Material Interest
CURRENTS Article What are the essential characteristics of a culture of philanthropy? Can an institution claim to have a philanthropic culture if staff giving is low? Does an institution have to demonstrate need? Does athletic success promote generosity among constituents? In a survey, advancement leaders say they struggle to identify and develop the characteristics of a philanthropic campus.

The Common Thread
CURRENTS Article Creating a culture of philanthropy can help an institution recruit a cross-section of constituents to the cause of advancing the institution and improve fundraising success. Here's how.

Increase LGBT Engagement through Targeted Strategies
Article Members of the LGBT community can be strong prospects for philanthropy, and educational institutions should develop strategies to engage them, says a CASE faculty member.

Taking LGBT Fundraising and Engagement Strategies Out of the Closet
Product This webinar looks at strategies and planned gift initiatives that will serve, engage and increase giving from lesbian, gay, bi and transgendered alumni. This multimedia file is a recording of a webinar presented Dec. 13, 2012.

Millennials Tap Websites First for Info on Giving, Volunteering
Article Young adults are more likely to visit a nonprofit’s website when looking for information about volunteer opportunities or giving. That is according to a new study on millennials.

The Diversity Imperative
CURRENTS Article As the United States as well as college enrollment grow more diverse, advancement shops are challenged to improve outreach to alumni and donors of difference. Many colleges and universities are trying new approaches, such as meaningful engagement of minority communities and business groups in their areas or a rethinking of race-based affinity groups.

An Arresting Event
CURRENTS Article The University of Richmond's police department sponsors an annual fundraiser on campus that benefits the Virginia Special Olympics.

University Giving Continues to Rise in UK
Article UK universities saw an increase in both the number of philanthropic donors and accompanying cash income in the academic year 2010-2011, according to the annual Ross-CASE survey.

Findings from the Field: The Donor Motivation Study in Practice, an inside look at the attitudes and preferences of more than 50,000 champions, friends and acquaintances
Converge Consulting in Alliance with CASE
White Paper This white paper, the second in a three-part series produced by Converge Consulting in alliance with CASE, explores the results of a study of how alumni attitudes relate to the motivation to give. The paper looks at preferred communications channels and philanthropic causes of alumni by segment, applies the study’s findings to three specific institutions and includes recommendations based on lessons learned.

New Segmentation Model for Annual Giving
Product This seminar looks at how San Francisco State took a new approach to donor research by using a new model for framing and categorizing the attitudes, motivations and giving behaviors of more than 2,000 alumni. It then successfully used the research data to classify their alumni, inform their existing segmentation strategies and tailor communications to each segment. The session includes a high-level review of the study, which revealed three distinct donor types (Champions, Friends and Acquaintances), and provides an in-depth look at the unique attributes of each group. This multimedia file is a recording of a webinar originally presented Feb. 9, 2012.

New Research Shows that Transfers Support Both Alma Maters
Article New research reveals that community college students who transfer to four-year institutions are as likely to donate to both their two- and four-year alma maters.

Revealing the Community College Alumni Donor
Article Using predictive models, four-year institutions develop profiles of alumni donors so that they can target efforts to those alumni most likely to give. Community colleges, however, have been unable to benefit from such tactics because a profile of their alumni donors did not exist. Now, thanks to groundbreaking research, some characteristics of community college alumni donors have been revealed—and are sure to provide new direction for two-year college administrators, fundraisers and alumni professionals.

Serving Those Who've Served
CURRENTS Article This article discusses Operation Education, an individualized scholarship program that provides financial, academic, and social support to U.S. military veterans disabled in combat after Sept. 11, 2001. The brainchild of Karen White, a professor and spouse of University of California, Riverside President Tim White, the program exists at three U.S. institutions. The Whites have encouraged other higher education leaders to develop the program at their institutions as well.

Giving by Example
CURRENTS Article A group of Morehouse College alumni who received scholarships from Oprah Winfrey start their own scholarship fund, spurring other alumni affinity groups to do the same.

