IRF Update - September 28, 2012

Nominate a Foundation Leader for the 2012 CASE Commonfund Awards

Recognize the leadership of your foundation colleagues by nominating them for the 2013 CASE Commonfund Institutionally Related Foundation Awards.

The awards recognize individuals who have made valuable contributions through best practices, distinguished service and/or volunteer leadership to the foundation field. Senior leaders responsible for the day-to-day management of institutionally related foundations (chief executive officers, chief operating officers, chief financial officers, counsels, etc.) are eligible to receive the award. View a list of past winners.

The deadline for nominations is Friday, Oct. 26, 2012. Nomination instructions are available on the CASE website. The awards will be presented at the 21st Annual CASE Conference for Institutionally Related Foundations, which takes place April 17-19, 2013, in Atlanta, Ga.

The CASE Commonfund Institutionally Related Foundation Awards are supported by a generous gift from Commonfund.

FY12 IRF Data Book Survey Now Open

CASE has launched the IRF Data Book survey for fiscal year 2012. . Institutionally related foundation executives and professionals who complete the survey will be able to compare data related to their foundation's structure, funding, staffing and operations with their peers. The survey deadline is Friday, Nov. 2.

Foundation staff who registered and completed the fiscal year 2011 IRF Data Book survey can access the FY12 survey by logging in at http://benchmarking.case.org. As soon as the staff person submits a completed survey, he or she will be able to access data and benchmark against peers who have also completed the survey.

Foundation staff who did not participate in the FY11 IRF Data Book Survey must first register to use the CASE Benchmarking Toolkit. Complete the following two steps to register: :

• Select an individual to complete data surveys. Given the financial nature of most surveys, the most appropriate person may be a financial staffer. This person will also be the foundation's designee for accessing data in the data book.

• Email the full contact information for this individual to research@case.org and reference the "IRF Data Book."

The CASE research department will send login information to the registered individual, who will then be able to log in to the CASE Benchmarking Toolkit and complete the FY12 IRF Data Book Survey. As soon as this person submits a completed survey, he or she will be able to access data and benchmark against peers that have also completed the survey.

Read more and prepare for the FY12 IRF Data Book Survey on the CASE website. Contact Heather Harmon (hharmon@case.org; 202-478-5622) or Brian Flahaven (flahaven@case.org; 202-478-5617) with questions.

Role of Planned Giving Grows in Today's Economy

The importance of planned giving in educational advancement has grown significantly since the so-called "Great Recession," said a trio of expert practitioners at a recent CASE conference.

"It's a hard time for major gifts," said Jeff Comfort, executive director of planned and principal gifts at Georgetown University. "But it's a good time for planned gifts."

Speaking at an Introduction to Planned Giving session earlier this month in Washington, D.C., Comfort told attendees that they should think of gift planning as the answer to donors who want to make a gift but have financial or other difficulties that may not make a gift possible at present.
Cynthia Krause, vice president of gift planning at the Baylor Health Care System Foundation, said that institutional leaders sometimes struggle over how much of their advancement efforts should go to planned giving because they don't always see immediate returns on their investments.
"They'll ask, 'Where's the money this year?'" said Krause. She told conference attendees that they must make the case to their leaders of the need to support planned giving for the long haul to see its true results.

Scott Lumpkin, vice chancellor of university advancement at the University of Denver, agreed, noting that "institutions that don't do planned giving (especially in today's uncertain economic climate) are leaving money on the table."

Much about the planned giving process has changed in the past 15 years, the conference speakers noted. For example, Lumpkin said planned giving in the 1990s was "very transactional" and that donors thought more about the tax benefits they would receive from certain giving methods-such as charitable remainder trusts and gift annuities. These days gift planning is more about the nature and purpose of the gift itself, he said.

Today's donors are also more concerned about outliving their money, Krause said. Given that, she noted that "irrevocable" gift plans-such as gift annuities and trusts-have fallen out of favor. She added that about 90 percent of planned gifts now are "revocable"-bequests in wills and gifts of retirement plans or life insurance.

"Still, most donors don't think of [will] bequests as being revocable," Comfort said. "They think of them as being a commitment to the institution."

White Paper: Social Media Use in Advancement Continues to Grow

A recently released white paper on social media in advancement reports that Facebook, Twitter and other social channels are "embedded in many advancement disciplines" although only 22 percent of surveyed institutions consider their social media efforts as "very successful."

The white paper reports on findings from the third survey of social media in advancement conducted earlier this year by Slover Linett Strategies Inc. and mStoner in partnership with CASE. BriefCASE reported on top-line findings of the report in June.

The authors of the white paper write that while 96 percent of surveyed institutions use Facebook, other social channels are showing "real growth," indicating an awareness of the importance of YouTube, Twitter, Flickr and other tools.

"More surprisingly this year, 17 percent of institutions reported experimenting with geosocial services such as Foursquare or SCVNGR," according to the authors.

Other takeaways from the white paper include:

• Use of Twitter, YouTube and blogs has grown 13 percent, 14 percent and 19 percent, respectively, during the past three years.
• Nearly 30 percent of institutions are building their own social networks despite the prevalence and reach of Facebook.
• Many institutions are experimenting with Google Plus, Pinterest or Vimeo.
• More institutions are using social media to engage current students and their parents as well as current faculty and staff.
• There is a small but steadily increasing awareness of the importance of social media for use in crisis and issues management.

The online survey of CASE members received responses across all types of institutions worldwide.

Headlines

Iowa University Regents Ask Private Foundations to Fund Merit Scholarships
Des Moines Register, Sept. 24, 2012
Iowa public universities are asking their foundations to focus more on raising money for financial aid. Last year, the foundations of the University of Iowa, Iowa State University and the University of Northern Iowa raised $305 million and gave more than $33 million in student aid. The universities' revised fundraising focus is part of a plan to end $150 million in scholarships currently funded by student tuition in Iowa.
Full Article

Nonprofits Should Be Wary of Consultants' Pay Data
The Chronicle of Philanthropy, Sept. 16, 2012
Many nonprofits hire compensation consultants to create reports on salaries of top executives at similar organizations, but some experts warn that the consultants may be creating inaccurate reports.
Full Article

How Governors Govern Higher Ed
Stateline, Aug. 31, 2012
Recent controversies at the University of Virginia, Florida A&M and Penn State have highlighted the role a state governor can play at public higher education institutions. While governors in most states influence the governance of public universities by appointing trustees some governors sit on boards of schools in their state. Stateline also notes that many governors take a hands-off approach, trusting decisions to the trustees while other governors have a more hands-on approach.
Full Article

GOP Platform Vows to Protect Charitable Deductions
The Chronicle of Philanthropy, Aug. 30, 2012
Republicans at the recent national convention adopted a platform that states nonprofits "should not be subject to taxation, and donations to them should continue to be tax deductible." Of further interest to nonprofits is the fate of government programs from which many nonprofits receive aid. The Republican Party has said it plans to close the federal deficit by making large spending cuts, but the platform did not say which programs are at risk of reductions.
Full Article

Universities Report $1.8 Billion in Earnings on Inventions in 2011
The Chronicle of Higher Education, Aug. 28, 2012
According to a 2011 fiscal year survey by the Association of University Technology Managers, universities reported more than $1.8 billion in income from commercializing their academic research. Nearly 160 universities responded to the survey. The Chronicle reports that many universities are focusing more on entrepreneurship and innovative opportunities.
Full Article

How can I receive the CASE IRF Update in my inbox?

Contact Brian Flahaven, director of legislative, foundation and recognition programs, at flahaven@case.org.