In the interest of raising more investment funds from large corporations, the University has decided to create a new position for managing corporate relations for all Hopkins schools and hospitals.
Such a position has not existed at the University for the last six years. Meanwhile, corporate giving has reached a plateau in comparison to peer institutions.
"While some of the divisions have sought corporate support for priority needs, there has not been a central institutions-wide focus on corporate fundraising," said Debbie Perrone, director of corporate and foundation relations.
The new director of corporate relations will be in charge of increasing investment dollars for Johns Hopkins from some of the country's largest corporations by enhancing mutually beneficial partnerships between these companies and the University.
"They're so large," said Fritz Schroeder, the senior associate vice president of development and alumni relations. A new position was necessary to oversee the increasingly complex relationships between big businesses and academia.
According to Schroeder, the new director will be a "broker" of sorts who can manage the often diverse interests that corporations have in forming financial partnerships with major research universities. It will provide a more comprehensive way of for Hopkins and its corporate donors to relate to one another.
"Some divisions have established strong relationships with specific corporations, we look forward to building new partnerships with companies that might have broader institutional interests as well," Perrone said.
This initiative is part of a larger trend in which corporations are becoming increasingly strategic in their giving to universities and other nonprofits. According to Schroeder, corporations are commonly interested in funding scholarships and, especially, research projects.
This allows them increased opportunity to hire students out of college, garner knowledge of scientific and technological breakthroughs and serve their philanthropic interests by supporting public health and disease, research or environmental projects.
By creating this position, Schroeder said, "We can better address their multiple interests through creating stronger partnerships."
When corporations give money to Hopkins, they want to serve both their business and charitable interests. A large and academically diverse research university such as Hopkins presents them an ideal opportunity to do so.
"We match up their interests with opportunities we have," Schroeder said.
According to CURRENTS, the magazine of the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE), corporate donors today are seeing their donations less as gifts and more as investments.
"Increasingly, we view spending as investing, and we expect a decent return on our investment," wrote John Pulley in an article for the September 2007 edition of CURRENTS.
Data collected in the Voluntary Support for Education Survey by the Council for Aid to Education shows that total contributions from corporations and their foundations to higher education increased by 4.5 percent from 2005 to 2006.
Some have questioned whether research could be "bought" at Hopkins. However, Schroeder said that "there are very much checks and balances that would prevent outside organizations from having undue influence" on research projects. University policy stipulates that review processes must take place before research grants are sought to prevent conflicts of interest.
Corporate-targeted development does go hand-in-hand with forming corporate partnerships.
"They are one and the same," said Aris Melissaratos, senior advisor to the president for enterprise development.
"Development offices see an opportunity to create partnerships that are lasting and identify packages of research that may appeal to some of the corporate leaders." Corporate leaders want to fund projects that will serve their dual humanitarian and business objectives.
"We do work with the top companies, particularly on the medical side," Melissaratos said. These primarily include pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies that sponsor research projects and have licensing deals with the University in which products of academic research are incorporated into their products. According to Melissaratos, this has been going on for a long period of time. The Development Office is simply seeking to expand and improve what has already been happening.
The new position of director of corporate relations is expected to be filled by no later than March 1 of next year. The individual to be hired ideally would have both fundraising and corporate experience.
"We want them to have sat on both sides of the table," Schroeder said, as well as to have a "broad variety of understanding" of all academic areas and an ability to work closely with faculty undertaking research in all departments.
"Once the new director is hired, one of his or her priorities will be to document the full scope of existing relationships," Perrone said.
This development has arisen in the midst of a major fundraising campaign launched on July 1, 2000. The goal is to raise $3.2 billion by December 2008. As of October 2007 the campaign has brought in $2.9 billion.
The creation of this new fundraising position is reflected in the larger context of the need to raise an additional 300 million dollars by the official end of the campaign. Fundraising at JHU is not set up so that donations are channeled into a "common fund" for the to be distributed as necessary.
Rather, it is the donors who must specify how their money will be spent. This is why, despite having raised $2.9 billion in the past seven years, Hopkins cannot automatically use some of the money for a much wished-for tuition decrease.
