Colleges and universities have been working on diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging for decades, but higher education leaders say the last two years have sparked a shift. The 2020 racial reckoning and Black Lives Matter movement, campus protests, and pandemic pressures have changed the conversation, expectations for, and nature of diversity leaders’ work. Here’s what advancement professionals should know about diversity leaders’ roles in higher education today—and the future of DEIB work for development.

Sharing best practices for donor reports and creative fundraising appeals. 

In the summer of 2020, when many students faced semesters of virtual learning ahead, President Claudia Schrader of Kingsborough Community College, New York, U.S., wanted to find a way to welcome new students to the KCC family. Thus, the KCC Welcome Wagon was born. Schrader has been visiting incoming freshman and transfer students—about 60 to 70 in total, she estimates—at their homes or workplaces across the five boroughs of New York City, and sometimes Long Island.

Ben Fiore-Walker jumped at the chance to lead CASE's new Opportunity and Inclusion Center. The OIC will, he believes, not only allow CASE to live into one of its core beliefs of professional excellence in the advancement field but will allow CASE and our member institutions to achieve, foster, and maintain inclusive excellence within the profession. 

Incorporating role-playing into board training can help trustees and volunteers gain confidence and be able to anticipate roadblocks when fundraising for institutions. Here, Laura Grams, Director of Institutional Advancement at Berkeley Preparatory School, discussed how her school is applying the practice of role-playing to make for better advancement opportunities.

We have been nimble, adaptable, and unstinting during the past two years in what has been a predominantly virtual world for many of us. Human contact, though, is at the heart of what we do. We are born explorers, adventurers, and seekers of companionship and collective engagement in three dimensions to advance education.

To engage Buckeyes of the past and possibly the future, Ohio State University created Brutus’ Summer Reading Challenge, which first launched in the summer of 2020. Alumni registered their children (or grandchildren, nieces, or nephews), after which they received a “passport” with stickers and bookmarks to record their minutes read and earn prizes.

Despite frequenting the University of Florida, U.S., campus since 1994—first as a student, then as an employee—Alisson Clark had never noticed the inscription in the concrete in a well-trodden section of the Gainesville campus. "Cheryl, if love could be like trees, you would be a forest." The inscription was signed only ’77, presumably a reference to the year. Clark decided to try to track down the mysterious suitor's story.

How should development and alumni relations best work together? It’s an age-old question for advancement—more relevant now than ever, as institutions grapple with constant change. Ultimately, the fundraising cycle works best when it’s a shared responsibility: when both alumni relations and development teams work together to ensure the greatest potential for success.

Now, after more than two years of living in various stages of pandemic lockdown, it’s time for advancement professionals to reflect on what we’ve learned. Let’s explore how we might rethink our in-person events with four essential tactics: be adaptable, plan with intentionality, leverage partnerships, and create backup plans.