Frank Ojwang

University fundraising is a collective effort that thrives on teamwork, trust, and shared purpose. At USIU-Africa, the journey toward becoming a preferred and credible grant recipient begins with recognizing that fundraising is, indeed, a team sport.

Successful and strategic fundraising engagement starts with a clear institutional vision and/ or strategy. Donors and grant-making bodies are more likely to invest in universities that demonstrate coherence between their strategic goals, academic mission, and community impact. Every division plays a role in telling a unified story about who USIU-Africa is, what it stands for, and how donor investment translates into measurable change. This comes in the wake of the 5-for-5 project, a joint strategic effort aimed at achieving optimal non-tuition revenue for the university.

Becoming a strong grant recipient requires not just ideas but working, facilitative systems. This means strengthening internal capacities to be facilitative of all activities linked to proposal development, financial management, monitoring, and reporting. When teams across the university collaborate or partner with each other, whether faculty developing project concepts or finance officers aligning budgets, USIU-Africa presents a strong, coordinated, and trustworthy front to donors. Such collaboration assures partners that their funds will be managed transparently, with accountability and impact at the forefront. Collaboration ensures that strengths are leveraged across the institution, resulting in fundable proposals developed and presented/ submitted to donors.

Additionally, success stories inspire giving and donations. The use of media channels to tell stories, such as the community service, can inspire commitment by various stakeholders who may wish to be part of a story that delivers change. Donors – individual or corporate- want to see how their support or donation changes or improves the lives of the disadvantaged in society, transforms classrooms, advances innovation, and so forth. By documenting and sharing stories from research breakthroughs, student achievements, and community outreach, the university builds a compelling case for ongoing and future funding. Every faculty member, student, and staff member contributes to this narrative of transformation. A suitable channel needs to be used for telling the story in a way that inspires giving or giving back, donation, or funding to scale up or scale out the positive change forecasted.

A team sport mindset is a philosophy that requires a change in the mentality of the university community. It means cultivating a culture of giving and gratitude within the institution through the various campaigns that require the commitment of time and/ or resources of faculty, staff, and students. When employees and/ or alumni support initiatives such as the Greening the Library project or the USIU-Africa half-marathon, they send a strong message to external funders: “We believe in our institution.” Internal participation builds credibility, signaling to donors that the university community is invested in its own growth. As members of this community, we are challenged from time to time to show our solidarity when we support various campaigns that are aimed at moving USIU-Africa to the next level.

Long-term donor relationships and engagements are built on clear, concise, and coherent communication, transparency, and shared values. Timely reporting, acknowledgment of support, and visible recognition help maintain donor confidence. The impediments to donor confidence, including bottlenecks that are noticeable, should be flagged in a timely manner without compromising the internal control ideals. Each interaction, whether through a progress update or a campus visit, becomes an opportunity to reinforce trust and demonstrate stewardship.

At its heart, fundraising for higher education institutions such as USIU-Africa is about people; their ideas, collaborations, and shared commitment to making education transformative and living up to the vision of education to take students places through the holistic world-class education offered therein. For USIU-Africa, the path to becoming a preferred grant recipient lies in this spirit of teamwork and not internal competition. When every division sees itself as part of the fundraising journey, the university becomes not just a grant applicant but a credible, inspiring, and impact-driven partner for donors within Kenya and worldwide.