President's Statement on the Economy

Updated May 2011

Challenging economic times present special challenges for educational fundraising. While the impacts will vary widely from institution to institution, CASE offers the following general guidance regarding fundraising efforts at schools, colleges and universities:

• Redouble your efforts: This is not the time to retreat or retrench. On the contrary, fundraisers should spend more time with donors, sustaining and building relationships that will endure when the economic situation has stabilized. And institutions should continue investing in their fundraising operations for both the short-term and the long-term. A well-staffed and well-resourced fundraising program will provide one of the best returns of any investment an institution can make.
• Reframe your conversations: In working with current and prospective donors, fundraisers should listen carefully to gain an understanding of the donor's own circumstances and concerns. Based on that understanding, fundraisers should explore appropriate options that enable donors to continue to express their commitment to the institution. This may be a good time, for example, to discuss a deferred gift rather than an outright gift or to extend the pledge period for a major contribution. During a period such as this, focusing on the needs of the donor will be of paramount importance.
• Recalibrate your expectations: Historically, economic downturns have slowed the rate of growth in charitable giving to educational institutions and, on rare occasions, resulted in small reductions. Institutions should carefully review their current fundraising performance against prior years and begin to adjust their projections accordingly. U.S. institutions may also want to benchmark against the CASE Fundraising Index. A new CASE Fundraising Index will be issued in July for the 2009 and 2010 fiscal years.

CASE has a section on how to address economic challenges through a Q&A on our website as well as other resources that designed to help institutions maximize the effectiveness of fundraising efforts during these periods.