Pam Russell
Director of Communications
CASE
+1-202-478-5680
russell@case.org

For Immediate Release
March 20, 2006

Top Education Foundation Executives Honored

CASE and Commonfund Salute Winners for Commitment to Advancing Education

Two widely respected professionals who have played key roles in helping foundations raise private funds for the educational institutions with which they are affiliated are this year’s winners of the CASE Commonfund Institutionally Related Foundation awards.

The awards recognize individuals who have made extraordinary contributions to the advancement, quality and effectiveness of their foundations and the community of institutionally related foundations as a whole. Institutionally related foundations are private, nonprofit corporations that cultivate and manage private resources to support the missions of the colleges, universities, and university systems with which they are affiliated.

The 2006 winners are:

• Gerald Fischer, president and CEO of the University of Minnesota Foundation, Minneapolis, Minn. Fischer has served as president and CEO of the University of Minnesota Foundation since 1990. With a 45-member board of trustees, more than $1.3 billion in assets and an annual operating budget of $16 million, the foundation acts as the central development office for the University of Minnesota and coordinates raising in excess of $200 million in private gifts annually from 80,000 donors. Fischer’s proactive leadership has placed Minnesota ahead of the curve and earned the foundation a reputation as one of the most forward-thinking foundations in the country. He was an early champion of donor privacy that resulted in the 1993 passage of a data practices act in Minnesota that included donor privacy. He has been an entrepreneurial leader and model for other foundations nationally and led the charge at the University of Minnesota to develop a biotech incubator facility.
• Karen MacArthur, executive director of institutional advancement and executive director of Delta College Foundation, University Center, Mich. MacArthur is a leading fund raiser and dedicated development professional who has helped build Delta’s reputation as one of the country’s premier community college programs. In addition to coordinating Delta’s fund raising, marketing, special events, and alumni relations, MacArthur oversees budgets totaling $5.4 million for the foundation and the institutional advancement office. In 1993, the institution was one of five community colleges to receive the CASE Circle of Excellence for Educational Fund Raising Award. Since then, the college has received more than $39 million in donations. Currently, it has an endowment fund of more than $10 million. In its first capital campaign in 1998, Delta exceeded a $5 million goal to raise $7.5 million, which included 91 percent employee participation. It also was the only community college to receive the 2004 PBS Development Award in recognition of a $4.5 million capital campaign for the digital conversion of its PBS station.

Jim Copeland, president of The Medical Foundation of North Carolina and chair of the CASE Commonfund awards committee, says Fischer and MacArthur have demonstrated outstanding performance and achievement throughout their careers.

“Gerald and Karen represent superior public university and quality community college programs,” Copeland says. “They have distinguished themselves as leaders and made vital, groundbreaking contributions to the institutionally related foundation community.”

The recipients will be honored at the 14th annual CASE Conference for Institutionally Related Foundations March 22-24 at the Westin Innisbrook Golf Resort in Palm Harbor, Fla.

The awards are underwritten by Commonfund, a nonprofit corporation with more than 1,350 members and more than $23 billion in assets under management. It provides fund management services and investment advice to educational institutions, hospitals, foundations, and other nonprofit organizations.

About CASE

Headquartered in Washington, D.C., with offices in London, Singapore and Mexico City, the Council for Advancement and Support of Education is the professional organization for advancement professionals who work in alumni relations, communications, fundraising, marketing and other areas.

CASE is one of the largest nonprofit education associations in terms of institutional membership. Its membership includes more than 3,400 colleges, universities, independent elementary and secondary schools, and educational associates in 74 countries around the world. It serves nearly 65,000 advancement professionals on the staffs of its member institutions.

CASE helps its members build stronger relationships with their alumni and donors, raise funds for campus projects, produce recruitment materials, market their institutions to prospective students, diversify the profession and foster public support of education. CASE also offers a variety of advancement products and services, provides standards and an ethical framework for the profession, and works with other organizations to respond to public issues of concern while promoting the importance of education worldwide.

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