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Impressions of diversity: frontline fundraiser hiring in higher education

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Impressions of diversity: frontline fundraiser hiring in higher education

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Content Running head: FUNDRAISER DIVERSITY IN HIGHER ED 1

IMPRESSIONS OF DIVERSITY: FRONTLINE FUNDRAISER HIRING
IN HIGHER EDUCATION

by
Dounia Sadeghi

A Dissertation Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE USC ROSSIER SCHOOL OF EDUCATION
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
DOCTOR OF EDUCATION

August 2018

Copyright 2018 Dounia Sadeghi
FUNDRAISER DIVERSITY IN HIGHER ED 2

DEDICATION
To those of us who advocate for ourselves and others: never stop asking why.

FUNDRAISER DIVERSITY IN HIGHER ED 3

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Completion of this doctorate would not be possible without the help of countless
supporters.
Sincere thanks to my dissertation chair, Dr. Kimberly Hirabayashi, whose tireless
patience and calm voice of reason helped me believe in in this lifechanging process. To
committee member Dr. Wayne Combs, whose career as an experienced fundraiser informed
every sentence I wrote knowing he would challenge me to create my best body of work—thank
you. Dr. Combs jogged before every Saturday morning economics class, so he could be
energized and motivate us to learn; I tirelessly scrutinize monthly budgets forwarded to me
because of his efforts. Thank you to committee member Dr. Tracy Tambascia, whose renowned
research in diversity inspired me to apply non-traditional approaches to a field with a dearth of
research knowing there would be more to uncover somewhere.
This degree belongs to my mother who learned English, saved everything she could, and
left her family behind to build our foundation in the United States. She is our family’s original
scholar who woke up at 4am to study before work and took us to class when she didn’t have
childcare. Even though I’m the college graduate, she paved the way for us to be lifelong learners
and modeled the importance of carrying a yellow highlighter at all times. This is also for my
siblings, who gently guide while following.
To Chris the Marine, whose experience taught me to lead and listens while I learn out
loud: thank you for this opportunity, for the comfortable silences, and for your steadfast belief in
me.
FUNDRAISER DIVERSITY IN HIGHER ED 4

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Dedication 2
Acknowledgments 3
List of Tables 6
Abstract 7
Introduction to Problem of Practice 8
Field-Based Context 8
Importance of Addressing the Problem 10
Purpose of the Project and Questions 11
Stakeholder Group of Focus 12
Review of the Literature 14
Fundraising’s History and Necessity 14
Recruitment Challenges 15
Diversity in the Workplace 17
Knowledge, Motivation, and Organizational Influences 18
Assumed Knowledge Influences 19
Importance of Fundraiser Diversity 19
How to Recruit and Hire Diverse Frontline Fundraisers 20
Assumed Motivation Influences 21
Diverse Teams and Expectancy Value Theory 21
Hiring Managers Must Have Clear and Measurable Goals 22
Assumed Organizational Influences 23
The Organization Must Communicate the Value of a Diverse Fundraising Team 23
The University Should Have Hiring Practices in Place That Increase Fundraiser Diversity 24
Conceptual Framework 25
Figure 1. Conceptual Framework 25
Data Collection 26
Interviews 26
Data Analysis 27
Findings 29
Knowledge Findings 29
Conceptual Knowledge About Why Fundraiser Diversity Is Important 30
Procedural Knowledge About How and Where to Recruit 31
Motivation Findings 32
Valuing Diverse Teams 33
Motivation and Goal Awareness 34
Organizational Findings 35
Cultural Setting and Lack of Communication 36
Current Cultural Model and Perceived Constraints 37
Recommendations to Address KMO Influences 41
Knowledge Recommendations 41
Procedural Knowledge Solutions 43
Motivation Recommendations 45
Motivation and Expectancy Value Theory 46
Motivation and Goal Setting Theory 46
FUNDRAISER DIVERSITY IN HIGHER ED 5

Organization Recommendations 47
Communication in the Cultural Setting 49
Current Recruitment Practices That Dictate the Cultural Model 50
Limitations 51
Conclusion 52
References 54
Appendix A: Participating Stakeholders With Sampling Criteria for Interview 60
Appendix B: Interview Protocol 63
Appendix C: Credibility and Trustworthiness 65
Appendix D: Ethics 66
Appendix E: Integrated Implementation and Evaluation 67
Appendix F: Email To Hiring Managers Registered In Required Biannual Hiring Manager
Training 78
Appendix G: Post-Training Evaluation Tool for Existing Hiring Manager Training Sessions 79
Appendix H: Post-Hiring Evaluation Tool for Hiring Managers 80

FUNDRAISER DIVERSITY IN HIGHER ED 6

LIST OF TABLES
Table 1: Assumed Knowledge Influences and Assessments 20
Table 2: Assumed Motivational Influences and Assessments 22
Table 3: Assumed Organizational Influences and Assessments 24
Table 4: Summary of Knowledge Influences and Recommendations 42
Table 5: Summary of Motivation Influences and Recommendations 45
Table 6: Summary of Organizational Influences and Recommendations 48
Table 7: Outcomes, Metrics, and Methods for Internal and External Outcomes 69
Table 8: Critical Behaviors, Metrics, Methods, and Timing for Evaluation 70
Table 9: Required Drivers to Support Critical Behaviors 71
Table 10: Components of Learning for the Program 75
Table 11: Components to Measure Reactions to the Program 76

FUNDRAISER DIVERSITY IN HIGHER ED 7

ABSTRACT
The purpose of this project was to conduct an evaluation of hiring manager knowledge,
motivation, and organizational influences that have an impact on frontline fundraiser recruitment
and hiring practices. Interviews were conducted with 11 hiring managers from three universities
to determine influences that have an impact on impressions of diversity during the recruitment
and hiring process. The results reveal the importance of the relationship between human
resources recruiters and hiring managers, and the lack of communication about diversity,
expectations, and process improvement that can be easily altered—especially given that hiring
managers perceive diversity to cover a broad range of candidate characteristics they believe will
lend to their team’s success. The study presents organizational recommendations to increase
hiring managers to participate in the recruitment process, as this group as direct agency to make
hiring decisions that lead to increased team diversity.

FUNDRAISER DIVERSITY IN HIGHER ED 8

INTRODUCTION TO PROBLEM OF PRACTICE
As state funding continues to diminish, American public universities have come to rely
increasingly on private philanthropic funding secured from alumni and philanthropists.
Fundraisers employed by universities or consultancies are responsible for the direct cultivation
and solicitation of a growing population of diverse alumni and constituencies. For example, in
2016, the University of California and California State University systems each enrolled over
50% of undergraduate students with Hispanic/Latinx and Asian/Pacific Islander populations
alone (California State University, 2017; University of California, 2016). However, fundraisers
in the United States are predominantly Caucasian (Association of Fundraising Professionals,
2015), and this is not reflective of the racially diverse constituencies they cultivate for
philanthropic support. While information about racial diversity is captured about students and
fundraisers, it is important to note the types of diversity not assessed by either data collection
measure. Due to the current cultural and political climate in the United States, it is important to
facilitate a discussion on recruitment and hiring practices, as fundraiser diversity may have an
impact on the necessary funding American universities rely upon.
Field-Based Context
The following study focuses on a field-based problem of practice at three public 4-year
universities in California, specifically analyzing impressions of hiring manager diversity during
recruitment and hiring of frontline fundraisers who will join advancement or external affairs
teams. Advancement refers to teams comprising “fundraising, alumni relations, communications,
public relations, and occasionally government relations” (Shaker & Nathan, 2017, p.2). All three
public universities are located in densely-populated urban areas of California, serve over 20,000
registered students, and each institution is in the latter half of a campus-wide fundraising
FUNDRAISER DIVERSITY IN HIGHER ED 9

campaign. Similarly, the mission of each fundraising unit within each university is to secure
private philanthropic funding from individual donors, foundations, and corporations. Acebo
(2008) maintained that tuition and fees generate half of a university’s operating budget and
additional sources of funding are required. Private donations from alumni, corporations,
foundations, and philanthropists provide necessary gap funding, and American colleges and
universities have come to increasingly rely on this philanthropic income for operating costs,
programmatic support, and growth.
Frontline fundraisers, also called gift or development officers, are employed by non-
profit organizations to secure financial resources from donor populations to offset operating costs
or create new programs. Development officers engage alumni through an engagement process
known as the development cycle, which includes prospect identification, cultivation, gift
solicitation, and stewardship once the donation has been made (Weerts, 2007). Wedgeworth
(2000) asserted that forging relationships with prospective donors is essential for successful
fundraising campaigns that focus on fund development efforts over a specified period of time.
Fundraisers use face-to-face cultivation with high capacity and propensity individual donors to
create relationships that result in fundraising for university priorities. Cultivation oftentimes
takes the longest as its purpose is to strengthen affinity and provide meaningful opportunities for
engagement, such as mentoring students or volunteering that will later lead to financial
investment (Gallo, 2013). Yet, it can take several years before a personal relationship is formed
with a prospective donor and a major gift is committed to the university (Haggerty, 2015;
Thomas, 2010), making consistent face-to-face cultivation conducted by the development officer
a critical element of donor prospect engagement.

FUNDRAISER DIVERSITY IN HIGHER ED 10

Importance of Addressing the Problem
The Council for Aid’s (2016) Voluntary Support of Education’s annual survey results
revealed that over $40 billion was raised by public and private American colleges and
universities in 2015, highlighting both donor propensity and institutional fundraising efforts to
secure much-needed funding. Public universities rely upon philanthropy from alumni and
constituents, including a growing number of diverse prospective donors. Universities must
cultivate this group in a new way that focuses on its uniqueness and not default to standard
university campaigns to inspire giving from this group (Tsunoda, 2011). As the main point of
contact with prospective donors, frontline fundraisers contribute to developing approaches and
executing strategies for diverse constituency cultivation. However, according to the Association
of Fundraising Professionals’ (2016) Diversity and Inclusion Report, 75% of nonprofit
fundraisers are Caucasian, 13% are African American/Black, and the rest are comprised of other
underrepresented groups; 78% of fundraising professionals are women. Due to topical
dimensions of diversity that go beyond race, the lack of gender parity in the fundraising field is
important to reference and fundraiser diversity is worth discussing.
Frontline fundraiser diversity within higher education is important to evaluate for a
variety of reasons. Student bodies are increasingly diverse, and, after graduation, alumni
donations are relied upon by universities for necessary gap funding. In the state of California, 2-
and 4-year college students are 42% Hispanic, 30% Caucasian, 16% Asian/Pacific Islander, 7%
Black, and 5% two or more races (College Students in California, 2018). These students will
graduate to become alumni with potential to make philanthropic donations to their alma maters.
In a recent study on donor race and gender, it was revealed Caucasians were 26% more likely to
be solicited for personal donations than Hispanics (Yoruk, 2012). Given the high number of
FUNDRAISER DIVERSITY IN HIGHER ED 11

Hispanic students attending and graduating from universities in California, this statistic is
significant even if it focuses on race alone. Hawkins (2014) asserted “a come-one, come-all
strategy alone may not work when engaging alumni whose experiences and identities revolve
around race and sexual orientation” (p. 34), drawing further attention to the importance of
tailored prospect engagement. Various types of diversity and their intersections must be taken
into consideration when engaging diverse alumni and prospect constituencies.
Recruiting and hiring diverse fundraisers who reflect the diversity of prospective donors
and can connect with diverse populations may lead to a university’s future philanthropic success.
For the purpose of this paper, multiple definitions of diversity have been included from topical
literature to portray the broad and overarching impact of the construct that will later be explored
during quantitative interviews and subsequent analysis. Diversity can refer to dimensions of
gender, age, and nationality (Farndale, Biron, Briscoe, & Raghuram, 2015); therefore, teams
comprised of individuals with these characteristics can be considered diverse. Given that
frontline fundraisers frequently meet with donors in person and create personal relationships with
them over time (Waters, 2008), ways to connect with diverse prospects can be explored by hiring
managers with similar diversity characteristics. It is worth discussing hiring manager impressions
of diversity during the recruitment and hiring process, especially if universities may miss the
opportunity to connect with diverse prospects if fundraiser diversity is left unaddressed.
Purpose of the Project and Questions
The purpose of this project was to conduct an evaluation of hiring manager knowledge,
motivation, and organizational influences that have an impact on frontline fundraiser recruitment
and hiring practices. For the purpose of this dissertation, diversity has not been defined and
research participants will have the opportunity to frame what diversity means to them as
FUNDRAISER DIVERSITY IN HIGHER ED 12

professionals within the fundraising field. This study began by listing assumed influences,
followed by an analysis focused on actual or validated conditions that lend to diversity within
teams, and a package of recommendations for organizations interested in increasing or
maintaining fundraiser diversity. While a complete analysis would focus on all university
stakeholders who have an impact on hiring frontline fundraisers, for practical purposes, the
stakeholder group of focus in this analysis were hiring managers who have hired at least one
frontline fundraiser during their tenure at the university, as this group has a direct impact on
hiring practices. As such, the questions that guide this study are the following:
1. Are hiring managers provided information about diverse teams and do they know how to
increase fundraiser diversity?
2. Do they see the value in fundraiser diversity and are they motivated to increase the
diversity of their teams?
3. To what extent does the university communicate with hiring managers about fundraiser
diversification and is the organization interested in increasing fundraiser diversity?
Stakeholder Group of Focus
The stakeholder population of focus is hiring managers employed in Alpha, Beta, and
Gamma Universities’ development or fundraising units, as this population has direct influence
over frontline fundraiser hiring decisions and have the power to affect their respective
organizational approaches to hiring diverse candidates. The term “hiring manager” is used to
denote the individual responsible for making the hiring decision, and they fill vacancies on their
own team with support from dedicated human resources recruiters. This group is not continually
engaged in the recruitment process unless there is a vacancy, and, in this case, the stakeholders
are responsible for continual daily leadership and fundraising responsibilities. The three
FUNDRAISER DIVERSITY IN HIGHER ED 13

university development units were chosen not because of diverse fundraising teams or of a
perceived lack thereof, but because of their similarities as 4-year public institutions serving over
20,000 students, fundraising campaign participation, and location in densely-populated urban
areas. Because this study addressed a field-based problem of practice focused on evaluation of
three institutions, a formalized stakeholder goal was not stated, but increasing or maintaining
fundraiser diversity may benefit organizations that value the impact of diverse fundraising teams.

