The president of the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education talks about why college advancement officers need to rethink, restructure, and communicate better about their fund-raising campaigns, in light of public perceptions that the institutions are greedy and not managing resources efficiently. Emphasis is on carefully defining…

Basic principles of designing a reunion gift program include beginning small, researching class prospects, gathering volunteers, determining the financial goal, communicating needs and intentions, organizing volunteers, advertising well, and making the donation at the reunion a major event. More ambitious plans can be tied into the program later.…

Trends in college fund raising are identified in three areas: (1) in campaign design, goals are bigger and campaigns longer; (2) demographics of donors and volunteers have changed, with donors more skeptical, less generous, and harder to find and volunteers more scarce; and (3) government and corporate contributions are critical. (MSE)