News and Stories

Relationships Over Transactions 

FROM "UNITED IN MISSION" BY ELLEN N WOODS, CASE.ORG

Spokane Colleges is a community college district comprising Spokane Community College and Spokane Falls Community College, two accredited colleges, each with its own president. The Spokane Colleges district serves 20,000 students and covers more than 12,000 square miles, providing education services to urban, suburban, and rural communities in Eastern Washington state, U.S.

“We are a very complex organization,” says Heather Beebe-Stevens, Executive Director, Spokane Colleges Foundation. “We have over 100 programs, everything you can imagine from nursing to welding. We take our lead from the chancellor. My role is to understand, embrace, and translate into philanthropic terms the priorities he has set for the system.”



“It can be hard sometimes to keep everyone on the same page,” says Kevin Brockbank, Spokane Colleges Chancellor. “We work at coordination and prioritization to ensure we all speak the same language with our philanthropy messaging, and that all donor relationships go through the Foundation.”

To foster that idea, Beebe-Stevens points to a two-day training program for leaders across the colleges.

“Kevin authorized and very firmly supported this opportunity for presidents, deans, and vice presidents to learn about fundraising and the daily work of the Foundation and how they can be an active agent of donor relations,” she says.

The program, says Brockbank, was about “getting more people in our community involved in making connections. Not many people have real experience with giving. I want our employees to be part of that rewarding experience too—to be comfortable with it, to feel the joy in it.”

Brockbank and Beebe-Stevens began their partnership nearly eight years ago when she took on the lead position at the Spokane Colleges Foundation and he had just become President of SCC. One of the things she appreciates most about the working relationship is that “he has our back. That has a huge impact because it lets us take some risks knowing there is safety there.”

By way of example, she mentions a recent new initiative, the Tools for Tradespeople pilot project with the CNC/Machining program, which started when a long-standing donor wanted to make an impactful gift toward student success. As an incentive, students can keep the tools they used as part of their job-skills training. “While I do believe this will prove to be great for students, we could find that this investment has no impact on enrollment, retention, or completion. But we are allowed to test something and to admit it’s not the right thing. And that comes from our chancellor.”

Further describing Brockbank’s support for the Foundation’s work, Beebe-Stevens says, “He understands the long haul. He wants relational fundraising, not transactional fundraising. He understands that people will give more when they feel it more in their heart. That allows us, when necessary, to take that extra bit of time to help a donor find that right thing that makes their heart sing when they write a check, rather than closing a transaction during an imposed timeline to help the bottom line.”

“The Foundation provides an entry point for people in our community having a sense of belonging and a true connection to our institutions and our students,” adds Brockbank. “If we do it right, if we are authentic, the money will take care of itself.”