How Systematic Is Special-Collections Fundraising?

p strongSpecial collections pursue external funding, but proposal volume and staff time remain modest enough to limit growth./strong/p p Primary Research Group found that local or regional private foundations were the most frequently pursued source, cited by 42.31%, followed by major gifts through development offices at 34.62%. Federal grants and annual giving or Friends-group support were each pursued by 26.92%. Only 7.69% reported no active pursuit of external funds./p p Activity was generally light. In the preceding 24 months, 23.08% had submitted no proposals, 30.77% submitted one or two and 26.92% submitted three to five. Digitization was the most common project target, cited by 53.85%. Looking forward, alumni and major donors ranked as a priority for 57.69%, while local and regional foundations were cited by 53.85%./p p The binding constraint is capacity. Insufficient staff time was named as a barrier by 57.69%, and 53.85% devoted fewer than five hours per month to fundraising or grants. A department cannot build a sustained pipeline if proposal work begins only when an opportunity happens to appear./p p Leaders can start with a rolling calendar, a short menu of fundable projects and a clear division of work with the development office. The goal is not maximum proposal volume it is a repeatable process that matches credible projects with the funders most likely to value them./p p  /p