FUNDRAISER DIVERSITY IN HIGHER ED 14

REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE
The following literature review explores the assumed root causes of the knowledge and
skills, motivational, and organizational influences that resulted in the current diversity makeup of
frontline fundraisers at Alpha, Beta, and Gamma Universities. Fundraising’s history and
necessity, fundraiser recruitment challenges, and general benefits of diversity in the workplace
are addressed below.
Fundraising’s History and Necessity
Fundraising from private sources is a historic practice in which both public and private
universities have been engaged for centuries. As early as the 1570s, the Jesuit schools in Europe
were supported by female benefactors through their acquisition of real estate, bridal jewelry, or
wealth that resulted from widowhood, and the institutions were also routinely bequeathed
military fortunes by childless men who created legacies by funding building erections (Hufton,
2008). In the United States, strategized prospect solicitation began with annual appeals at Yale
University in 1980, and fundraising campaigns became standardized practice at Harvard
University between 1915 and 1925; these two private institutions introduced large-scale
solicitations and fundraising drives that targeted donors in all giving capacity ranges, which is a
departure from wealthy prospect cultivation (Kimball, 2015). The use of large appeals and multi-
year campaigns involving mass engagement of donors later set the tone for cultivation of donors
with different socioeconomic backgrounds, speaking to the necessity of fundraising at all ranges
of giving and the willingness of newly emerging prospect groups to participate in philanthropy.
The necessity for private funding has increased as university rankings benefit from
philanthropic income and its impact on student programming, faculty recruitment, and financial
health. In “The growing role of private giving in financing the modern university,” Speck (2010)
FUNDRAISER DIVERSITY IN HIGHER ED 15

posited that, after the 2008 recession, American public universities were required to create a new
funding model because of a decrease in state support. Public university presidents and deans
within the United States have been required to fundraise as a result of this (statewide) decrease
(Hodson, 2010; Jackson, 2012). State support for public universities has dropped 40% since
1978, and the field of fundraising has professionalized as a result of the increased need for
solicitation from alumni and supporters (Weerts, 2007). University administrators at public and
private institutions alike have come to rely on formalized staff support for fundraising efforts,
which has led to the development of a frontline fundraiser corps.
Recruitment Challenges
An assumed organizational influence that affects frontline fundraiser diversity hiring
practices at Alpha, Beta, and Gamma Universities is the need for qualified applicants as a result
of high field-wide attrition rates. Educational organizations experience a 12- to 16-month
average length of vacancy due to high demand and low supply of experienced frontline
fundraisers (Oliver, 2007). Hortsman (2006) highlighted studies that show leaving a current
institution in exchange for higher salary and title change at another are factors that result in
attrition because salary and career advancement requests are readily met by other employers due
to demand for experienced fundraisers. In nonprofit educational organizations in the United
States, frontline fundraising positions are held primarily by women, and there are unaccounted
for wage gap and career advancement issues (Dale, 2017) that may result in women seeking to
increase their salaries by leaving one organization for another. Horizontal and vertical growth are
important to employees, and leaving an organization can result in faster career growth than
remaining at an organization and working toward advanced positions. While this turnover is
beneficial for frontline fundraisers, attrition is detrimental for nonprofit organizations that rely on
FUNDRAISER DIVERSITY IN HIGHER ED 16

income raised from donor philanthropy (Croteau & Wolk, 2010). Fundraising income diminishes
with each vacancy, and, as a result of this lost philanthropic income, institutions may quickly
hire a well-qualified applicant instead of taking the time to launch an extensive search for an
equally experienced diverse frontline fundraiser.
Frontline fundraiser wage gaps may result in attrition and the need to fill vacancies may
lead to quick hires that preclude development of organizational processes that support diverse
frontline fundraiser recruitment. High demand and low supply of experienced fundraisers means
that higher salaries can be achieved by leaving a current organization (Oliver, 2007). Therefore,
attrition can play into the larger problem of practice because primarily Caucasian female staff
who overwhelmingly comprise the field may leave organizations in search of higher salaries,
better career opportunities, and will get hired due to demand. The vacancies that result due to this
field-wide attrition may cause organizations to hire the first qualified applicant, instead of taking
the time to search for a diverse experienced candidate to fill the position.
Another recruitment challenge is the shallow recruitment pool due to the lack of
numerous undergraduate programs that educate and train frontline fundraisers for employment.
Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis’s Lilly Family School of Philanthropy (2017)
is the only nationally accredited university that offers a baccalaureate program in philanthropic
studies. Institutions such as Rice University, University of Washington, and the University of
California at Los Angeles offer extended learning and online graduate and certificate programs
to individuals interested in philanthropy and giving. In 2007, the University of Michigan created
an undergraduate internship program that provides an experiential, professional development,
and educational component to train prospective fundraisers (Strickland & Walsh, 2013).
Similarly, the Council for Advancement and Support of Education’s Summer Internship Program
FUNDRAISER DIVERSITY IN HIGHER ED 17

arranges for students to be embedded in development units across the country at the host
institution’s expense (CASE Advancement Internship Summer Program, 2018). While these
efforts are serving to gradually fill gaps for entry level positions, these programs do not create a
steady pipeline of candidates to fill jobs that result from increased need for experienced
fundraisers that result from program expansion or baby boomer retired.
Diversity in the Workplace
Studies have shown that team diversity affects workplace dynamics, and exploring
organizational culture has potential to explain why hiring managers at Alpha, Beta, and Gamma
Universities recruit and hire diverse candidates. It is important to note that traditional definitions
of organizational diversity include gender, demographic, religion, or individuals with numerous
identifiers (Herring, 2009). Pinto and Pinto (2011) argued the befits of workforce diversity: “the
firm will better be able to serve increasingly diverse customers, meet increasingly severe and
diverse competitors, and deal with increasingly complex business and management problems by
actively seeking and managing a diverse workforce” (p. 29). Diverse teams routinely outperform
less diverse groups within an organization and are perceived as satisfying and interesting
workplaces by staff (Podsiadlowski, Groschke, Kogler, Springer, & van der Zee, 2013).
While the benefits of workplace diversity are explored in current literature, researchers
also provide topical counter examples that may inadvertently serve to substantiate an
organization’s lack of diversity and draw importance to the need for proactive diversity
management. Organizations that focus on multicultural diversity can inadvertently alienate other
staff (Stevens, Plaut, & Sanchez-Burks, 2008). Given the challenges in managing workplace
diversity, Herring (2009) posited that, “Diversity’s impact thus appears paradoxical: it is a
double-edged sword, increasing both the opportunity for creativity and the likelihood that group
FUNDRAISER DIVERSITY IN HIGHER ED 18

members will be dissatisfied and will fail to identify with the organization” (p. 211). These
examples convey perspectives that counter the benefit of diversity in the workplace and are
important to consider, but they also have potential to justify an organization’s lack of
diversification. In their study on the relationship between diversity and positive workplace
outcomes, Chrobot-Mason and Aramovich (2013) found that while there are inherent benefits of
a diverse staff, there are drawbacks as well, especially if some groups feel unfairly treated by
leadership and they suggest an ongoing evaluation of organizational diversity practices. Geiger
and Jordan (2014) argue that inclusion is the relationship between an oftentimes privileged,
dominant group and others within the organization. Diversity must be managed by the
organization such that there is the creation of a culture of inclusion, where all individual
employees are treated like “insiders” but are still valued for their uniqueness and distinct
contributions (Ashikali & Groeneveld, 2015). Diversity management practices of current staff
and organizational approaches to increasing diversity require thoughtful and consistent
consideration.
Knowledge, Motivation, and Organizational Influences
Assumed knowledge, motivation, and organizational issues were addressed using a
modified version of Clark and Estes’ (2008) gap analysis when analyzing recruitment and hiring
practices and the role of hiring managers at Alpha, Beta, and Gamma University campuses. The
first section focuses on assumed influences on hiring manager knowledge and skills about the
impact of diversity in their units and universities. Second, motivational factors regarding their
perceived agency and the value they place in maintaining or increasing fundraiser diversity are
explored. Finally, assumed influences regarding organizational assets and barriers affecting the
FUNDRAISER DIVERSITY IN HIGHER ED 19

stakeholder group are examined. The following pages examine assumed hiring manager
knowledge, motivation, and organizational influences prior to data collection.
Assumed Knowledge Influences
All three development units embedded within university advancement or external affairs
divisions are responsible for direct cultivation and solicitation of private donors, with alumni
constituting the largest prospect constituency. Unit frontline fundraisers employed by Alpha,
Beta, and Gamma Universities are responsible for cultivating relationships with an increasingly
large number of diverse prospective donors, and this employee group is managed by hiring
managers who are directly responsible for implementing hiring practices and their decisions
directly impact team makeup. In order to adequately assess sentiment regarding the importance
of diversity during recruitment and hiring processes, hiring manager knowledge regarding the
perceived impact of diverse teams must be determined.
Importance of Fundraiser Diversity
Knowledge and skills are required for change to be actualized by individuals within an
organization (Clark & Estes, 2008). Knowledge of conceptual information will help hiring
managers understand why increasing or maintaining frontline fundraiser diversity is important.
Krathwohl (2002) defined conceptual knowledge as the various facets that work together within
a larger structure. It was assumed that development unit hiring managers at Alpha, Beta, and
Gamma Universities have basic knowledge about the impact of diverse fundraisers or staff,
which is critical to understand because of an increase in prospective donor diversity. Conceptual
knowledge of diversity as it relates to fundraising and why it should be increased is necessary.
Hiring managers must know why increasing fundraiser diversity is important. Trenerry and
Paradies (2012) asserted that cultural competency is the intersection of between multiple
FUNDRAISER DIVERSITY IN HIGHER ED 20

diversity identifiers. It can be argued that diverse fundraisers have potential to connect with
diverse prospective donors and utilize their individualized cultural competency to connect with
prospects and donors. Hiring managers must understand why this cultural competency is an asset
when cultivating diverse constituencies.
How to Recruit and Hire Diverse Frontline Fundraisers
Once hiring managers understand why increasing or maintaining fundraiser diversity is
important, it was assumed they will need to learn the skills necessary to recruit and hire diverse
fundraisers, which will require procedural knowledge. Procedural knowledge is characterized as
knowing how to complete a task and includes the knowledge required for the use of appropriate
procedures (Krathwohl, 2002). Hiring managers will need to know the steps necessary to
increase diversity, and procedural knowledge will help them achieve this goal. In a study that
focused on managing diverse social work clientele, Boccagni (2014) asserted that an effective
strategy to reflect diverse constituencies and be a culturally competent organization is the hiring
of diverse staff. Recruiting is the first step taken to hire diverse candidates and procedural
knowledge focusing on recruitment practices will help hiring managers to increase or maintain
fundraiser diversity in a field with high attrition rates. Table 1 below highlights assumed
knowledge influences, types, and provides a qualitative assessment example.
Table 1
Assumed Knowledge Influences and Assessments
Organizational Goal
The goal of Alpha, Beta, and Gamma development units is to secure private funding from donors.
Stakeholder Goal
Each hiring manager will play a role in increasing or maintaining frontline fundraiser diversity on their teams.

