logo
  • Nonprofit News
  • Management
    • Boards and Governance
    • Communication
      • Framing & Narratives
    • Ethics
    • Financial Management
    • Fund Development
    • Leadership
    • Technology
  • Philanthropy
    • Corporate Social Responsibility
    • Donor-Advised Funds
    • Foundations
    • Impact Investing
    • Research
    • Workplace Giving
  • Policy
    • Education
    • Healthcare
    • Housing
    • Government
    • Taxes
  • Economic Justice
    • Economy Remix
    • Economy Webinars
    • Community Benefits
    • Economic Democracy
    • Environmental Justice
    • Fair Finance
    • Housing Rights
    • Land Justice
    • Poor People’s Rights
    • Tax Fairness
  • Racial Equity
  • Social Movements
    • Community Development
    • Community Organizing
    • Culture Change
    • Education
    • Environment
    • Gender Equality
    • Immigrant Rights
    • Indigenous Rights
    • Labor
    • LGBTQ+
    • Racial Justice
    • Youth Activism
  • About Us
  • Log in
  • CONTENT TYPES
  • Webinars
    • Leading Edge Membership
    • Sponsored Webinars
    • Economic Justice
  • Tiny Spark Podcast
  • Magazine
    • Magazine
    • Leading Edge Membership
Donate
Partnerships

Iowa Wesleyan Stakeholders Construct a Temporary Bridge to the Future

Ruth McCambridge
November 16, 2018
Share15
Tweet
Share
Email
15 Shares
Metropolitan Museum of Art [CC0]

November 15, 2018; Des Moines Register

On Monday, NPQ suggested two responses that could follow the alarm set off by the president of Iowa Wesleyan University that the school could close this year if it does not raise enough in bridge funding:

The president’s statement can be viewed either as a gauntlet thrown or a bell tolling, as the university’s future now lies to some extent in the hands and hearts of stakeholders. Once you let the students, including international scholars, know the state of the school, they either need to mobilize as they did at Sweet Briar College, eventually raising the capital to get the space to restructure the college, or they need to start making other plans.

So, it was encouraging news yesterday when the board announced that the small, private, liberal arts university in southeast Iowa had received sufficient donations from alumni, community, and others to move ahead, albeit with an eye to innovative restructuring, including new partnerships. Among the stakeholders making gifts are an Iowa Wesleyan professor and alumnus who gave $500,000, and the Mount Pleasant Area Chamber of Alliance, which donated $120,000. Just as encouraging is the fact that a new partnership with USDA Rural Development is also in the mix.

Again, this reminds us to some extent of Sweet Briar College’s quick organizing work among stakeholders when the board voted to close that institution in 2015.

Steve Titus, the university’s president, said in a statement that many people and entities banded together to keep Iowa Wesleyan open. “We have been awed by the extraordinary response at this critical and historic moment,” he said. “Now it is time to get to work to ensure our future.” And, as we know from observing Sweet Briar, that work, done right, is hard and long, but also a deep and inspiring act of collective creativity.—Ruth McCambridge

Share15
Tweet
Share
Email
15 Shares

About The Author
Ruth McCambridge

Ruth is Editor in Chief of the Nonprofit Quarterly. Her background includes forty-five years of experience in nonprofits, primarily in organizations that mix grassroots community work with policy change. Beginning in the mid-1980s, Ruth spent a decade at the Boston Foundation, developing and implementing capacity building programs and advocating for grantmaking attention to constituent involvement.

Related
Why NPQ Readers Give…in Their Own Words
By The Editors
December 11, 2019
Building Partnerships in Indian Country through Relationships: Rules for the Road
By Sherry Salway Black
December 9, 2019
This Board’s Problem Is Not Odd—It’s Even
By Steve Dubb
November 18, 2019
Partnerships Help Indian Country Today Bring Native Voices to the Mainstream
By Steve Dubb
November 14, 2019
Four Kalamazoo Nonprofits Launch Shared Services Collaborative
By Chelsea Dennis
November 5, 2019
A Culture of Philanthropy is Writ Large in This Small Organization
By Ruth McCambridge
October 9, 2019
other posts by The Author
Boston Loses the Harriet Tubman House as Agency Struggles...
By Ruth McCambridge
December 12, 2019
A CEO’s Stakeholder Plea Calls on the Non-Cash Capital of...
By Ruth McCambridge
December 11, 2019
Univ. of Phoenix Must Pay $191M for Deceptive...
By Ruth McCambridge
December 11, 2019
A Series on Sensemaking Organizations
The Sensemaking Organization: Designing for Complexity
The Sensemaking Mindset: Improvisation over Strategy
Structuring for Sensemaking: The Power of Small Segments
logo
Donate
  • About
  • Contact
  • Newsletters
  • Write for NPQ
  • Advertise
  • Writers
  • Funders
  • Copyright Policy
  • Privacy Policy

Subscribe to View Webinars

We are using cookies to give you the best experience on our website.

 

Non Profit News | Nonprofit Quarterly
Powered by GDPR plugin
Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.

Strictly Necessary Cookies

Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.

If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.