The Politics of Fundraising: An Organizational Ethnography of Intercollegiate Boosters

• Other Authors: Bass, Jordan R. (authoraut)
• Format: Others
• Language: English; English
• Published: Florida State University
• Subjects: Sports sciences
• Online Access: http://purl.flvc.org/fsu/fd/FSU_migr_etd-7290

For this dissertation, I conducted an organizational ethnography of the Big South Boosters department. Executives within the department granted me access to their organizational operations over a four month time period. A June to September timeframe was chosen because it was identified by members of the department as the "busiest" and "most important" for their fundraising efforts. I elected to study booster department operations due to the complex inter- and intra-organizational dynamics of this specific type of organization. Athletic departments are increasingly relying on external funding (e.g., tuition reallocations, student fees, public funding) to offset their operating costs. Funding athletic departments with university and student funds in consistently being met with resistance and is causing athletic department administrators to utilize alternative methods to cover the expenses (athletes, coaches, support staff, travel, etc.) associated with college athletics. Thus, booster departments, organizations charged with raising external funds from individuals and corporations, are as important as ever in modern college athletics landscape. For this research project, I became a participant (as) observer within the Big South Boosters department. Through ethnographic methods such as observation and interviews, I analyzed the organizational operations and dynamics that drive the representations of culture that were created by members of the department. Drawing upon a circuit of culture model, I examined the role that organizational processes (such as organizational communication, political skill, organizational politics, and organizational identification) played in the production and effectiveness of branding and fundraising activities. === A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Sport Management in partial fulfillment of the Doctor of Philosophy. === Spring Semester, 2013. === March 8, 2013. === Athletics, Boosters, Communication, Ethnography, Fundraising, Politics === Includes bibliographical references. === Joshua I. Newman, Professor Directing Dissertation; Michael D. Giardina, Committee Member; Jeffrey D. James, Committee Member.