FUNDRAISER DIVERSITY IN HIGHER ED 21

Table 1, continued
Knowledge Influence Knowledge Influence Assessment
Hiring managers must know why
fundraiser diversity is important.
Declarative (Conceptual)
Interview question: What impact do you think diverse
fundraisers would have on your unit’s fundraising progress?

How important is it to you personally to have a diverse team of
frontline fundraisers?
Hiring managers need to know how to
recruit and hire diverse frontline
fundraisers.
Declarative
(Procedural)
Interview question: What are some recommendations you would
make to an organization that wanted to recruit and hire diverse
fundraisers?

Assumed Motivation Influences
Only when hiring managers have understood the importance of fundraiser diversity can
they see value of their personal agency in increasing diversity. Presenting opportunities that
connect to personal interest can inspire action or motivation (Eccles, 2006) after knowledge is
acquired. In the sections below, expectancy value and goal setting theories are explored in
relation to hiring managers and their assumed motivation level as agents of change within their
organizations.
Diverse Teams and Expectancy Value Theory
Hiring managers must see value in diverse teams in order to be motivated to maintain or
increase diversity. Utility value is a type of expectancy value that can be described as the worth
an individual places in completing tasks that help achieve short- or long-term goals and rewards
(Eccles, 2006). It was assumed that hiring managers must see value maintaining or increasing
team diversity, as this value will serve to inspire motivation that will help them play an active
role in recruiting and hiring. Expectancy value theory posited that activity should show a clear
connection to interests and present realistic tasks that can be achieved (Pintrich, 2003). Because
hiring managers at all three universities know the benefit of diverse teams and why diversity is
important, they would see the value in recruiting and hiring diverse candidates to join the
FUNDRAISER DIVERSITY IN HIGHER ED 22

fundraising team. Utility value is dependent on an individual’s ability to link how the task leads
to their goal (Eccles, 2006), and hiring managers must connect fundraiser diversity to their
team’s fundraising success.
Hiring Managers Must Have Clear and Measurable Goals
Goal setting theory supports the connection between motivation and progress toward goal
fulfillment and eventual success. A hallmark of goal setting theory is that a goal leads to
increased motivation toward a specific outcome; individuals feel motivated by steps taken
toward success that help them attain meaningful goals (Locke & Latham, 2006). If hiring
managers are made aware of their individual roles in increasing or maintaining diversity, they
will feel more motivated to achieve the unit’s stated goal. Goal setting is effective in professional
settings where individual goals dovetail with group goals and performance (Locke & Latham,
2006). This collaborative work setting would allow teams of hiring managers to feel connected
to the group’s goal of increasing or maintaining diversity. Table 2 below outlines information
regarding assumes motivational influences and sample assessment options.
Table 2
Assumed Motivational Influences and Assessments
Organizational Global Goal
The goal of Alpha, Beta, and Gamma development units is to secure private funding from donors.
Global Goal
Each hiring manager will play a role in increasing or maintaining frontline fundraiser diversity on
their teams.
Motivational Indicator(s)
Hiring managers are actively working to recruit and hire diverse frontline fundraisers.
Assumed Motivation Influences Motivational Influence Assessment
Value/expectancy theory- Hiring
managers must see the value in
hiring diverse fundraisers.
Interview question: Do you feel diverse fundraisers will help
achieve the campaign goal?

FUNDRAISER DIVERSITY IN HIGHER ED 23

Table 2, continued
Assumed Motivation Influences Motivational Influence Assessment
Goal setting theory- specific and
measurable goals will help hiring
managers increase or maintain
fundraiser diversity.
Interview question: If someone wanted to diversify their team,
what do you think the steps would be?

What types of goals have you set to diversify staff?

Assumed Organizational Influences
Each of the three university’s approaches to diversity had to be evaluated and the
importance of diverse hires had to be communicated to hiring managers. An organization’s
policies on, support of, and approaches to managing diversity have an impact on the stakeholder
group, and these assumed organizational influences have a direct impact on hiring managers’
approaches relate to fundraiser diversification.
The Organization Must Communicate the Value of a Diverse Fundraising Team
Organizational culture should align with policy, protocol, and communication (Clark &
Estes, 2008). Shifting an organization’s approach to encouragement of diverse hiring practices
will subsequently change the unit’s cultural setting. Culture refers to an organization’s values,
goals, and “culture is a way to describe the core values, goals, beliefs, emotions, and processes
learned as people develop over time in our family and in our work environments” (Clark &
Estes, 2008, p. 108). Integrating diversity into each unit’s organizational culture can prove to be
beneficial for future philanthropic initiatives and presenting information to decision-makers will
lead to increased stakeholder knowledge. Organizations can choose to manage diversity and
create an organizational identity with values that promote diversity (Cole & Salimath, 2013).
Once relevant information has been presented to hiring managers that speaks to the positive
impact of hiring and maintaining a diverse fundraisers, organizational identity and culture will
change. If the organizations communicate the value of diversity as a cultural component, the
organizational culture will eventually reflect this shift.
FUNDRAISER DIVERSITY IN HIGHER ED 24

The University Should Have Hiring Practices in Place That Increase Fundraiser Diversity
An organization provides more than material support for the achievement of performance
goals, as organizational culture directly affects success, and culture must be analyzed in relation
to performance goals (Clark & Estes, 2008). The university must make organizational resources
available to help hiring managers increase or maintain frontline fundraiser diversity. Approaches
to managing employee diversification have become increasingly popular amongst human
resources professionals (Trenerry & Paradies, 2012). Enhanced communication and strategy
implementation has the potential to deepen the collaborative process between hiring managers
and human resources recruiters, leading to the support of diversity initiatives. Organizational
influences and how they are assessed are outlined below in Table 3.
Table 3
Assumed Organizational Influences and Assessments
Organizational Global Goal
The goal of Alpha, Beta, and Gamma development units is to secure private funding from donors.
Global Goal
Each hiring manager will play a role in increasing or maintaining frontline fundraiser diversity on
their teams.
Assumed Organizational Influences Organizational Influence Assessment
The university should communicate the
importance of fundraiser diversity
Interview question: How important to the university
do you think it is to have a diverse fundraising
staff?

How is this conveyed to the development unit?
The university should have hiring practices
in place that increase or maintain fundraiser
diversity
Interview question: What information has been
presented to you by central leadership about
frontline fundraiser diversity hiring practices?

How does the university frame hiring practices for
diverse frontline fundraisers

FUNDRAISER DIVERSITY IN HIGHER ED 25

Conceptual Framework
Because this study focused on a field-based problem of practice, the stated global goal
was for development units to increase or maintain diversity on their fundraising teams in the next
5 to 7 years. While stakeholder knowledge, motivation, and organizational influences previously
mentioned may seem independent of each other, all three influences interact to create hiring
manager approaches to fundraiser diversification. Figure 1 represents the interactive relationship
between knowledge, motivation, and organizational influences necessary to achieve the global
goal.

Figure 1. Conceptual framework.

The blue circle symbolizes the universities in which hiring managers work, and these
units are governed by organizational cultural models and settings. Each of the three development
units included in this study employ stakeholders who are directly responsible for hiring decisions
made within the units and are represented by the green circle. Stakeholders are influenced by
knowledge and motivational factors that have an impact on them while working within their
FUNDRAISER DIVERSITY IN HIGHER ED 26

respective development units, conveyed by the red circles. The black arrow between knowledge
to motivation represents the relationship between hiring manager knowledge acquisition and
motivation to create change. Hiring managers who work within the units are the only
constituencies with direct control over hiring decisions, and goal achievement is denoted by the
orange arrow. The organization can either act as a barrier or asset that allows for the goal to be
accomplished (Clark & Estes, 2008), which is why stakeholder knowledge and motivation must
work in tandem with organizational influences in order for the global goal, represented by the
purple rectangle, to be achieved.
Data Collection
Qualitative data collection was used to determine attitudes toward fundraiser diversity
within the development units of Alpha, Beta, and Gamma public universities in California. A
total of eleven hiring managers from three universities participated in face-to-face or phone
interviews between January and March 2018. Interviews were chosen as a data collection method
to allow for an in-depth understanding of recruitment practices and hiring choices made by hiring
managers. Anonymity was a priority to inspire interviewee transparency and, as a result, names
of institutions, past professional experience, and other determining characteristics have been
intentionally excluded from the analysis; credibility, trustworthiness, and ethics are addressed in
Appendices C and D. Interview questions focused on knowledge, motivation, and organizational
barriers pertaining to fundraiser diversity and hiring practices and answers provided data on
context, value, and impressions of diversity.
Interviews
One-time interviews lasting between 45 minutes and 1 hour were conducted with each
hiring manager; a total of 11 interviewees participated from the three public universities. In-
FUNDRAISER DIVERSITY IN HIGHER ED 27

person or phone interviews were recorded with a digital device and hand-written notes were
taken to guide the interview and highlight unique attributes. The interview protocol, listed in
Appendix B, was designed to provide in-depth responses from hiring managers regarding their
knowledge, motivation, and organizational assets and barriers during the fundraising candidate
recruitment and hiring process.
The interview protocol contained specific questions asked of each interviewee; however,
given the open-ended and probing nature of the questions, there was opportunity for a semi-
structured dynamic to ensue as answers oftentimes led to additional robust details. The
standardized open-ended interview “consists of a set of questions carefully worded and arranged
with the intention of taking each respondent through the same sequence and asking each
respondent the same questions with essentially the same words” (Patton, 2002, p. 342).
Characteristics of a semi-structured interview include flexible questions that require specific
information be provided by interviewees, with the largest interview section focusing on specific
issues explored (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). This semi-structured approach allowed participants
to answer questions asked of all interviewees while providing an opportunity to include
additional information specific to their unit’s recruitment and hiring practices. Experience,
behavior, opinion, values, knowledge, and time-frame questions (Patton, 2002) were asked of
interviewees. The answers provided information regarding participants’ knowledge and
motivation about the impact of diversity and whether it was perceived as a priority by each, as
well as whether the organization placeds importance on fundraiser diversity.
Data Analysis
A service was used to transcribe digital interview recordings on a rolling basis. First
cycle manual coding included looking for descriptors and patterns in a single transcript (Miles,
FUNDRAISER DIVERSITY IN HIGHER ED 28

Huberman, & Saldaña, 2014). When all interviews were conducted and recordings transcribed,
second cycle manual coding was used to create basic pattern codes to search for complex themes
across all eleven interviews. Codes were used to create thematic clusters that address knowledge,
motivation, and organizational influences at each of the universities, but also served to link
commonalities about impressions of diversity as well. This manual coding and connection to the
data helped ensure later use of software did not impede qualitative data analysis (Harding, 2013).
After the basic coding, Atlas.ti software was used to look for complex pattern codes and themes
not only across employees within campus units, but also for emergent themes across all three
universities. Software coding programs helped draw attention to commonalities across
transcripts, but additional scanning analyses were conducted as well (Harding, 2013). Typicality
was addressed by highlighting unique answers to questions or novel ways in which hiring
practices were implemented. The study’s conceptual framework was used to further ground how
knowledge, motivation, and organizational factors influence hiring practices at all three
universities and how they may inform hiring manager attitudes regarding diversity hiring
practices.

