Grant and Foundation Partners

Foundations and grantors working to improve higher education can leverage NACUBO’s expertise, and trusted relationships with college and university Chief Business Officers.

As one of the largest higher education associations in North America, NACUBO provides our grant and foundation partners with access to people who understand finance and operational practices in higher education and have the ability to shape practices that can transform the sector.

NACUBO’s board, comprised solely of experienced CBOs, recognizes the important role that foundations and funders play in education today. As our grant-funded work expands, so too is our infrastructure to support the work. NACUBO is a thought partner and gateway to hundreds of colleges and universities who are striving to improve outcomes for students and ensure their sustainability.

NACUBO's Expertise

NACUBO brings deep expertise to its partnerships with philanthropic organizations and foundations working to address the systemic challenges facing higher education in North America. Our network of senior administrators and practitioners, people meeting the day-to-day challenges facing students and schools, are integral to the projects and programs supported by our foundation partners and funders.

Partnership with NACUBO can support:

Design and production of resources and tools to support strong student and institutional outcomes
Keynotes and conference workshops
Policy insights and influence
Research

Our Process

Grants and special projects are championed by NACUBO’s Senior Director for Grants Management, and their team of dedicated NACUBO practitioners.

Projects are managed by skilled project management professionals and implemented by teams comprised of subject matter experts who have proven experience and dedicated capacity, ensuring projects are completed on time and within budget.

By leveraging a mix of full-time staff and part-time contracted talent, NACUBO ensures that investments made by foundations and funders are used as promised and aligned with expected outcomes.

Grants Currently in Process

NACUBO's commitment to efficient grant management; optimizing resources for good.

Strategic Finance for Equitable Student Success Initiative

Ascendium Education Group, lead funder

College Futures, funding 4 California schools’ participation

Trellis Foundation, funding 2 Texas schools’ participation

In 2022 NACUBO was awarded three 3-year grants to produce a bank of resources to strengthen schools’ ability to analyze financial and student outcomes-related data. The funders involved, Ascendium Education Foundation, Trellis Foundation, and College Futures, elected to work with NACUBO to develop pragmatic approaches that can be employed by CBO’s and their academic colleagues, to evaluate and sustain student equity and success initiatives.

The tools and resources developed through this project are being built and tested, and will be fully released to the public in 2024. NACUBO will offer free access to a robust bank of guides and software templates. Resources are being designed to support schools in varied stages of data readiness. Users will have access to foundational content to support data infrastructure development, pre-built Power BI templates, and Excel workbooks to support analysis and resource prioritization to support improved student outcomes. Twenty-six schools, rural, urban, 4-year schools, and community colleges are working together as a community of practice to refine the design and test resources.

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Featured Institutions

NACUBO will facilitate the work of a Network Improvement Community (NIC) comprised of twenty-six colleges and universities. Each school’s Chief Business Officers/Chief Financial Officers (CBOs/CFOs) will champion this initiative on their campus, engaging their campus peers who oversee equity, success, and completion activities as their respective institutions. Solutions and supporting resources will be collaboratively refined and tested by multiple schools, all members of the NIC, to ensure broad applicability and scalability of solutions.

Our Team

Jim Hundrieser

Dr. Jim Hundrieser is the inaugural vice president for consulting and business development at the National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO). At NACUBO, he matches higher education institutions with new strategies to that focus on growing revenue, building capacity, providing pragmatic solutions, conducting operational assessments, and increasing student success and completion.

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Kelli Rainey

Kelli S. Rainey, Ed.D. serves as the Senior Director for Grants Management at NACUBO. In her current role she is leading a multi-foundation, multi-campus, project to develop frameworks, tools, and models that will change how higher education institutions strategically and sustainably finance equitable student outcomes. 

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Prior Grants

Learn more about past projects completed by NACUBO and its institutional partners.

Student Success Planning Grant – Ascendium Education Group

In 2020 NACUBO was awarded a one-year $1.1 million grant from Ascendium Education Group. The funded supported qualitative research that engaged 90 campus leaders, representing 55 colleges and universities that serve at least 40% Pell eligible student. As the result of this work, an approach was developed to produce strategic financial frameworks, tools, and models that can improve student outcomes and strengthen financial sustainability of student success initiatives.