of activities for the highly regarded President ' s Council giving club ( $ 1,000 or more annually), we offered a " free lunch " performed by our hospitality students, along with a program outlining the stellar faculty research on consumers and families.At the end of the program, the dean explained the importance of supporting this fi ne research and shared a bit about the marriage and family therapy program.