Pursuit of mission: The rise and fall of elite nonprofit leadership

The University Circle Development Foundation (UCDF) was created in 1957 to implement a master plan for the development of Cleveland's University Circle district. Run by the presidents of three major institutions, UCDF was successful in coordinating land use and construction projects in its early years. However, its elite authority structure proved insular and inflexible when dealing with students, faculty, and adjacent neighborhoods, and it was dissolved in 1970.