Private Foundations - Coursework Example

In the present age, community colleges are gaining popularity amidst escalating costs of conventional four-year learning institutions. Starting off from a community college and later joining a four-year institution has become an effective way of managing the cost of education.  However, community colleges enjoy no wide pool of funding like four-year colleges and universities. Philanthropic and private foundations play a vital role in funding community colleges today. According to Bers, Head, and Palmer (2014), community colleges are establishing private foundations to rally for private funding.

Foundations enable community schools to establish a board of directors (BOD) with a particular focus on raising funds for the school rather than the operation of the college.  The members can turn out to be crucial donors to the college. The foundations manage alumni relations, solicit gifts and also drive scholarship programs and special events. Foundations also maintain focus, market colleges, create donor choices, and invest endowment funds. The separate foundations also establish a management structure for the investment portfolio of the college, brand the colleges and create a separate fund pool, and limit liability. They also separate finances for community colleges (Bers, Head & Palmer, 2014).

The approach used by philanthropy, particularly private foundations, to assess community college financial health is appropriate. Community college leaders must work towards ensuring fiscal viability for their colleges. As such, performance-based funding is a critical way of ensuring that the colleges remain sustainable and that they do not over-rely on tuition fees. Colleges need financial advice to succeed (Barr & McClellan, 2011).  It thus remains important to assess the effectiveness of colleges both on the dimension of education and fiscal performance. The approach by philanthropy and private foundations ensures accountability on the part of the colleges amidst the numerous financial challenges that they face.