July 2009 IAC Meeting Highlights

Industry Advisory Council
San Francisco, CA
July 11, 2009

Present: Bob Brock; Edith H. Falk; Steve Higgins; Rachel Hutchisson; Craig J. Leach; David Lotz; Colette M. Murray; Elizabeth A. Murphy; Kathleen E. Pavelka; Tony Rotondi; Michael Stoner; Fred Wilson

Not Present: Dennis M. Barden; Rocky Ford; Charles G. Shelley

Volunteer Leaders: Julian M. Bivins; Cassie McVeety

CASE Staff: John Lippincott, Joanna Motion, Krista Slade, Lori Woehrle

I. Call to Order and Welcome

Mr. Lippincott called the meeting to order at 9 am and welcomed new members Ms. Hutchisson and Mr. Lotz. He introduced volunteer leaders Mr. Bivins, chair of the CASE Board of Trustees, and Ms. McVeety, incoming chair, as well as staff members Ms. Motion, Ms. Slade, and Ms. Woehrle.

II. IAC Liaison Report, July 8 CASE Board Meeting

Ms. Murray, outgoing IAC liaison to the board, talked about the importance and requirements of the IAC liaison, and announced that CASE staff would soon send out a request for nominations and volunteers for this position, which is appointed by the board chair.

Ms. Murray reported that the liaison traditionally sits on two board committees: the committee on the profession and the member service committee. She noted that reports of the three CASE commissions, which serve as "think tanks" for CASE, are posted on the CASE Web site and urged IAC members to access those reports for insights into trends, etc.

She reported that the board talked extensively about the economy and its impact on CASE and CASE members.

Ms. Murray noted key dates for upcoming board and IAC meetings, and encouraged nominees and volunteers for the liaison position to make sure their calendars are clear for the dates:

• Nov. 18-19, board meeting, Washington, DC
• Dec. 13, IAC meeting, Chicago
• March 12-13, board meeting, Washington, DC (Joint meeting with CASE Europe Board of Trustees)
• July 16-18, board meeting and IAC meeting, NYC

She also recommended that the liaison exhibit at the Summit and provide feedback on that experience to CASE staff.

III. President's Report

Mr. Lippincott discussed the staff reorganization that took place in January 2009. It was designed to emphasize member service and resulted in creation of three divisions: Advancement Resources; Advancement Programs; and Membership, Marketing and External Relations.
Mr. Lippincott noted that in a recent letter to the UVA community about the recession and its affect on the university, UVA President Casteen pointed to the importance and priority of investing in fundraising. IAC members requested copies of the letter. Several members said President Casteen's position on fundraising investment supports a message they try to convey to clients.

Mr. Lippincott reported on FY 2009 year-end numbers.

• Institutional members - 3,372 (a record high)
• General members - about 55,000
• Retention rate - 95-96%
• Professional memberships - from 22,502 (2008) to 21,659 (2009)
• Educational partners - from 229 (2008) to 198 (2009)

He noted that CASE has suffered a significant (30%) decline in conference revenue this year over last, and that conference revenue represents 41-42% of CASE's overall income.

Worldwide, CASE conference attendance has dropped from 19,402 (2008) to 15,093 (2009). Online Speaker Series registrations have increased from 1,750 (2008) to 1,860 (2009).

Mr. Lippincott outlined how CASE has managed its budget this year, given the drop in revenue, including eliminating or freezing staff positions, instituting a salary freeze and three mandatory furlough days for staff, and concentrating available resources on member service.

He said CASE continues to work on the strategic priorities of GRAIL (Growth, Recruitment, Advocacy, Internationalization, and Leadership). Mr. Lippincott said the CASE Board of Trustees voted on July 8 to expand CASE operations in Mexico.

Some discussion notes:

• Ms. Falk noted that she spoke at a CASE conference in June and was struck by the number of attendees who had paid their own way to attend.
• Ms. Pavelka asked whether anyone had looked at the methods of communication for conference promotion and said it is not time to pull back on those efforts. Her company called potential attendees of an AHP conference (pro bono) to ensure strong attendance.
• Mr. Leach said his observation is that decision makers are not attending conferences and are more likely to send lower-level staff.
• Ms. Murphy said her observation was that when someone is showing up at a conference they are there with a purpose. Even though attendance is down her company is getting better results from conferences. She urged CASE to distribute the attendee lists earlier so that companies can set appointments with clients and make the most of their conference investment.

IV. Advancement in a Challenging Economy, Part II

This was an unstructured discussion about the economy and its effect on corporate partners and member institutions.

Ms. Falk asked the group what trends they are seeing with endowment campaigns.
Mr. Lippincott noted that some private baccalaureate and research institutions rely on current gifts or endowment income for up to 40% of their budgets. The Chronicle of Higher Education reports a trend of decreased payouts of endowments in efforts to rebuild the corpus.

Observations:

• Institutions are recasting their case for support of endowment campaigns.
• Some of the endowment losses are so profound that the idea of rebuilding endowments can seem overwhelming.
• Many community colleges are new at endowment campaigns. One institution, whose funds were all underwater, sent an appeal to donors asking whether the institutions should either invade the corpus, not award scholarships this year, or whether the donor would be willing to make a gift to make up the difference. The respondents overwhelmingly made new gifts to make up the differences.
• There is a need to make the appeals more tangible
• Lower end major gifts ($10K to $50K) are becoming more visible
• Campaigns have shifted from volunteer-driven to staff-driven. Doing a full-court press on major donors. But it is taking longer. In the last few months, donors are beginning to thaw.

Other trends/topics:

• Seeing an influx of new competitors in communications and marketing consulting. Six RFPs withdrawn this year. An inordinate amount of pricing shopping and continued unbundling of services. Regular clients are shifting to the newcomers and getting bad advice.
• Seeing more of a demand for data, such as ROI. It's not easy to do those studies in marketing and communications. People perceive that if they do marketing and communications online it is cheaper. On the plus side, there is more interest in fundraising and communications/marketing working together.
• Alumni relations is less resistant to a fundraising role, including independent alumni associations
• In social services, seeing a trend toward agency mergers or back-office collaborations.

Mr. Bivins asked attendees to advocate on behalf of clients through white papers, op-ed pieces, etc. He asked them to help influence the environment in which their clients are working.

V. Corporate Relations Overview

Ms. Woehrle, director of corporate relations, outlined the new structure of the corporate relations department and the new focus on bundling customized opportunities for engagement with CASE. She said she will be providing the IAC with drafts of a document on corporate engagement with CASE that articulates the differences between practices and policies among CASE's headquarters, Districts, CASE Europe and CASE Asia-Pacific.

VI. Recognition of Outgoing IAC Members

Mr. Lippincott recognized and thanked outgoing members who were present at the meeting:

• Mr. Stoner
• Ms. Falk
• Ms. Murray
• Ms. Murphy

Mr. Barden and Mr. Ford are also leaving the IAC because their terms have expired.

VII. Adjournment

Mr. Lippincott adjourned the meeting at 11:30 am.

Prepared by Lori Woehrle, director of corporate relations