White Paper: Knowing Alumni Attitudes toward Giving More Helpful than Gender, Class Year
Article Preliminary data from a recent survey suggests that colleges and universities can identify alumni who are mostly likely to give and those who may never give by examining their attitudes, motivations and behaviors toward giving.

Champions. Friends. Acquaintances. Donor Motivation Defined: A Lifestyle Segmentation Study Focused on the Attitudes, Motivations and Giving Behaviors of Alumni
Converge Consulting in alliance with CASE
White Paper Which alumni are most likely to become donors? This October 2011 white paper, the first in a series of three, explores the results of a study on the relation of alumni attitudes to the motivation to give.

Conference on Diverse Philanthropy and Leadership
Conference This conference will review the emerging philanthropic markets (ethnicity, GLBT, young alumni, etc.) in advancement while exploring minority buying power, giving behaviors and donor expectations. In addition the program will focus on management leadership and mentoring of advancement professionals of diverse backgrounds.

Degree of Difficulty
CURRENTS Article Alumni tend to be less generous to the institution they attended for their graduate degrees than their undergraduate alma maters. This story provides examples of institutions working to overcome the lack of engagement and affinity among graduate school alumni in order to boost fundraising.

Philanthropy Chat: John Lippincott
Foundation Center
Podcast In this podcast from April 15, 2010, CASE President John Lippincott discusses alumni giving and its critical role in fundraising programs at schools, universities and colleges.

Increasing Grateful Patient Giving Through Physician Partnerships
Product This webinar examines the Mayo Clinic’s patient-centered practice, which encourages physician interaction and collaboration and has led to the creation of a physician engagement program that creates opportunities for physicians to interact with benefactors and prospective donors. Participants will come to understand the roles physicians can play in fundraising success; take away a step-by-step process to build a physician engagement program; gain awareness of HIPPA implications on physician involvement with philanthropy; and gain ideas to start or build on an existing physician engagement program. This multimedia file is a recording of a webinar originally presented May 20, 2010.

Crunching the Numbers
CURRENTS Article In this story, CASE Senior Director of Research Chris Thompson demonstrates how to analyze the data in the annual Voluntary Support of Education survey in order to compare your institution's alumni fundraising with national averages for peer institutions.

Principal, Major, or Special Giving Programs: Springside School - Silver Award
Best Practice A committee of young alumni was instumental in Springside School's fundraising for the Johanna Sigmund Scholarship, which honors an alumna killed in the Sept. 11, 2001 attack on the World Trade Center. Individuals, corporations and foundations contributed to the fund, and several special events were held.

Untangling Diversity
CURRENTS Article Diversity is a complex issue, and the concept has different meanings, depending on your institution and advancement office. But one thing that everyone can agree on is that diversity is important, and reaching communities of color is imperative.

Advance Work: More from Less
CURRENTS Article The Council for Aid to Education's survey, Voluntary Support of Education, showed that in 2005 financial contributions increased but the percentage of alumni making gifts declined.

Great Catches
CURRENTS Article A creative approach to fund-raising appeals involves identifying and targeting unconventional prospect segments. Examples include first-time donors (University of Michigan), constituents who have requested no solicitations (Syracuse University), disillusioned older alumni (Stanford), donors whose gift level has "plateaued" (Wheaton College), alumni with ties to particular extracurricular activities (Mesa Community College, University of North Alabama), residents of certain states (Iowa State University), concertgoers (Baldwin-Wallace College), and grandparents (Reed College). These institutions relied on information they already had in their databases, collected useful new information, and sought new prospects.

Divide and Conquer
CURRENTS Article This article discusses four options for getting the most out of an annual fund. Reunion class giving is a valuable method for soliciting gifts from alumni who are in their prime stage of life for giving. The second option is parent giving. Next comes giving by faculty and staff, who can make a big difference with their involvement in a campaign. To conclude, student giving is an option for making an annual fund campaign a success.