Friends and colleagues:
CASE continued to grow and prosper during the 2011-12 fiscal year, reaching a record 3,563 institutional members, increasing conference attendance and outperforming the operating budget.
Throughout the year, CASE worked assiduously to enhance our core services to meet the evolving needs of advancement professionals even as we expanded operations worldwide.
Within the first month of the new fiscal year, CASE announced plans to establish a formal presence in Latin America-CASE América Latina. We offered our first conferences in Dutch in the Netherlands and in Mandarin in China, and we received a Carnegie Corporation grant to continue our important work supporting advancement in Africa.
We also expanded our outreach to U.S. community colleges through a partnership with the Network of California Community College Foundations and the addition of resources specific to the needs of community college advancement professionals.
We continued to strengthen our research efforts in support of the profession; this work included the launch of the Advancement Investment Metrics Study detailing the return institutions receive from their budgetary support of advancement operations. We added a wealth of online resources, including sample collections and white papers, and published new books and downloadable materials to help members keep pace with rapid changes in the field.
We also kept members engaged through an expanding social media presence, including the CASE social media blog, Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook. And we continued to nurture the next generation of advancement professionals through our Affiliated Student Advancement Programs (ASAP) and Mentor Central, an online network where students and young advancement professionals can establish relationships with seasoned practitioners.
CASE staff and volunteers also advocated for the work of advancement professionals with lawmakers and the press and shone a spotlight on the work of practitioners, volunteers and best practices through the CASE awards program.
I believe CASE's success this year and throughout its 38-year history reflects the value that members find in a professional association that is committed to continuous improvement in its services, to integrity and quality in all of its operations, and to fostering a spirit of collegiality and volunteerism within the profession. Indeed, this report is a tribute to the efforts of some 4,000 colleagues who volunteer their time for the betterment of our noble profession.
John Lippincott, President, CASE
