CASE Insights Survey

Documentation and Support

NEW IN 2025

Reporting Changes
  • Section 1: There is a new Yes/No question asking if your institution has completed a comprehensive campaign in the past five years, including this one.
  • Section 3b (Full/Partial Version): Only the face value of irrevocable deferred gifts is required. The tax deduction the donor was allowed by the IRS is now optional.
  • Section 4b. B.: If you opt to report on giving from governing board members and/or public institution foundation board members, you must now also provide the total number of governing and/or foundation board members serving your institution.
  • Updated guidelines for reporting soft credit: Where applicable for questions in 4b. Download the updated guidance document available below under “Resources” and see the section beginning on page 23.
Revised Documents

These revised documents can be downloaded under “Resources” below.

  • Guidance Document
  • Survey PDFs (Full/Partial and Minimal versions)
  • Data collection grids (Full/Partial and Minimal versions)

 

Contact the CASE Insights VSE team if you need assistance.

Resources

Survey Guidance

Detailed instructions for completing all required and optional sections of the full/partial or minimal versions of the survey.

Section-by-section review of how the full/partial and minimal versions of the survey were updated in 2022 to align with the CASE Global Reporting Standards.

Outlines the data a participant must have to complete the full/partial or minimal version of the higher education survey. It also covers the optional data participants can choose to provide.

Commonly used terms in the VSE survey and CASE Insights data portal.

Survey PDFs & Data Collection Grids

Download blank PDFs with the questions on the full/partial or minimal version of the survey below. For those who wish to gather their data before completing the survey online, we offer Excel data collection grids below. You must enter your data and submit the survey online on the CASE Insights Survey website. See Survey Access & Schedule below for participation details.

Survey participants can generate a PDF copy of their completed survey for their records when they are logged into the survey website. 

 

Deferred Gift IRS Tax Deduction Calculator

If you do not have the IRS tax deduction amount for an irrevocable deferred gift, you may enter gift and beneficiary details into the calculator to determine it. The IRS tax deduction amount is required on the full/partial version of the survey.

 

Survey Access & Schedule

A VSE survey account on the CASE Insights Surveys website, which is separate from a CASE member account, is required to access the VSE survey. To request a VSE account or to change an existing survey contact, email the CASE Insights team. Include your institution name, city, and state, and your name, email address, and phone number. If you already have an account but have forgotten your password, there is a password-reset link on the survey login page. 

During an active VSE survey cycle, follow the steps below to check into the survey and indicate whether your institution intends to participate. You can do so before you are ready to enter data into the survey.

  • Go to the CASE Insights Surveys website.
  • Enter your VSE account user name and password. 
  • Go to the Surveys tab. Click "GO" beside the active survey.
  • In the blue Survey Status area, check "We will (or will not) complete the survey this year." Indicating that you will participate activates the survey for data entry.
  • Click "OK" to confirm that you want to change the survey status.
  • If your participation status should change, you can remove the check from your previous selection and make another selection.
  • Be sure the survey status box "We will complete the survey this year" is checked. You cannot enter data if the box is not checked.
  • Open each section to enter data. You do not have to complete the survey or a section entirely at one time. There are buttons to save your progress at the bottom of each section.
  • When your survey is complete, go to the blue Survey Status area on the survey menu, and check "We are DONE with the survey." If your survey has no errors, your survey will be marked done and officially submitted.
  • You will be notified if you have errors on your survey. Errors must be resolved before the survey can be marked done. Email the CASE Insights team if you need help with survey errors.

Mark the survey done by October 1. To request a deadline extension, email the CASE Insights team. Include your institution name, city, and state, and the new deadline you are requesting. 

Late June: The VSE Survey opens for data input. Participants may also request to complete prior-year surveys in which they did not participate.

October 1: Survey deadline for higher education institutions.

To request a deadline extension, email the CASE Insights team. Include the institution's name, city, and state, your name and contact information, and the requested deadline extension date.

February: Official release of the survey results. 

CASE publishes VSE Survey research findings throughout the year. Individual-institution data are available exclusively in CASE Insights data portal, CASE’s longitudinal and comparative metrics online reporting solution. Access to the data portal is a CASE member benefit. For-profit corporations can subscribe for a fee. Email the CASE Insights team to request a data portal user account or a corporate subscription quote.

About the CASE Insights VSE Survey

U.S. Higher Education: The VSE survey has been the authoritative source of data on charitable giving to higher education institutions in the U.S. since 1957. The survey was updated in 2022 and now aligns with the CASE Global Reporting Standards. The survey is conducted on the CASE Insights survey website.

U.S. Independent Schools: In 2022, CASE partnered with the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) to strengthen advancement data for schools. The independent schools VSE survey is now CASE Insights on Philanthropy in Independent Schools (United States) in partnership with NAIS. The survey is administered in the Data and Analysis for School Leadership (DASL) tool.

CASE members have access to the past 20 years of VSE higher education survey data as well as VSE independent schools survey data from 2001-2021 in the CASE Insights data portal. Independent schools advancement data from 2022 forward are available in DASL.