As you look at your fiscal year 2026 budget, especially during these “uncertain times” (I think we’re on our fifth year of them), I realize it’s important for you to justify your CASE membership to your leadership. Let’s take a look at the community college-focused initiatives that happened at CASE in FY25. Remember, if you missed a webinar, you can go to learn.case.org to find it by searching for the title.

Workforce Development Webinars

Our fiscal year kicked off with a “new and improved” webpage for community colleges and the first of two FY25 webinars focused on workforce development. Both were led by Chandler LeBoeuf, Vice President of Education at Louisiana Community and Technical College System and a member of CASE’s Community College Leadership Committee. The first, Leveraging Workforce Development Partnerships, highlighted the historic $75 million gift from the Harold Alfond Foundation to the Maine Community College System in 2024 and featured David Daigler, President of the Maine Community College System, and John Fitzsimmons, President of the Foundation for Maine’s Community Colleges. 

The second, Innovative Workforce Development: Community College Public-Private Partnerships, focused on how the Louisiana Technical and Community College System secured millions of dollars for enhanced training opportunities in healthcare, energy, and broadband technology, ensuring a strong economic future for Louisiana.

Alumni Fundraising, Onboarding, Small Shops Discussions

We know alumni fundraising is tricky for community colleges, so our December webinar, led by CCLC member John Wolfkill from the Community College of Aurora Foundation, focused on Strategic Alumni Fundraising. We featured panelists who have had success with employee alumni councils (Chris Downing from Heartland Community College, Normal, Illinois); do part-time prospect research (Diana Pollard from Dutchess Community College, Poughkeepsie, New York, and Chair of the 2025 Conference for Community College Advancement); and have conducted doctoral research on community college alumni fundraising (Allison Dolan-Wilson from Northern Essex Community College, Haverhill, Massachusetts). 

Over 200 members registered for CCLC member Lana Fontenot’s webinar Successfully Onboarding Your Staff So They Stay—and Thrive. Two members of Lana’s staff at Southern Louisiana Community College participated in the webinar to illustrate the effectiveness of Lana’s onboarding program.

CCLC member John Gyllin ran the first of a series of quarterly online roundtables for small shop foundations. Since these target higher ed foundations with under $100 million in assets and fewer than 20 employees, about half of the attendees were from community colleges. To encourage a “safe space,” this was not recorded, but we covered a lot of concerns from gift fees to board management to scholarship programs. The next one is scheduled for Sept. 10 from 2 to 3 p.m. (Eastern). Register here and see our other free webinars.

Conferences and Connections

Beyond webinars, we moved the 2024 Conference for Community College Advancement out of California and over 350 joined us in Baltimore, Maryland, to meet with advancement colleagues from across the country to network, share, and learn. CCLC member (now Chair) Kenneth Cooper from Las Positas College led that conference while Becky McDermott, Hagerstown Community College (Hagerstown, Maryland), and Shannon Olmstead, Hillsborough Community College (Tampa, Florida), co-chaired the one-day conference for grants professionals that ran during the CCCA. You can register now for the 2025 CCCA in New Orleans, Oct. 8-10!

I told you all about the hard work of the 2024 Federal Funding Task Force in my last column. Fifty Grants Professionals assembled at the CASE offices in D.C. for a week in November to meet with program officers from federal agencies to identify available funding for higher education, with a special look at programs that benefit community colleges. The 2024 FFTF report is done, but with so many funding changes in D.C., make sure to check with the specific agencies. 

Thanks to a new partnership with the Network of California Community College Foundations, CASE’s District VII conference included several sessions highlighting the excellent advancement work being done at community colleges. NCCCF leaders are also working with me on some enhancements to the CASE Insights on Voluntary Support of Education that you’ll see in 2026. I know many of you struggle with completing the survey, and while we need to maintain its standards since it’s been the best source of data regarding higher education advancement since 1957, we have some ideas about how to make it community college-friendly. Thank you, NCCCF, especially its president, Anne King, from Ventura College.

You may have seen me at the American Association of Community Colleges’ convention in Nashville, Tennessee, in April. It warmed my heart to be with over 1,000 people who are so passionate about community colleges, and I was honored to present at the AACC’s Future Leaders and Future Presidents Institutes in Washington, D.C., in June. AACC President  Walter Bumphus spoke at the 2024 CCCA and I look forward to future partnerships with this important association—I’ve even added a link to the CC Daily to our webpage!

Looking Ahead

We’re all a bit nervous about what FY26 will bring. The good news is that the 2026 CCCA is set for Palm Springs, California; consultant Betheny L. Reid has volunteered to help me resurrect the Top Fundraising Community Colleges report of 2018, and we’ll announce results at the 2025 CCCA; and we’re very bullish about webinars!

While I work with the CCLC to develop programming just for you, don’t forget we have:

• an incredible library with four full-time librarians,
• an advocacy network led by CASE Vice President Brian Flahaven,
• online communities to help you network, outstanding publications like the popular Currents magazine,
• and many, many other resources—including me—to help you build your advancement confidence and, especially for those in small shops, feel less alone. 

Thank you for being a CASE member!