Art Appreciation
CURRENTS Article The donor wall recognizing St. Martin's Episcopal School's recent capital campaign reflects its brand and visual identity system. In addition to featuring colors and shapes used in the independent school's communications, marketing, and fundraising materials, the donor wall also doubles as a piece of art that blends in with the building.

Making Strides
CURRENTS Article This article looks at how higher education institutions are working to keep their communications fresh and engaging through multiyear fundraising campaigns. It discusses how institutions are using websites and microsites, video, and traditional communication channels to engage and inform stakeholders and donors.

Going for Gold
CURRENTS Article The story profiles eight of the 2012 CASE Circle of Excellence Award grand gold and gold award winners.

¿Cómo desarrollar los artículos correctos?
CURRENTS Article Michael Kiser de Virginia Tech analiza la forma en que logró que las comunicaciones de desarrollo centraran su atención en índices que no fueran las cifras. Ahora, su oficina escribe sobre los resultados de las campañas y vincula sus mensajes con los objetivos estratégicos de la universidad. Por ejemplo, en lugar de escribir un artículo cuando la universidad recibe una donación importante, espera hasta que el dinero de esa donación se haya utilizado para construir las nuevas instalaciones y escribe sobre lo que éstas significan para la escuela. Los lectores externos no sólo consideran que estos artículos son más interesantes, estos artículos también le brindan al público interno una mejor idea de lo que se logra con la recaudación de fondos.

Developing the Right Stories
CURRENTS Article Michael Kiser of Virginia Tech discusses how he successfully shifted the focus of development communications away from numbers. Instead, his office now writes about campaign outcomes and ties its messages to the university's strategic aims. For example, instead of writing a story when the university receives a major gift, he waits until the money from that gift has been used to build a new facility and writes about what that new facility has meant for the school. Not only do external audiences find these stories more interesting, but such stories give internal audiences a better understanding of what fundraising does.

Brand Opening
CURRENTS Article Branding campaigns are typically driven by enrollment goals. But major capital campaigns offer an institution a terrific opportunity to define, position, and enhance its brand in another marketplace: that of alumni, donors, friends, and prospects who will make the gifts that allow the institution to achieve its broader strategic goals.

Messaging Donors
CURRENTS Article Generic mass mailings won't receive the response rates you seek. Your fundraising messages have to resonate with donors personally. Just make sure you know your donors well. This article describes some simple, affordable tools you can use to target your communications efforts.

The Right Shift
CURRENTS Article Delivering campaign messages--both ongoing identity messages and those specific to the campaign--is a topic of much debate among advancement professionals. Among their major points of discussion--and the issues this article addresses--are the strategic purpose of campaign communications plans, the key communications strategies to support campaigns, the most important messages to communicate during a campaign, the most effective delivery techniques, and how important relationships among communications and fund raising staff members are in executing an effective campaign communications program.

Campaign Strategies: The Benefits of Branding
CURRENTS Article Development officers should use their institution’s brand equity to link a campaign with the positive qualities people associate with the institution. The article describes five steps to help development officers leverage the institution’s identity, mission, and values in campaign communications.