FUNDRAISER DIVERSITY IN HIGHER ED 29

FINDINGS
Interviews with hiring managers from Alpha, Beta, and Gamma Universities were
conducted to determine knowledge, motivation, and organizational influences that have an
impact on impressions of diversity during the recruitment and hiring process. Interviewees had
hired at least one fundraiser at one of three featured universities, worked with a dedicated human
resources recruiter embedded within their units and had worked in the development field for
between 5 and 20 years. Two males and nine females were interviewed, all but two interviewees
were Caucasian, and only one of the participants was an alumna/alumnus of the university for
which they worked. Additional information on participating stakeholders and selection criteria
can be found in Appendix A. Findings are organized based on hiring manager knowledge of
diversity hiring practices, their motivation to help increase fundraiser diversity on their own
teams, and how they believe the university at which they are employed supports or impedes
fundraiser diversity hiring initiatives.
Knowledge Findings
Knowledge influences that affect hiring managers are critical to analyze, and interview
findings were used to determine what hiring managers know about the recruitment and hiring
process. One of the early assumptions of this study was that hiring managers must know why
diverse fundraisers are assets and how to recruit diverse fundraising candidates, and that this
knowledge would help inform their role in the recruitment and hiring process. Therefore, a lack
of conceptual and procedural knowledge would have a direct impact on the hiring process
because it would impede a hiring manager’s ability to understand the process and their role in
influencing the result. Interview data confirmed that, while participants understand why diversity
FUNDRAISER DIVERSITY IN HIGHER ED 30

is important, they do not know how to search for diverse candidates and are unclear about the
processes human resources recruiters use to recruit candidates.
Conceptual Knowledge About Why Fundraiser Diversity Is Important
Based on interviews conducted with the stakeholder group of focus, it was determined
that all hiring managers interviewed believe diversity and the impact it can have on their teams
are important. The open-ended questions allowed participants to reveal what diversity means to
them, and, based on traditional definitions of diversity previously mentioned, it is beneficial to
their list unique impressions: “a plurality of perspectives and opinions and viewpoints and ideas”
(Participant 4), “a variety of backgrounds: gender, ethnic, sexual orientation/identity,
socioeconomic” (Participant 8), and “experience, economics, personality, identity, drive,
ambition” (Participant 10). As a reminder, Trenerry and Paradies (2012) defined diversity as “a
broad term that includes gender, race and ethnicity, disability, and sexual orientation” (p. 12).
Therefore, the construct of diversity as provided by participants provides an overarching
definition that transcends traditional concepts of diversity such as racial or sexual orientation.
Participants believed that diverse fundraisers will be able to connect with different types
of donors. Because of the in-person cultivation fundraisers engage in with a broad range of
prospective donors, it is believed that numerous diverse team members will have the capacity to
establish meaningful connections that lead to fundraising success. The importance of multiple
types of diversity on teams and the ability of teammates connecting to a multitude of donors was
communicated by Participant 7 as follows:
I think having gender differences on your team is good. I don’t currently have that, but
that’s something that’s missing and then having ethnicity difference and having age
differences too. I’m looking for people who might be able to relate better to people who
FUNDRAISER DIVERSITY IN HIGHER ED 31

may not relate well to me, so that we can cover the biggest cross-section of our potential
donors as possible.
The importance of connecting to the various communities represented by the university was also
highlighted by Participant 4’s response: “Any time you’re trying to connect to a community, the
more that you’re organically aligned with that community is probably more helpful.” The
universities in the study were all located in urban areas within California and each campus had
an international student body; on connecting to an increasingly large international alumni
contingent, Participant 7 further asserted,
We’re seeing more alumni who come here and do well and maybe they work in the U.S.
for a couple years and they go home to China. They start a company and become
successful, and we don’t have development staff who can relate to them. We’re gonna
[sic] miss out on a huge opportunity. So, I would emphasize it’s not just domestic
diversity. We need to be thinking internationally when it comes to development.
All interviewees attested to their knowledge of why diversity is asset to the team and how
diverse teammates will be able to connect with different types of donors.
Procedural Knowledge About How and Where to Recruit
When describing the steps in the recruitment process, all interviewees said their
development units have dedicated human resources recruiters who source them with candidates
for a fundraiser opening. When asked the steps they would take to recruit diverse fundraisers,
several hiring managers interviewed mentioned they did not know how. When responding to a
question about diversity hiring practices, Participant 8 responded: “it has not been specific about
the tools, [e.g.] what to look for, what we’re doing.” Six interviewees referenced the idea of
searching LinkedIn.com for candidates, but none communicated the specific processes related to
FUNDRAISER DIVERSITY IN HIGHER ED 32

recruiting a candidate who has not self-selected or been found by a human resources recruiter to
apply. Participant 8’s impression of the hiring process lauds the organization’s attention to
diversity but admitted,
[it’s] been expressed that our diverse team is a very positive thing and that we look to
maintain diversity. I have never been given any sort of instruction or regulations on how
exactly to go about doing that, for example, a sheet of paper that says you need to look at
“x” or check the boxes.
Five interviewees communicated that they assumed human resources recruiters posted
listings on traditional fundraising-related website job pages such as the Chronicle of
Philanthropy but admitted they did not know if openings were listed anywhere else. Participant 4
described their impression of human resources recruiting process:
I don’t know the places they post and do outreach. I think, sometimes, their process can
be kind of opaque to even those of us on the hiring manager side of things. I don’t know
enough to know if there are other avenues we should be pursuing.
Participant 3 said human resources could think “creatively about how to seek out candidates
using different organizations. I don’t know exactly how they do their searches.” Participants 2
and 8 mentioned past professional experiences that allowed them to work with human resources
on where to strategically post listings, but this was not common practice at their current
organizations.
Motivation Findings
Motivation is more important than knowledge to create change or accomplish
organizational goals (Clark & Estes, 2008). Therefore, hiring manager motivation was examined
in order to determine if the stakeholder group was interested in promoting the increase or
FUNDRAISER DIVERSITY IN HIGHER ED 33

maintenance of team diversity. Based on interview analysis, participants believed diversity is an
organizational asset, and they valued the impact of diverse teams. While this group understood
how diversity can positively impact team results, interviewees did not believe they were sourced
with diverse candidates and were not aware of any diversity-related goal, which impacts
motivation to in turn increase or maintain diversity goals.
Valuing Diverse Teams
All hiring managers interviewed communicated that they valued team diversity and all
but two (Participants 9 and 11) believed fundraiser diversity would help them achieve their
fundraising campaign goals. On hiring a candidate with non-fundraising backgrounds,
Participant 2 noted,
Her diversity is the fact that she’s coming from a different area that I would have even
thought of, and experience with another place will help us meet the successes of the
campaign; you have to have people who are coming like that instead of everyone who
says and does fundraising the same way.
On the importance of a diverse team’s ability to connect with prospective donors during the
university’s fundraising campaign, Participant 10 asserted,
We need to be successful, and, so, I would say 100% the more diverse we are the more
higher [sic] the chance we have of making connections. Connection is the essence of
what we do and, so, with diversity comes a higher opportunity to connect.
Participants who worked at schools with diverse student and alumni populations specifically
valued the importance of connecting to diverse alumni during their university’s fundraising
campaigns: “I think that for [donor] pipeline purposes and building the base of donors,
particularly for recent alumni. We’re gonna [sic] need to have more diverse staff or people that
FUNDRAISER DIVERSITY IN HIGHER ED 34

the alumni can relate to” (Participant 7) and “Connection is going to come from the ability of a
frontline fundraiser to convey that affinity of connection that they’re most likely to identify with;
it’s not going to come from traditional ways that you would look at fundraising” (Participant 6).
However, participants believed that fundraising results directly benefit from having staff who
connect with prospects, regardless of perceived lack of diversity:
We had a group of four much older Caucasian women and they were much more engaged
with [Caucasian female fundraiser] than they were with me. She reminded them of their
grandchildren who are around the same age who obviously look like her. I didn’t take it
personal, I thought of it as great… there are opportunities for a faster relationship built
around finding people with similarities. (Participant 10)
While hiring manager motivation to hire diverse candidates was clearly expressed in the
findings, connections were formed with diverse and non-diverse fundraisers alike depending on
the prospective donor.
Motivation and Goal Awareness
A consistently emerging theme was that hiring managers interviewed were not aware of
current diversity makeup of their units and whether increasing or maintaining fundraiser
diversity was a goal human resources recruiters were tasked to accomplish. This is important
because hiring managers make final hiring decisions that directly affect overarching unit goals of
which they may be unaware. All 11 hiring managers mentioned annual web-based human
resources training and established statewide standards that focus on diverse workplaces but that,
beyond diversity statements that must be included in job postings for listing in California,
diversity was not a specified focus of the recruitment process. Participant 7 indicated, “I’ve been
a little surprised that in the actual hiring process there has not been a lot of discussion about [a
FUNDRAISER DIVERSITY IN HIGHER ED 35

diverse staff]” and Participant 3 said there was a “clear lack of directives” that focused on
diversity during recruitment and hiring.
None of the interviewees knew if increasing or maintaining diversity was a defined goal
within their university’s development unit. In regard to whether they knew of a defined or
measurable goal for the university’s development unit, Participant 4 communicated,
I don’t know where we fall in terms of diversity, to be honest. And, so, I don’t know that
we’re not [diverse] or that there haven’t been benchmarks set and we’re not there already.
I honestly just don’t know… I am assuming it is something we have measured… It would
be an interesting thing to know and you would know there is more progress to be made
and, so, how are we going to make this progress.
Without knowledge of current development unit fundraiser diversity makeup and prospective
goals, interviewees were not proactive participants in the process even though their decisions
directly impact fundraiser diversity within the unit.
Organizational Findings
While this study evaluated a general field-based problem of practice, Alpha, Beta, and
Gamma Universities were chosen because of their similarities. As previously stated, all three
public institutions were located in densely-populated urban areas in California and were engaged
in fundraising campaigns. Performance gaps are oftentimes the result of resources and
environments within organizations (Clark & Estes, 2008). It is, therefore, necessary to evaluate
the organizational models and settings that create a workplace’s cultural impact on hiring
managers and their impressions of diversity during the recruitment and hiring process. When
analyzing interview data, findings revealed that each university did not message the importance
FUNDRAISER DIVERSITY IN HIGHER ED 36

of diversity during the recruitment and hiring process and hiring managers did not proactively
work to change the organization’s fundraiser hiring processes.
Cultural Setting and Lack of Communication
A cultural setting is comprised of visual aspects of the workplace, including the physical
environment and individuals carrying out organizational functions (Rueda, 2011). All eleven
participating hiring managers from Alpha, Beta, and Gamma Universities were able to recall
materials or messaging presented about their campus’s diverse student body: “I would say that’s
heavily promoted by the school” (Participant 7), “the university makes available and shares stats
about the incoming classes” (Participant 4), and “the chancellor made it very clear that
increasing student diversity was his priority” (Participant 9). Similarly, several hiring managers
cited knowledge about faculty and staff diversity initiatives. Participant 3 noted,
If you talked to any academic leader on campus, I think that diversity in terms in terms of
hiring faculty and in terms of hiring staff would come up in that conversation. There’s
been an increase in conversation about diversity hiring at the university writ large.
These instances highlight each university’s cultural model through communication regarding
student, faculty, and staff diversity such that hiring managers understand initiatives or thoughts
on campus-wide diversity.
However, in spite of the messaging on student, faculty, and staff diversity communicated
by each organization, interview analyses revealed that all participants had not been presented
with information about fundraiser diversity hiring initiatives. On information from university
leadership about the specific importance of fundraiser diversity, respondents communicated lack
of information: “university-wide it’s important but in every conversation about hiring
development staff. I’m surprised there hasn’t been more attention. In every conversation at every
FUNDRAISER DIVERSITY IN HIGHER ED 37

opportunity to hire development staff. It seems to be missing to me” (Participant 7), “something
could have come up went under my radar [sic] but I would say that I can’t think of one thing.
There’s been no education or communication” (Participant 10), “none; it’s not a priority”
(Participant 1), and
I don’t know. I don’t know if there’s been specific information that’s been passed down
from university leadership about [diverse fundraiser] hiring practices. I think it’s more
that it’s been a very big topic for academic hiring practices and, therefore, through those
conversations it’s weaved into our [development] world. But we haven’t had a directive
given. I can’t think of human resources providing hiring reading material around diverse
hiring practices. (Participant 3)
An answer from a hiring manager reveals that specific segmented information regarding staff
may not be released: “I haven’t really heard anything specific in terms of frontline fundraisers,
but I don’t think I’ve seen anything specific to anything else either, like any particular job
function, for example, focused on marketing or communications” (Participant 4). This response
draws attention to the idea that, while participants may not receive university messaging about
the importance of frontline fundraiser diversity specifically, other staff jobs may not be the focus
of diversity messaging either.
Current Cultural Model and Perceived Constraints
Cultural models are a shared understanding and are used to characterize organizations
(Rueda, 2011). A confirmed organizational influence that affects hiring managers’ ability to
engage in diverse hiring practices is that they believe human resources recruiters do not provide
them with a list of diverse applicants. All hiring managers have specific human resources
recruiters within the advancement or external affairs unit they work with to hire fundraisers.
FUNDRAISER DIVERSITY IN HIGHER ED 38

