Fundraisers at educational institutions in the United States estimate that donations during the academic year that ended June 30, 2011, increased by 4.7 percent. Looking ahead, fundraisers predict further growth of 5.5 percent for the academic year that began July 1, 2011. That's according to survey results released by CASE.

The CASE Fundraising Index, or CFI, is conducted twice annually. It asks fundraising professionals at U.S. schools, colleges and universities to estimate the level of charitable giving to their institutions for the 12-month period just ended and to predict the level for the 12-months ahead.

For the 2010-11 academic year, there was a significant difference between estimates offered by public and private institutions of higher education. Fundraisers at public colleges and universities estimated that giving to their institutions increased by 2.6 percent, while their private counterparts estimated that giving had increased 5.7 percent over the previous year.

Looking forward to the 2011-12 academic year, fundraisers at independent elementary and secondary schools in the survey were less optimistic than their higher education counterparts, estimating 3.2 percent growth.

The CFI is based on an online survey of senior-level fundraising professionals at more than 2,100 member institutions in the United States conducted during the first two weeks of July. The July 2011 CFI survey had a response rate of 8.3 percent. View the results of the CFI since its inception in July 2008.

This article is from the August 2011 issue of the Community College Advancement News.