ABSTRACT
One of the strategies an organization uses to reduce its dependence on the environment, according to S. P. Robbins, is to create boundary roles. He described boundary roles as those at the nexus of interaction between an organization and its environment. There is some evidence in the fund-raising literature that supports this approach to the fund raiser as an interpreter of the organization in a boundary role, who manages relationships through a process of social exchange. The horizontal structure recommended by J. E. Grunig provides a second important argument for redefining fund raising as a public relations specialization of donor relations. Focusing on higher education, there is an apparent danger in the current trend to hire fund raisers to head the institutional advancement function at colleges and universities. The chapter concludes that private institutions of higher education are generally more vulnerable than are public institutions, but that large and wealthy public and private research universities are least vulnerable.