Hiring manager comments such as “we don’t have an influx of diverse applicants” (Participant
9), “they [recruiters] present us with the candidates and we interview them” (Participant 1), and
“it would be really ideal to have a diverse pool to choose from” (Participant 5) give the
impression that hiring managers do not feel human resources recruiters provide numerous well-
qualified diverse applicants for an opening. Participant 6 admitted, “diversity is incredibly
important to me, but I feel limited by the pool of applicants that defines my decisions.” Hiring
managers understand and value team diversity but the organization’s recruitment model is
perpetuated by hiring managers relying on human resources recruiters to find candidates or for
applicants to self-select. Participant 11 admitted lack of time to become more involved in the
recruitment process and said, “that’s something I’m capable of doing, but they’re not paying me
to. I’m supposed to be raising $8,000,000.” This comment speaks to priority of fundraising and
managing activities during fundraising campaign that supersedes involvement in the recruitment
process.
All hiring managers described the pre-screening process during which human resources
recruiters review resumes and determine if applicants meet minimum education and experience
requirements. Only one hiring manager, Participant 2, said she consistently reviewed all
candidate resumes that meet education requirements, as she preferred scanning previous
employment to determine if there were transferable skills that may have been missed by the
recruiter. She shared,
I don’t think human resources understands the needs for frontline fundraising, to be quite
honest. I think they’re here to hit their quota and that they’re just churning that out rather
than being thoughtful about what’s best for the university. I think, when human resources
FUNDRAISER DIVERSITY IN HIGHER ED 39

is looking at diversity, they should be thinking about what people can do and not just
think about the traditional method [of recruitment].
The broad definitions of diversity provided by hiring managers may not be shared by human
resources recruiters. Hiring managers may not be exposed to diverse candidate applications as a
direct results of human resources recruiters evaluating resumes too stringently for fundraising-
related work experience during the resume review process.
Rivera’s (2012) study on student recruiting practices in elite firms argues, that human
resources staff and hiring decision-makers have “structural, status, and ideological divides” (p.
77) that are pervasive when aiming to hire racially diverse candidates; this differing perspective
may also exist for impressions of diversity that extend beyond racial background, which could
limit the types of applicant resumes that are forwarded to hiring managers. For example,
Participant 7 recalled that the human resources recruiter did not forward the resume of a diverse
candidate because they did not pass minimum experience requirements upon standard resume
reviews; the hiring manager requested to interview the candidate after asking to review all
resumes for the opening. This furthered the hiring manager’s perception that recruiters will pass
on diverse applicants due to perceived impediments to interview, such as lack of fundraising
experience or obvious translatable skills. The hiring manager made a case to the recruiter that
“some of [the candidate’s] work experience helped meet one of the requirements they felt [the
candidate] wasn’t meeting”, and the hiring manager convinced the recruiter the candidate was
eligible to interview and eventually extended an employment offer. Another candidate said, “I
would like to see more diverse people getting training to be really good fundraisers” (Participant
9), which communicates that diverse candidates applying may not have the skills and experience
required to justify an interview invitation.
FUNDRAISER DIVERSITY IN HIGHER ED 40

Another perceived organizational constraint is the lack of qualified diverse applicants
applying for an open position. Like students, faculty, and other staff groups, hiring managers all
comprise the university setting and have a direct effect on the cultural model. With each hiring
decision, this group has the agency to change the makeup of their teams and the larger
development unit’s setting as a result. Hiring managers’ decisions, therefore, have a direct
impact on the organizational setting, as they are responsible for the types of fundraisers hired.
All but one hiring manager, Participant 11, interviewed indicated that they hire for skill and
experience, rather than the various types of diversity previously listed. Interview data revealed
that relevant work experience seems to guide resume review and subsequent interview
invitations. When asked about candidate attributes of focus, hiring managers responded,
“combination of skills and experience” (Participant 4), “professional background and fundraising
experience” (Participant 3), “professional ability and acuity” (Participant 8), and “skillset and
professional background” (Participant 5). Interviewees preferred to hire candidates with
experience, not necessarily applicants with transferable skills. Other participants asserted, “In the
end you need to hire people who are most suited and qualified for the position regardless of their
background, religious identification, or sexual orientation” (Participant 11) and “I hire the best
possible person. I don’t care about the package” (Participant 1).
Interview responses reveal that candidates with relevant fundraising experience are
deemed qualified for interviews and subsequent hiring. Based on the current fundraising team
makeup that result from hiring decisions at each university, interviewees believed these qualified
candidates are overwhelmingly Caucasian women. Interviewees perpetuated the current cultural
model by hiring Caucasian women, thusly affecting the unit’s cultural setting with each hire. On
the makeup of applicants and current development teams: “[applicants] are mostly made up of
FUNDRAISER DIVERSITY IN HIGHER ED 41

White women fundraisers” (Participant 9). “traditional landscapes of fundraising teams are
female and mostly Caucasian” (Participant 4), and “I would say we have a lot of frontline
fundraisers who would identify as White, female, straight, probably middle- to upper-
socioeconomic status” (Participant 7).
When discussing the challenge of hiring diverse candidates, Participant 5 said that “it’s
important in theory but given the practicality of hiring challenges we face in general, hiring for
diversity is hard.” Hiring manager hiring models contribute to the current state of the university’s
cultural setting each time they hire a Caucasian female to join the development team. Participant
9 admitted, “It’s important for me to find a good diverse pool, so we don’t just have a bunch of
White women interviewing for one position.” Hiring managers do not have to rely on human
resources recruiters to present them with a pool of qualified applicants; they have agency to
create a shift in hiring practices and this ability to create change are explored in the following
sections.
Recommendations to Address KMO Influences
The first set of knowledge recommendations listed below was combined with subsequent
motivation and organizational recommendations to create an intervention program that will allow
each university’s development unit to address fundraiser diversity.
Knowledge Recommendations
The knowledge influences listed in Table 4 below were identified as priorities validated
by stakeholder interviews. Conceptual and procedural knowledge assets and needs influence
hiring manager decision-making. Enhancing knowledge to build expertise in the workplace
requires the use of information, job aids, training, or education (Clark & Estes, 2008).
FUNDRAISER DIVERSITY IN HIGHER ED 42

Theoretical principles have served to guide the development of information and job aid
recommendations to address hiring manager knowledge gaps.
Table 4
Summary of Knowledge Influences and Recommendations
Assumed Knowledge Influence:
Cause, Need, or Asset*
Principle and Citation Context-Specific
Recommendation
Hiring managers understand
why fundraiser diversity is
important.
Increasing germane
cognitive load by engaging
the learner in meaningful
learning and schema
construction facilitates
effective learning (Kirshner,
Kirshner, & Paas, 2006).

Information.

Use existing hiring trainings
to discuss importance of
diversity and relevant case
studies, present new
information, and engage
learners further.
Hiring managers do not
know how to actively search
for diverse frontline
fundraiser candidates for an
open position and do not
know which job sites to
which their human resources
recruiters post positions.

Managing intrinsic load by
segmenting complex material
into simpler parts and pre-
training, among
other strategies, enables
learning to be enhanced.
(Kirshner et al., 2006).

How individuals organize
knowledge influences how
they learn and apply what they
know (Schraw & McCrudden,
& Hartley 2006).
Information.

Consistent information
provided by human resources
is recommended to simplify
steps in the recruitment
process for hiring managers.

Job aids.

It is recommended that human
resources recruiters connect
hiring managers to knowledge
that is of interest to them by
creating a job aid that presents
new information, is discussed
by both parties before
positions are posted, and
inspires hiring manager
suggestions.

Conceptual knowledge assets. Hiring managers at Alpha, Beta, and Gamma
Universities know that fundraiser diversity is important. It is, therefore, recommended that this
knowledge be deepened and updated at hiring manager trainings that focus on recruitment and
hiring practices. Existing hiring manager training sessions are an organic platform at which to
FUNDRAISER DIVERSITY IN HIGHER ED 43

provide updated information on diversity and why it is important in the workplace and will
further serve to link the importance of diversity to recruitment and hiring practices. Effective
learning occurs when prior knowledge of a topic is connected to new information (Mayer, 2011),
and presenting case studies helps to enhance learning (Aguinis & Kraiger, 2009). These biannual
hiring trainings will be used to present new information about diversity and facilitate discussions
among hiring managers about new best practices and examples that could be replicated at within
each development unit.
Procedural Knowledge Solutions
As noted in Table 4 above, hiring managers do not know how to actively search for
diverse frontline fundraisers for an open position. Candidates apply for the position online or are
recruited by human resources, and interviewees are not actively involved in the recruitment
process; an opportunity to learn how to recruit is not inherent to current existing processes.
Rueda (2011) claimed individuals must know how to do take steps to learn now to accomplish
goals. For hiring managers to learn how attract diverse candidates to apply for openings,
procedural knowledge is required. Complicated projects can be broken down into manageable
tasks to simplify learning (Kirschner, Paas, & Kirschner, 2006). Hiring managers will learn how
to recruit diverse candidates if new information presented about recruitment is simplified.
Clark and Estes (2008) asserted that information is a tool that helps learners when they
already understand content and context. It was assumed that hiring managers already know basic
recruitment practices and will benefit from enhanced information regarding recruitment of
diverse candidates. Therefore, it is recommended that new information on recruitment
procedures be presented to hiring managers on a consistent basis, both at hiring manager
biannual trainings and digitally throughout the year, especially given shifting trends due to web-
FUNDRAISER DIVERSITY IN HIGHER ED 44

based recruitment practices. In a 2012 study, Holm suggested that web-based employment
application platforms have changed processes of traditional paper-based recruitment practices;
attracting external candidates to apply online requires a different set of tasks, subtasks, and
activities. Consistently updated material that clearly communicates steps in the unit’s recruitment
process and highlights areas that will benefit from increased hiring manager participation will
serve as informative resources.
Hiring managers do not know the job sites to which their human resources recruiters post
positions. Organizing knowledge can determine how individuals learn new information (Shraw
& McCrudden, 2006). Hiring manager knowledge is enhanced when the group gains an
understanding of websites to which openings are posted. Therefore, it is recommended that
human resources recruiters present a list of position posting websites as a job aid to hiring
managers during their first one-on-one meeting about the vacancy; this list will help the human
resources recruiter determine prior hiring manager knowledge about job posting sites and will
become a tool for guided discussion. This discussion will allow hiring managers to think deeply
about where jobs are posted and why, eventually leading them to make suggestions about where
else to list the job posting. Talking through job aid purpose will help learners acquire new
knowledge (Mayer, 2011). Therefore, reviewing job posting website lists together will allow
human resources recruiters and hiring managers to bridge knowledge gaps, discuss why they are
seeking diverse candidates for a job opening, and what they think about diverse hiring practices.
Providing examples of support and guidance helps with knowledge acquisition (Kirschner, Paas,
& Kirschner, 2006; Mayer, 2011; Van Gerven, Paas, Van Merriënboer, & Schmidt, 2002). A job
aid will inspire guided dialogue between human resources recruiters and hiring managers; the
FUNDRAISER DIVERSITY IN HIGHER ED 45

latter group will then understand where jobs are posted and will have opportunity to add
suggestions for the job aid, ultimately increasing their involvement in the recruitment process.
Motivation Recommendations
The motivational influences listed in Table 5 below were identified as validated priorities
by interviews with hiring managers from Alpha, Beta, and Gamma Universities. Clark and Estes
(2008) asserted that motivational issues are the reasons for organizations not meeting their goals,
not lack of knowledge and skills. Therefore, addressing hiring manager motivation as it relates to
fundraiser diversity and their crucial role is an important step in determining gaps. Theoretical
principles served to guide the development of recommendations that address hiring manager
motivation issues. This second set of recommendations was combined with previous knowledge
and future organizational recommendations to create a program that will lead to each university’s
development unit addressing their diversity needs.
Table 5
Summary of Motivation Influences and Recommendations
Assumed Motivation
Influence: Cause, Need, or
Asset*
Principle and Citation Context-Specific
Recommendation
Hiring managers are motivated
to hire diverse fundraisers and
understand the value of
diversity and a diverse staff.

Activating and building
upon personal interest can
increase learning and
motivation
(Schraw & Lehman, 2001).

During meetings, continue
discussing the importance of
diversity, trends, and its impact
on teams to solidify its
importance in the workplace.
Hiring managers are not aware
of diversity goals and may not
be motivated to increase or
maintain fundraiser diversity on
their teams as a result.
Goals motivate and direct
attention (Pintrich, 2003).

Continued and consistent
trainings will feature data on
current makeup, future goals,
and time for hiring managers
to discuss goal achievement
techniques with peers.

