The purpose of this ethnographic case study was to explore the fundraising roles of 3 tenured academic department heads within a College of Education at a large, public, research-focused, doctoral-granting university. The following research questions were used to conduct the study: (a) What roles, if any, do academic department heads presently have within fundraising efforts? and (b) What opportunities and/or resistances, if any, do academic department heads report about fundraising responsibilities? Through site observations, in-depth interviews, and site document collection, the researcher gathered information about the roles and experiences of academic department heads with regard to fundraising activities. Participants engaged in fundraising by acting as facilitators, working behind the scenes to connect donors to faculty research. However, the department heads believed that they lacked important skills to be effective and did not have the time to commit to development activities.