Anyone following the national press about intercollegiate athletics knows that there are big changes playing out in this arena.
In a recent straw poll and subsequent virtual meeting of the 25 members of AGB’s Council of Foundation Leaders (CFL) several post-COVID and strategic issues facing institutionally related foundation executives and their respective board chairs over the next 12 to 18 months were uncovered.
The topic of the August session of the AGB Council of Board Chairs was “Anticipating Strained Board-Constituent Relations.” The primary question put to the group was: “Are You Ready?” In advance of the session, the following list of potential factors impacting the campus environment and its constituents was offered to give participants opportunities and challenges to consider. Council ambassadors David Maxwell and Jill Derby offered an overview of these topics while emphasizing the challenges institutional leaders and boards face in addressing these issues as they emerge in an environment that has changed (and continues to change) in significant ways. There is definitely consensus that new approaches and creative solutions are needed in this post-pandemic world—across all sectors of higher education.