FUNDRAISER DIVERSITY IN HIGHER ED 46

Motivation and Expectancy Value Theory
Hiring managers are motivated to hire qualified diverse candidates and value a diverse
staff. Motivation increases when an individual recognizes the value and power of their decision-
making (Eccles, 2006). The recommendation is to sustain levels of hiring manager motivation by
providing hiring managers the opportunity to deepen their participation in the recruitment
process and realize the value of their effort. Individuals feel motivated to learn and complete
tasks if they understand its value (Eccles, 2006). Since hiring managers already understand the
value of diverse teams, human resources recruiters can present materials and activities during
one-on-one meetings that highlight how the latter’s involvement in diversity hiring practices will
have an impact. To further motivate hiring managers to participate in the recruitment process, it
is recommended that human resources recruiters list the types of support they can offer and
present the list as a recruitment and hiring job aid during initial meetings regarding a vacancy.
Increasing opportunities for partnership practices will demonstrate how each hiring manager has
an impact on the recruitment process by actively working to create a diverse pool of applicants
with support from human resources. When hiring managers know they are empowered with the
ability to affect recruiting and hiring, they will develop positive impressions about their ability to
influence the makeup of their teams and continue to feel motivated by their impact.
Motivation and Goal Setting Theory
Participants are not aware of their unit’s diversity goals and may not be motivated to play
an active role to increase or maintain fundraiser diversity as a result. Goals have potential to
motivate and direct attention (Pintrich, 2003). Hiring managers should become familiar with
detailed information on the state of the unit’s current diversity, annual goals, and even the
diversity makeup of similar teams that will serve to inspire the motivation to increase or maintain
FUNDRAISER DIVERSITY IN HIGHER ED 47

diversity within their unit. Attitudes toward a goal or task has an impact on motivation (Clark &
Estes, 2008). It is, therefore, recommended that existing biannual hiring trainings be extended to
include a diversity component that will allow discussion to focus on information regarding unit
diversity goals. Opportunities for group collaboration and cooperation allow goal achievement
(Pintrich, 2003). The recommended opportunities to communicate with peers at meetings will
provide an open forum for the continuous discourse necessary for hiring managers to become
inspired by unit goals enough to be motivated to help the team achieve them.
Organization Recommendations
The organizational influences listed in Table 6 below were identified as validated
priorities by interviews with stakeholders from Alpha, Beta, and Gamma Universities. Both
cultural setting and model influences within each university’s workplace environment affects
hiring managers in the organization. Individual and team knowledge, skills and motivation
interact with the workplace setting to set the stage for organizational success (Clark & Estes,
2008). Addressing organizational barriers that influence hiring managers’ ability address and
improve fundraiser diversity will aid in determining gaps. Theoretical principles have served to
guide the development of recommendations that will address organizational needs identified.
This last set of recommendations was combined with previous knowledge and motivation
recommendations to create an intervention package that will lead to each university’s
development unit addressing fundraiser diversity.

FUNDRAISER DIVERSITY IN HIGHER ED 48

Table 6
Summary of Organizational Influences and Recommendations
Assumed Organization Influence: Cause,
Need, or Asset*
Principle and Citation

Context-Specific
Recommendation
Cultural setting: In spite of
highlighting faculty and staff
diversity initiatives, the university
has not communicated the
importance of hiring diverse
fundraisers within development
units.

Effective leaders
demonstrate a
commitment to valuing
diversity through
inclusive action. They
promote an
organizational culture
that promotes equity
and inclusion and
cultivate an atmosphere
where diversity is
viewed as an asset to
the organization and its
stakeholders (Angeline,
2011; Prieto, Phipps, &
Osiri, 2009).
Unit leaders should
consistently communicate the
importance of hiring
managers recruiting diverse
candidates; relate it to staff
and faculty diversity goals, as
well as the university’s
mission that focuses on
diversity and inclusion.

Use monthly and quarterly
meetings to highlight value of
diversity and successful
diverse hires; invite
university leadership to
reinforce importance of
fundraiser diversity.
Cultural model: Hiring managers do
not believe human resources
provides a diverse pool of candidates
to choose from and do not seek out
diverse candidates and invite them to
apply, but rather rely on candidates
to self-select and apply for jobs
online.
Effective leaders
regularly engage in the
process of reflection in
order to ensure their
actions promote an
atmosphere of
inclusion and diversity.
They facilitate
problem-solving
strategies that promote
objectivity, equity, and
inclusivity (Bensimon,
2005; DiTomaso, Post,
& Parks-Yancy, 2007).
Searches that result in diverse
hires should be modeled as
best practices during
trainings, promoting the
significance of diversity
within the development unit.

Hiring managers should work
closely with human resources
to post openings to various
websites that target diverse
candidates, as well as utilize
professional networks to
invite diverse candidates to
apply.

Peer committees will learn
about best practices and share
out information on a regular
basis.

FUNDRAISER DIVERSITY IN HIGHER ED 49

Communication in the Cultural Setting
In spite of highlighting student, faculty, and staff diversity initiatives, participants
communicated that their respective universities had not specifically communicated the
importance of diverse frontline fundraiser hiring within development units. Cultural settings are
the locations in which behavior set the stage for social context, which has potential to change
over time (Rueda, 2011). The value of diversity is communicated when leaders stress the
importance of diversity by taking action to integrate diverse staff within the organization; they
strive to create an organizational culture with constituencies who are aware of the benefits of
diversity (Prieto, Phipps, & Osiri, 2009). Alpha, Beta, and Gamma University mission statements
include verbiage on a commitment to diversity; however, each university has not created a
setting that is explicitly inclusive of development units. Emphasizing diversity alone does not
address implicit organizational cultural bias that may be affecting attitudes toward diversification
(Puritty et al., 2017); additional organizational resources and efforts are required to effectively
manage diverse staff groups. Even though hiring managers are engaged in the recruiting process
only when filling a vacancy on their own team, it is recommended that university leadership be
invited to biannual hiring training meetings to specifically reiterate the importance of diverse
hires that will have an impact on the development unit’s setting. Reinforcing the importance of
fundraiser diversity at already existing hiring trainings will engender a deeper understanding of
the campus’s collective responsibility to increase fundraiser diversity and will serve to impart the
significance of hiring decisions that change the landscape of an organization’s cultural setting
over time.
FUNDRAISER DIVERSITY IN HIGHER ED 50

Current Recruitment Practices That Dictate the Cultural Model
Unit hiring managers do not seek out diverse candidates and ask them to apply, but,
rather, rely on human resources recruiters or candidates to self-select and apply for openings
online. Due to the collaboration between hiring managers and human resources recruiters,
attention must be paid to the disconnect between the two as determined by the findings in order
for effective implementation of recommendations. For example, quality of integrated social
media marketing, networking, timely communication, and engagement strategies employed by
recruiters must be taken into account (Madia, 2011). University location, housing affordability,
hiring budget, and perceived opportunities for growth also play a role in the recruitment process
as they determine whether candidates are compelled to apply for an opening. Individual, team,
and organizational dynamics results in recruiting results and the onus of the process cannot be
placed on human resources recruiters alone; factors such as employer brand, emotional
perceptions of encounters with individuals and teams during the interview process, and position
messaging have an impact on recruiting (Phillips & Gully, 2015). Recruiting is a result of
various factors that contribute to candidates applying for a vacancy.
With each fundraiser vacancy, a hiring manager has the agency to shift the organization’s
status quo by collaborating with human resources recruiters, finding novel ways to attract diverse
candidates to apply, and making subsequent hiring choices that change the cultural model.
Leaders must focus on the ways they personally address diversity and inclusion and ensure their
decision-making addresses any organizational challenges (DiTomaso, Post, & Parks-Yancy,
2007). Rivera (2011) argued that the lack of staff diversity in firms exists not because of the
candidate pipeline but is a direct result of hiring decisions made by responsible stakeholders.
Each hiring manager has the agency to change the existing governing cultural model by making
FUNDRAISER DIVERSITY IN HIGHER ED 51

hiring choices that lead to increased fundraiser diversity. While participants’ perception that
human resources recruiters do not create provide them with diverse candidates may be valid,
ultimately the final decision to hire a finalist is made exclusively by hiring managers.
To shift the cultural model over time, it is recommended that a rotating committee of
hiring managers form and meet monthly to research, learn, and eventually report findings out to
their peers about diversification best practices, trends, and challenges. Education provides
information regarding current context and causality; seeking stakeholder perspectives help guide
the change process (Clark & Estes, 2008). The committee can share findings with colleagues
during biannual training meetings and in addition to new information, successful searches
resulting in diverse candidate hires can be used as models. This peer-to-peer sharing with other
hiring managers will allow the group to learn about alternative recruitment practices that deviate
from the organization’s current model. The impact that extending an offer to a diverse finalist
has on the organization’s goal should be communicated to hiring managers by their peer
committee to stress the significance of their role on the team. Using Kirkpatrick’s New World
Model (Kirkpatrick & Kirkpatrick, 2016), implementation and evaluation mechanisms are listed
in detail in Appendix E.
Limitations
The limitations of this study include the small sample size and lack of random participant
sampling. These factors prohibit generalizations to be made to all development units. Another
limitation that prevents this study from being generally applicable to other units is that Alpha,
Beta, and Gamma Universities were located in diverse urban cities in California. Furthermore,
there is no way to control for respondent truthfulness about their impressions of diversity, how
their organizations message diversity and its importance across campuses for varying
FUNDRAISER DIVERSITY IN HIGHER ED 52

constituencies. Interview protocol limitations include the questions that were not asked of
participants to protect anonymity, including their age, racial background, sexual orientation, and
education achievement. Delimitations include the number and type of questions asked, including
follow-up questions, how many participants agreed to be interviewed, and the impact of the
study’s conceptual framework on analysis and findings.
Conclusion
The purpose of this project was to evaluate the ways in which diversity practices manifest
during the recruitment and hiring process at three public universities. As public universities in
California continue to lose federal and state funding, institutions have placed increase pressure
on development units to secure gap funding for student support and faculty research. Universities
with existing or increasing populations of diverse students will soon be cultivating diverse
alumni with giving capacity. This study revealed the impressions of diversity held by eleven
individuals who have the control to hire individuals tasked with raising these necessary funds
from alumni and constituencies with differing backgrounds. Using expectancy value theory to
solidify the importance of the hiring manager’s role and goal setting theory to substantiate hiring
manager effort will allow the recommendation package to empower the group to play an active
role in a crucial aspect of the process they would otherwise believe is the responsibility of the
human resources recruiter. In this case, creating a deeper connection with the human resources
recruiter and development of university resources will strengthen communication and impact
recruitment and hiring as a unified front.
An analysis of the role of the hiring manager as ultimate decision-maker has shed light on
knowledge, motivation, and organizational influences that have an impact on recruitment and
hiring within institutions. The results reveal the importance of the relationship between human
FUNDRAISER DIVERSITY IN HIGHER ED 53

resources recruiters and hiring managers, and the lack of communication about diversity,
expectations, and process improvement that can be easily altered—especially given that hiring
managers perceive diversity to cover a broad range of candidate characteristics they believe will
lend to their team’s success. An identified strength at all three organizations was that participants
acknowledged the value of diverse teams and perceived diversity to include more than mere
traditional constructs of diversity, such as race and gender. The broad definition of diversity
revealed in interviews provides degrees of latitude when a team is looking to increase or
maintain unit diversity, as economic background, sexual orientation, education, professional
experience in another industry, and related translatable skills render applicants unique enough to
qualify as diverse to the hiring managers who want to hire diverse candidates and have the power
to change their organization’s culture. The recommendation intervention helps each organization
use utilize education, information, job aids, and training to use hiring manager strengths in order
to close the fundraiser diversity gap one hire at a time.

FUNDRAISER DIVERSITY IN HIGHER ED 54

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FUNDRAISER DIVERSITY IN HIGHER ED 60

APPENDIX A: PARTICIPATING STAKEHOLDERS WITH SAMPLING CRITERIA
FOR INTERVIEW
Participating Stakeholders

The basic criteria for the selection of the stakeholder group targeted for interview
participation was that they are the primary decision-makers responsible for recruiting,
interviewing, and hiring frontline fundraisers within their units. Hiring managers within the
development units at Alpha, Beta, and Gamma Universities were chosen because of their direct
responsibility of hiring frontline fundraisers; these individuals have the authority and expertise
necessary not only for data generation, but also to facilitate change (Malloy, 2011). Each
development unit included in this study employs at least ten stakeholders who are directly
responsible for hiring decisions made on their teams; therefore, sampling these participants
served to engender an understanding of diversity practices and whether increasing unit diversity
is a priority.
Interview Sampling Criteria and Rationale
Purposeful convenient sampling was used to garner insight from a sample that has
potential to provide the most focused understanding (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). For the purpose
of this study, a hiring manager is an individual who works within an advancement or external
affairs unit with a senior title and the ability to make hiring decisions (i.e., director, senior
director, assistant vice chancellor/vice president, associate vice chancellor/vice president, vice
chancellor/vice president). Eleven hiring managers provided insights from all three university
development units, and semi-structured interviews were conducted with the stakeholder group.
The reason for interviewing several hiring managers from each organization was to gain an
FUNDRAISER DIVERSITY IN HIGHER ED 61

understanding of multiple perspectives from experienced professionals who work at each public
university.
Hiring manager with ability to select and interview candidates during in-person
interviews. Hiring managers must have access to resumes that comprise the applicant pool for a
fundraiser vacancy. Each stakeholder must have a direct role in which applicants are invited to
interview for a vacancy from the beginning of the hiring process in order to ensure that they have
complete agency over the hire. This decision-making control over interviewee selection provides
hiring managers with the ability to expose diverse candidates to the interview process.
Each stakeholder must personally be involved in the interview process once candidates
with the appropriate qualifications are selected to interview. This direct involvement allows for
hiring managers to personally evaluate and assess diversity. Being involved in all phases of the
interview process ensures a hiring manager’s ability to analyze a candidate’s qualifications and
fit within the organization, while further exercising agency over the hire.
Hiring manager from each university’s development unit with ability to extend
employment offer. Hiring directors from three development units were chosen to ensure
interviewees provide insight regarding each of the three university’s approaches to fundraiser
diversification. Each hiring manager must have the power to extend an offer after the candidate’s
interview, background checks, and other pre-employment checks are cleared. Even if a hiring
manager consults with a committee during the process, each stakeholder must have ultimate
decision-making ability to extend an offer of employment once a final decision has been made.
Hiring manager and fundraising director who have hired candidate in current
development unit. Each of these directors will be able to answer about their experience as a
FUNDRAISER DIVERSITY IN HIGHER ED 62

hiring manager during a complete resume review, interview, and offer extension cycle within
their respective development units.
Interview Sampling Recruitment Strategy and Rationale
The interview participants were chosen from Alpha, Beta, and Gamma Universities’ pool
of hiring managers. The researcher has current or previous professional relationships with at least
seven of the 11 of interview participants.

