Donors with cognitive impairment: an inevitable situation for higher education fundraisers

This dissertation explored the perceptions of higher education fundraisers as it pertained to their interactions with elderly donors exhibiting signs of cognitive impairment. Significant autonomy, lack of resources, and minimal oversight in their roles result in fundraisers often being forced to make their own determinations about what interactions are appropriate when encountering an older donor they suspect has cognitive impairment issues, which can have substantial ethical and legal impacts if not handled correctly. The dissertation examined how often fundraisers in higher education institutions interact with elderly donors when cognitive impairment is suspected or confirmed, whether the perceived appropriateness of common fundraising interactions change between fundraisers and donors where cognitive impairment is suspected or confirmed based on gender or years worked in the profession, and how fundraisers perceive the need for a written code of conduct when interacting with elderly donors who may have cognitive impairment issues. This study utilized a survey instrument that collected qualitative and quantitative data, with follow-up interviews that triangulated and contextualized the survey data. The study found that many fundraisers sampled have interacted with elderly donors that they suspected or confirmed had cognitive impairment issues. However, there were no statistically significant differences in the perception of the appropriateness of behaviors based on gender or years in the profession of the study sample. An overwhelming majority of study participants agreed with the belief that fundraisers need ethical guidelines on how to handle interactions with elderly donors who may have cognitive impairment issues.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Educ Policy, Orgzn & Leadrshp

Grantor

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2025

Author dc:creator

• Adams, Tara Elise

Contributors dc:contributor

• Lindgren, Samantha
• Justice, Patricia
• Delaney, Jennifer
• Kang, Hyun-Sook

• fundraiser, higher education, cognitive impairment, norm, code of conduct, donor

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2025 Tara Elise Adams

Language dc:language

en

Handle dc:identifier

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/132529

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/132529