Resources for Dealing with Competing Priorities
Competing priorities for funding dollars exist within each university and college/school of nursing. Examples of such issues include university-wide campaigns, which may limit the ability of Centers to promote their needs as priorities within the larger community at a specific time and promote on-going competition for development dollars between nursing and other health care disciplines within their academic institution. Additional competing priorities arise related to the allocation of time for fundraising activities versus time spent on the development of research grants and the accomplishment of the educational mission. These priorities are exacerbated by economic downturns.
Three key ways of dealing with competing funding priorities within schools of nursing and across university campuses are:
- developing a strategic plan for fundraising that fits within the context of the school/college of nursing and university as a whole
- developing marketing strategies that broaden the potential for donor involvement
- developing relationships that promote collaborative approaches to the acquisition of shared resources