FUNDRAISER DIVERSITY IN HIGHER ED 63

APPENDIX B: INTERVIEW PROTOCOL
Knowledge, motivation, and organizational influences at each institution must be
analyzed in order to gain a clear understanding of hiring practices and ways to increase
fundraiser diversity. The following interview questions were asked of eleven hiring managers at
Alpha, Beta, and Gamma Universities in an effort to understand current attitudes and
institutional dynamics that influence this stakeholder group.
1. How long have you worked as a frontline fundraiser?
2. How long have you been a director with the ability hire members of your own team?
3. How long have you worked at the university at which you are currently employed?
4. What information have you been exposed to about the impact of a diverse staff within the
last year?
a. What are the sources?
5. What information has been presented to you by central leadership about frontline
fundraiser diversity hiring practices?
a. How is this conveyed to the development unit?
6. How does the university frame hiring practices for diverse frontline fundraisers?
7. What information have they provided about the increasing numbers of diverse alumni
graduating from the university?
8. How important to the university do you think it is to have a diverse fundraising staff?
9. Do you feel fundraiser demographics should reflect alumni demographics?
a. Why or why not?
10. How long until the end of the current fundraising campaign?
11. Do you feel diverse fundraisers will help achieve the campaign goal?
FUNDRAISER DIVERSITY IN HIGHER ED 64

a. Why or why not?
12. How would you characterize diversity?
13. How important is it to you personally to have a diverse team of frontline fundraisers?
14. What goals would you recommend an organization set in order to achieve a more diverse
fundraising staff?
a. Are these goals your organization has set?
15. Please describe the recruitment and process for frontline fundraisers within your unit.
a. What is the hiring process?
16. Who makes the final hiring decision?
17. What are selective factors when considering a hiring a finalist?
18. Which attributes to you focus on the most when screening candidates?
19. How does your unit collaborate with human resources on frontline fundraiser hiring?
20. What do you believe could be done to increase diverse fundraiser recruitment and hiring
within your unit?

FUNDRAISER DIVERSITY IN HIGHER ED 65

APPENDIX C: CREDIBILITY AND TRUSTWORTHINESS
Conditions of anonymity were assured to guarantee that interviewees felt comfortable
divulging attitudes and approaches regarding fundraising diversity and hiring practices.
University systems, names, and participant demographic indicators were not referenced in
written analysis, and interview participants were made aware of this level of anonymity before
the interview began. Several participants asked how they were selected and were told that their
LinkedIn.com profiles and university websites were used, as referrals were not sought by the
researcher to protect anonymity. Participants from each of the three institutions were chosen to
allow for a range of hiring managers to speak to knowledge, motivation, and organizational
influences regarding diverse hiring practices within different organizational settings. Informed
consent empowers participants (Glesne, 2011) and was secured at the beginning of each
interview. Interviewees were reminded they were being recorded throughout the interview
(Rubin & Rubin, 2012). A semi-structured interview protocol generated credible and trustworthy
data, as all interviewees were asked the same questions, even if probing or open-ended questions
allowed for deviation. A digital recording device was used in addition to light note-taking done
by the researcher to ensure connections were made to emerging themes or unique attributes.

FUNDRAISER DIVERSITY IN HIGHER ED 66

APPENDIX D: ETHICS
Before the qualitative face-to-face or telephone interview, the informed consent verbiage
was read aloud and information regarding study details and withdrawal options were reiterated.
After gaining permission to record, participants were reminded before and after consent that they
were being recorded (Rubin & Rubin, 2012). Ethical dilemmas have the potential to emerge in
regard to data collection and subsequent analysis (Merriam & Tisdell, 2012). Therefore,
interview participants were made aware that confidentiality would be respected and institution
names and participant names would not be revealed in findings. Participants were told that a
digital phone application was used to capture both in-person and telephone interviews and that
record files would be erased from the investigator’s phone once files are securely stored and
deleted after analysis. Per institutional review board guidelines, participants were given detailed
information about the study before participating, were told they could withdraw from the study
or not answer a particular question, and that confidentiality would be assured (Glesne, 2011).
The researcher is employed at one of the three universities focused on in this study but
does not manage any of the hiring managers who participated in the data collection component
of the study. The researcher was employed at one of the three institutions and has relationships
with former colleagues and professional contacts who are currently employed at all three
organizations. Due to the researcher’s professional relationship with several interview
participants, explanation of the purpose of the study, confidentiality, and informed consent were
reiterated to ensure ethical standards are upheld. The researcher offered participants the
opportunity to review any interview notes and transcripts (Glesne, 2001) as an added ethical
measure.

FUNDRAISER DIVERSITY IN HIGHER ED 67

APPENDIX E: INTEGRATED IMPLEMENTATION AND EVALUATION
Implementation and Evaluation Framework
The New World Kirkpatrick Model is used in this study as it is a framework that
introduces four levels of implementation to evaluate training programs (Kirkpatrick &
Kirkpatrick, 2016). The model suggests using the four levels in reverse order: Level 4 (Results),
Level 3 (Behavior), Level 2 (Learning), and Level 1 (Reaction). According to the model, Level 4
measures an individual’s impact on specific goals as a direct result of training provided by the
organization. Level 3 evaluation helps the organization assess how participants apply what they
learned when they perform the job after training. In Level 2, training participants’ knowledge,
skills, attitude, confidence, and commitment are measured by using formative and summative
evaluation methods (Kirkpatrick & Kirkpatrick, 2016). Lastly, during Level 1, evaluation gauges
participant reaction to the training, such as customer satisfaction, engagement, and relevance
(Kirkpatrick & Kirkpatrick, 2016). Using the four levels in evaluation will help an organization
determine training success, as the program’s value is determined by performance changes
(Kirkpatrick & Kirkpatrick, 2016).
Organizational Purpose, Need, and Expectations
While each development unit’s purpose is to raise funds for capital and programs,
because this study’s problem of practice is field-based, Alpha, Beta, and Gamma University’s
stakeholders do not have explicit goals. However, it may be useful organizations to consider how
to increase or maintain frontline fundraiser diversity and unique ways to efficiently involve
hiring managers in the recruitment process. Hiring managers have the agency to make final
hiring decisions, and it is important for this stakeholder group to be aware of any current
organizational assets and barriers that respectively aid or impede increasing or maintaining team
FUNDRAISER DIVERSITY IN HIGHER ED 68

diversity. Knowledge, motivational, and organizational influences were examined to provide a
deeper look at what barriers affect stakeholder ability to hire diverse fundraisers. The proposed
solution is to provide hiring managers with information, job aids, education, and increased
attention from human resources recruiters. The suggested solutions will result in: (a) increased
hiring managers’ knowledge of candidate recruitment process, (b) increased hiring managers’
knowledge of where positions are being posted, (c) increased dialogue between hiring managers
and human resources during recruitment process, and (d) increased ability of hiring managers to
survey candidate resumes that would have been deemed unqualified by human resources due to
lack of direct development experience. The proposed solution for external outcomes is to
increase the number of diverse applicants and subsequent diverse hires.
Level 4: Results and Leading Indicators
Leading indicators are metrics that can be measured and observed to determine if
behavior will lead to an organization’s desired results (Kirkpatrick & Kirkpatrick, 2016). Internal
and external outcomes, metrics, and methods are listed in Table 7 and will serve to evaluate
whether hiring manager needs are being met. An organizational goal is for internal outcomes to
be accomplished by providing job aids, information, and increasing one-on-one support from
human resources recruiters; it is expected that the completion of internal outcomes will result in
external outcomes.

FUNDRAISER DIVERSITY IN HIGHER ED 69

Table 7
Outcomes, Metrics, and Methods for Internal and External Outcomes
Outcome Metric(s) Method(s)
Internal Outcomes
1. Increased hiring
managers’ knowledge of
candidate recruitment
process.
Post-hire survey filled out by
hiring manager regarding
recruitment process.
Human resources to share
recruitment strategy during
initial information call.
2. Increased hiring
managers’ knowledge of
where positions are being
posted.
Number of email confirmations
received after posting single
opening on non-traditional job
site platforms.
Human resources to list names
of alternative/non-traditional
platforms during initial
information call.
3. Increased dialogue
between hiring managers
and human resources
during recruitment
process.
Number of email and phone
conversations logged per
opening.
Hiring manager and human
resources to check-in weekly to
determine if candidate pool is
diverse and if course-correction
is necessary.
4. Increased ability of
hiring managers to survey
candidate resumes that
would have been deemed
unqualified by human
resources due to lack of
direct development
experience.
1) Number of resumes
forwarded to hiring managers
for review by human resources.
2) number resumes subsequently
reviewed by hiring managers,
and 3) number of diverse
applications forwarded.
Human resources to forward
resumes of candidates that meet
minimum educational
requirements to hiring manager
once a week; human resources
recruiter and hiring manager to
determine diverse candidate
profile.
External Outcomes
1. Increased number of
diverse candidates who
apply as a result of
alternative/non-traditional
job opening placements.
Number of applications for each
frontline fundraiser position.
Job application to feature
required question asking where
candidate learned about
opening; human resources
recruiter and hiring manager to
determine diverse candidate
profile.
2. Increased number of
offers extended to diverse
fundraiser candidates.
Number of offers extended per
fiscal year.
Human resources recruiters and
hiring managers collaborating to
post listing on non-traditional
sites and using their networks to
attract diverse candidates to
apply.

FUNDRAISER DIVERSITY IN HIGHER ED 70

Level 3: Behavior
Critical behaviors. Level 3 evaluates and monitors workplace behavior after
interventions in an effort to assess what participants learn and apply (Kirkpatrick & Kirkpatrick,
2016). The hiring managers’ first critical behavior is that they will meet with a human resources
recruiter to discuss position posting options and consistently communicate during the vacancy.
The second critical behavior is that hiring managers will suggest list of sites for human resources
recruiter to post job opening, in addition to the traditional sites currently used by human
resources recruiters. The third critical behavior is that hiring managers will review all candidate
resumes forwarded by human resources recruiters that meet the minimum requirements, instead
of a shortlist of resumes forwarded. The metrics, methods, and timing of stakeholder critical
behavior are listed in Table 8 below.
Table 8
Critical Behaviors, Metrics, Methods, and Timing for Evaluation
Critical Behavior Metric(s)
Method(s)
Timing
1) Hiring managers will meet with
human resources recruiter to
discuss position posting options
one-on-one and consistently
communicate until position is
filled.
Number of
meetings/subseque
nt follow-up
communication
totals for
fundraiser
postings.
Hiring manager will
provide feedback
regarding human
resources recruiter
communication.
Initial meeting before
position is posted,
followed by weekly
updates. Overall
feedback to be
forwarded one week
after position has been
filled.
2) After reviewing human
resources recruiter posting list,
hiring managers will suggest list
of sites for human resources
recruiter to post job opening.
Number of sites to
which position is
posted that match
suggested list.
Hiring manager will
be forwarded
candidate applications
from non-traditional
sites to determine if
qualified candidates
are applying.
List will be suggested
during initial meeting
and follow-up will be
conducted weekly
until position has been
filled.
3) Hiring managers will review all
candidate resumes forwarded by
human resources recruiters that
meet the minimum education
requirements, instead of a small
number of resumes forwarded.
Number of
resumes
forwarded to
hiring managers.
Hiring manager will
evaluate all resumes.
Resumes will be
forwarded to hiring
managers once a
week.
FUNDRAISER DIVERSITY IN HIGHER ED 71

