Although scholars have examined marketing encroachment on public relat
ions in the for-profit sector, little research has been done on encroa
chment by fund raising in the nonprofit sector. This article documents
fund-raising encroachment and theorizes about external and internal f
actors contributing to it. It concludes that role as a technician, per
ception of public relations as a secondary function, organizational tu
rbulence, and dependency on private gifts lead to the takeover of the
public relations department. Kelly is an associate professor in the De
partment of Communication at the University of Southwestern Louisiana,
and former fund-raising official at the University of Maryland, from
where she earned her doctoral degree in public relations.