The Council for Advancement and Support of Education today released the CASE Global Reporting Standards, which offers global guidance, and has a digital subscription and six country-specific supplements for the first time since its initial publication in 1982. 

The CASE Global Reporting Standards (previously referred to as the CASE Reporting Standards and Management Guidelines) are a common set of standards, guidelines and definitions for reporting the results of educational philanthropy activities at schools, colleges, and universities across the globe.  

CASE uses these guidelines to underpin its ongoing work to guide the profession, ensure integrity and consistency in educational advancement work, and to support CASE’s own work in data collection and reporting with its AMAtlas suite of tools such as the recently released Voluntary Support of Education (VSE) survey results. 

“The CASE Global Reporting Standards have at their core the CASE Ethics Statement and Principles of Practice for the profession. As institutional funding has evolved and created increasing expectations for philanthropic support, the need for clear guidance is paramount,” CASE President and CEO Sue Cunningham says. “I am grateful to the tireless work of CASE volunteers worldwide and for their ongoing commitment the CASE vision of advancing education to transform lives and society.”  

The Standards were reviewed and updated under the leadership of the CASE Reporting Standards and Management Guidelines Working Group made up of CASE volunteers and staff and co-chaired by Matthew Eynon, vice president for college advancement, Franklin & Marshall College, and Brian Hastings, president and CEO, University of Nebraska Foundation. In addition, six groups of regional volunteers providing guidance on the new regional supplements for Australia/New Zealand, Canada, Mexico, Singapore, United Kingdom, and the United States, including text in Spanish and French. 

"In developing the first global reporting standards for the advancement profession, CASE has decided to make a statement about the power, impact and importance of philanthropy around the world," Eynon says.  

"The working group members represented many of the leading advancement programs in the world, and their efforts helped to ensure we defined standards which represent excellence in our profession. Indeed, the new standards represent industry best practices, and we all need to uphold them to jointly hold up our profession. On behalf of all our institutional members, individual members and our professional association overall, I offer my deep thanks to the members of the working group for their care, commitment and creative thought." 

Additionally, CASE consulted with other groups including the Group of Eight, the CASE Industry Advisory Council, the National Association of Charitable Gift Planners and the Ross Group. 

“The Standards are an essential element of upholding the integrity of our profession on a global scale,” Hastings says. “By reporting and benchmarking annual and campaign results consistent with the standards, all CASE member institutions can compare results with a greater level of confidence and understanding.” 

Key changes in the Standards include: 

• Updated guidance around gift counting, funds received, new funds committed, and donor control and influence. 
• For the first time, the CASE Global Reporting Standards adds the CASE Statement on Ethics to the front of the book and adds the CASE Principles of Practice for the advancement disciplines, all recently updated by the CASE Commissions for Philanthropy, Communications and Marketing, and Alumni Relations and approved by the CASE Board of Trustees. The CASE Principles of Practice provide global guidelines for those professions and represent the community-derived foundations on which the advancement profession stands. 
• New definition for Educational Philanthropy: Voluntary act of providing private financial support to nonprofit educational institutions. To be categorized as philanthropy in keeping with CASE standards, such financial support must be provided for the sole purpose of benefiting the institution’s mission and its social impact, without the expressed or implied expectation that the donor will receive anything more than recognition and stewardship as the result of such support. 

“The CASE Global Reporting Standards ensure the consistent and transparent reporting of institutional progress in fundraising to identify global trends and unify the field of advancement,” CASE Chief Research & Data Officer Cara Giacomini says. “When advancement tracks giving the same way around the globe, the profession can unlock new levels of collective insight and abilities to benchmark.” 

Print copies and a digital subscription are now available to purchase with a CASE membership discount from the CASE Bookstore.  

Members of the CASE Reporting Standards and Management Guidelines Working Group include: 

Co-Chairs 

Matthew Eynon, Vice President for College Advancement, Franklin & Marshall College  

Brian Hastings, President and CEO, University of Nebraska Foundation 

Members 

Brigette Bryant, Vice-President, Development & Alumni Engagement, Arcadia University 

Jason Coolman, Vice President, Advancement and External Relations, Wilfrid Laurier University 

Bruce Flessner, Vice President for Advancement and the Americas, American University in Cairo 

Colleen Garland, Vice President for Advancement, Kenyon College 

Lisa Gibert, CEO, Clark College Foundation 

Mary Gresch, Interim Sr. Vice President for Advancement, University of Washington 

Jim Husson, Senior Vice President for University Advancement, Boston College 

Julie Hooper, Vice Chancellor, University Development & Alumni Relations, University of California, Berkeley 

William Kissick, Chief Advancement Officer, Mercersburg Academy 

Julie Lucas, Vice President, Resource Development, Massachusetts Institute of Technology 

Sion Lutley, Partner, More Partnership 

Jennie Moule, Fundraising Operations Consultant, Alveo Consulting Ltd. 

Christopher Pipkins, Senior Director, Zuri Group 

Lori A Redfearn, Assistant Vice Chancellor, Systemwide Advancement, California State University 

TJ Rawlinson, Director of Development and Alumni Relations, Cardiff University 

Shawn Scoville, President and CEO, Oregon State University Foundation 

Martin Shell, Vice President and Chief External Relations Officer, Stanford University 

Darrow Zeidenstein, Senior VP and Chief Development Officer, MD Anderson Cancer Center