Required Drivers
Reinforcement, encouragement, rewarding, and monitoring are required as an integrated
package after training (Kirkpatrick & Kirkpatrick, 2016). Development unit leadership, hiring
manager peers, human resources recruiters, and university leadership can provide support and
accountability to hiring managers, incorporating the required drivers above for effectiveness.
Reinforcement is used for participants to recall and reconnect with information presented during
training. Encouragement provides participants with coaching and mentoring. Rewarding
provides recognition for accomplishments. Lastly, monitoring creates accountability after
training.
Table 9
Required Drivers to Support Critical Behaviors
Method(s) Timing
Critical Behaviors Supported
1, 2, 3 Etc.
Reinforcing
Create a job aid for each
position opening that is filled
out and communicates hiring
manager-human resources
recruiter meeting and weekly
follow-ups
Ongoing until position filled 1, 2, 3, 4
Forward updated information
hiring managers on non-
traditional job site postings
Continuously 2, 3
Encouraging
Feedback from hiring
managers will reorient human
resources recruiters for
success during next job
opening cycle
Ongoing after each position is
filled
1
Monitoring
Number of resumes forwarded
to each hiring manager will be
recorded according to site
referral and compared to other
searches.
Ongoing until position is
filled.
4
FUNDRAISER DIVERSITY IN HIGHER ED 72

Organizational Support
In order for implementation of the required drivers listed above, the organization must
provide support to stakeholders. First, a new recruitment process checklist and timeline must be
created and approved in order to address diversity as a key characteristic of the fundraising
search. In addition, current training hosted by human resources recruiters twice a year must
present additional information about best practices and emerging approaches to diverse hiring.
Also, applications that resulted from posting vacancies to non-traditional sites should be tallied
per job opening to determine return on expectations for hiring managers. Finally, time during
quarterly development unit meetings must be set aside for the newly created peer committee to
model successful searches and draw a connection to the university’s goal of staff, faculty, and
student diversity.
Level 2: Learning
Learning goals. Upon completion of the recommendations hiring managers will have the
ability to:
1. Implement the job aid checklist to search for and identify diverse candidates on non-
traditional job sites. (P)
2. Monitor collaboration with human resources recruiters by using the candidate job aid
checklist to determine if diverse candidates are applying. (P)
3. Critique human resources recruiter collaboration process via post-hire feedback via
developed instruments. (P)
4. Monitor effectiveness of non-traditional job site postings by reviewing number of
resumes received from diverse candidates. (P)
FUNDRAISER DIVERSITY IN HIGHER ED 73

5. Value their ability to increase number of diverse recruitments and hires based on
feedback provided in instruments. (Expectancy/Value)
6. Attribute hiring success to relationship with human resources recruiters and believe
enhanced collaboration is helpful in meeting recruiting and hiring goals. (Goal Setting)
Program. In order to accomplish the learning goals above, hiring manager knowledge
and motivation must be further developed. A two-pronged intervention approach will create
opportunities for ongoing knowledge and skill acquisition; (a) hiring managers who are currently
seeking a candidate will have enhanced support from human resources recruiters, and (b) human
resources will provide all prospective hiring managers with information on diverse hiring
practices and trends, regardless of whether they are searching for a new fundraiser. The latter is
especially important since turnover in the field is high and prospective hiring managers will be
engaging in their own search within an average of eighteen months, as previously discussed in
the literature review. Providing knowledge and skills on an ongoing basis will ensure prospective
hiring managers are informed of current trends and best practices, which will proactively serve to
reduce cognitive load when there is an opening on their team.
When there is an opening, updated information and job aids must be provided to hiring
managers by human resources recruiters. After the initial one-on-one meeting with the hiring
manager to determine needs and definitions of diversity, a job aid should be created by the
human resources recruiter for each opening. This job aid should contain specific information on
the type of candidate the hiring manager is looking for and websites to which the job opening
should be posted. Human resources recruiters will also forward all resumes with qualifying
educational requirements to the hiring manager to allow the latter to evaluate all candidates; this
will ensure that hiring managers are themselves able to determine if past experience will align
FUNDRAISER DIVERSITY IN HIGHER ED 74

with job function, as human resources recruiters oftentimes are unable to make this assessment
and automatically disqualify candidates if they do not have fundraising work experience. Human
resources recruiters will follow up with hiring managers to forward candidate resumes on a
weekly basis until the position has been filled. Feedback centered on the recruitment and hiring
process will be forwarded to the human resources unit after the job has been filled, allowing this
information to be used to calibrate effort for subsequent searches.
Regardless of whether there is a vacancy on their team, hiring managers will receive
education and information throughout the year. Specific information on diversity hiring practices
can be presented during hiring trainings that are already hosted biannually by the human
resources unit. University and development leadership can visit these trainings to further
message the importance of considering diversity during the recruitment and hiring process. Time
at these meetings can be earmarked to showcase successful searches and present information
researched by the peer committee. This peer committee will meet once a month for 2 years and
will present findings to all hiring managers. Ongoing information about hiring practices and team
diversity can be sent to hiring managers digitally, exposing them to education and new
information on an ongoing basis.
Components of learning. Evaluation for learning methods are listed in Table 10 below.
Knowledge and motivation are required for hiring managers to use what they have learned
during the recruitment and hiring process. It is necessary for conceptual and procedural
knowledge acquisition and motivation to be assessed in order to evaluate program success.

FUNDRAISER DIVERSITY IN HIGHER ED 75

Table 10
Components of Learning for the Program
Method(s) or Activity(ies) Timing
Declarative Knowledge “I know it.”
Report out during hiring training sessions
about hiring manager-HR recruiter
relationship.
During the training to ensure all information
presented is understood.
Procedural Skills “I can do it right now.”
Ask hiring managers to search for one non-
traditional job site on their phone and share
finding with group.
During each training small-group breakout
session; then shared with large group.
Attitude “I believe this is worthwhile.”
Survey hiring managers before job is posted
and after hire to determine if new hiring
manager-human resources recruiter
relationship is determined useful.
Before job posting and after position is filled.
Confidence “I think I can do it on the job.”
Dedicated time to discuss hiring manager
concerns about hiring process.
During training.
Survey hiring managers after candidate is hired
to determine if they feel their involvement in
the recruitment process is deemed worthwhile.
After position is filled.
Commitment “I will do it on the job.”
Ask hiring managers who have worked with
HR recruiters to share their experience during
trainings.
During each training session.

Level 1: Reaction
Assessing whether hiring managers felt the learning activity was beneficial will not only
allow them to feel a sense of buy-in for future planned events but will also provide an open
forum for communication about quality and relevance. Table 11 below is a plan to evaluate
participant reaction.

FUNDRAISER DIVERSITY IN HIGHER ED 76

Table 11
Components to Measure Reactions to the Program
Method(s) or Tool(s) Timing
Engagement
Request for topics covered. One week before training.
Training survey for all hiring managers. One week after training and quarterly
meetings.
Relevance
Small-group discussion and reporting out. During each training session.
Training survey for hiring managers. One week after training and quarterly
meetings.
Customer Satisfaction
Training survey for hiring managers. After each training session.
Post-hiring survey for current hiring managers. After each filled position.

Evaluation Tools
Prior to and immediately following the program implementation. One week before
human resources-sponsored hiring training, current and prospective hiring managers will be
emailed and asked to forward any diversity-related topics they would like to be covered (see
Appendix F for sample email prompt). For Levels 1 and 2, during hiring trainings small-group
discussions will allow hiring managers to discuss and report on learnings, allowing the human
resources unit to assess learning and reaction about new diversity-related material.
Delayed for a period after the program implementation. One week after each human
resources hiring training or quarterly meeting at which diversity hiring practices are discussed,
current and prospective hiring managers will be emailed a survey (see Appendix G for sample
survey questions). The survey will include a question asking hiring managers if they are
currently engaged in an active search, which will allow results for evaluation on how useful the
learning activities are for stakeholders who are in the recruitment phase or will soon be making
hiring decisions. The blended open and scaled evaluation will assess whether hiring managers
found the trainings or quarterly meeting helpful (Level 1), learned any new material or skills that
FUNDRAISER DIVERSITY IN HIGHER ED 77

will help them during the recruitment or hiring process (Level 2), have implemented new
knowledge or skills during the recruitment process (Level 3), and have used their new
knowledge to attract diverse candidates to apply or have extended an offer to diverse candidates
(Level 4).
A different survey will be mailed out to hiring managers 3 days after they have extended
an offer that will focus on their feedback as customers of the enhanced recruitment and hiring
experience as provided by human resources (Level 4) and will gauge application of training
knowledge and skills as well (Levels 3 and 4; see Appendix H for survey questions).
Data Analysis and Reporting. The Level 4 goal is for hiring managers and human
resources recruiters to attract diverse candidates to apply for postings, resulting in the extension
of an offer to a diverse candidate. After each search, the human resources recruiter will compile
data that focus on how many candidates applied to each non-traditional job website. The
recruiter will also forward this information to the peer committee for analysis. At the end of each
fiscal year, the data will be presented at the all-staff retreat and successes and challenges will be
addresses. This analysis approach will be applied to Levels 3, 2, and 1 as well.

FUNDRAISER DIVERSITY IN HIGHER ED 78

APPENDIX F: EMAIL TO HIRING MANAGERS REGISTERED IN REQUIRED
BIANNUAL HIRING MANAGER TRAINING
Dear _________________,
Thank you for registering for the upcoming hiring manager training. In an effort to
address the importance of staff diversity and its impact on the development unit, I ask that you
forward any questions or topics you would like covered at the training.
Your suggestions will be addressed at the upcoming session without use of your name.

FUNDRAISER DIVERSITY IN HIGHER ED 79

APPENDIX G: POST-TRAINING EVALUATION TOOL FOR EXISTING HIRING
MANAGER TRAINING SESSIONS
For each of the questions below, circle the response that indicates how you feel about the
statements.
Strongly
Disagree
Strongly
Agree
The training held my interest. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
The training presented information and
procedures I will use.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
The training motivated me to learn new
practices.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
The training motivated me to collaborate
more closely with human resources
recruiters when I am searching for a
candidate.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
The training presented new information
and processes I did not know about.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
I am motivated to diversify my team. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
I believe this training will help be
diversify my team.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
I will recommend this training to other
hiring managers.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Please answer the following:
1. What is one new concept you learned at the training?
2. What information is irrelevant based on your recruiting and hiring needs?
3. What would you like to see covered in more depth at future trainings?

FUNDRAISER DIVERSITY IN HIGHER ED 80

APPENDIX H: POST-HIRING EVALUATION TOOL FOR HIRING MANAGERS
For each of the questions below, circle the response that indicates how you feel about the
statements.
Strongly
Disagree
Strongly
Agree
The human resources recruiter understood
the type of candidate I was searching for.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
The human resources recruiter was
creative about searching for the type of
candidate I was hoping to hire.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
The human resources recruiter contacted
me at least once a week until the offer
was extended.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
I felt supported throughout the process. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
This new hiring manager-human
resources recruiter model is more
effective than past searches I have been
involved in.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
This new approach will help increase
team diversity over time.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
I am motivated to increase or maintain
diversity on my team.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
I will advocate for and use this search
model in the future.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Please answer the following:
4. Did you hire a diverse candidate? Why or why not?
5. What was the best part of the relationship with your human resources recruiter?
6. What would you like to see improved upon during your next candidate search?

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Asset Metadata

Creator Sadeghi, Dounia (author)

Core Title Impressions of diversity: frontline fundraiser hiring in higher education

School Rossier School of Education

Degree Doctor of Education

Degree Program Organizational Change and Leadership (On Line)

Publication Date 08/06/2018

Defense Date 05/25/2018

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag advancement,Development,development officers,diversity,Fundraising,Higher education,hiring managers,hiring practices,human resources,OAI-PMH Harvest,public universities,recruitment

Format application/pdf (imt)

Language English

Contributor Electronically uploaded by the author (provenance)

Advisor Hirabayashi, Kimberly (committee chair), Combs, Wayne (committee member), Tambascia, Tracy (committee member)

Creator Email douniasadeghi@gmail.com,dsadeghi@usc.edu

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c89-57248

Unique identifier UC11671407

Identifier etd-SadeghiDou-6672.pdf (filename),usctheses-c89-57248 (legacy record id)

Legacy Identifier etd-SadeghiDou-6672.pdf

Dmrecord 57248

Document Type Dissertation

Format application/pdf (imt)

Rights Sadeghi, Dounia

Type texts

Source University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

Access Conditions The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the a...

Repository Name University of Southern California Digital Library

Repository Location USC Digital Library, University of Southern California, University Park Campus MC 2810, 3434 South Grand Avenue, 2nd Floor, Los Angeles, California 90089-2810, USA