Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) have a history of "doing more with less" and this is often reflected in their effectiveness in securing financial resources from private donors. The purpose of this study is to probe and explore how the Kresge Foundation's HBCU Initiative strengthened HBCU fundraising capacity from…

The Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) launched the volunteer-led Asia-Pacific Alumni Relations Survey in 2014 to provide a resource for alumni relations professionals to benchmark performance internally and against fellow institutions of higher education. That was the first survey CASE has done on alumni relations programmes…

Concerns about the cost of higher education and student loan debt have resulted in increasing efforts by policymakers and university administrators to find alternative ways to support the financing of higher education for students. The authors present a case study of a student-led philanthropy campaign to generate funding for social work student…

Ullysses Tucker likes a good challenge. After spending the first 20 years of his career working in media, he entered the development profession in 2000. He worked for the State University of New York Plattsburgh, New Jersey's Montclair State University, Louisiana's Grambling State University, and Western Illinois University before joining London…

Many universities, colleges, and independent schools face the reality of geographically expanding alumni bases, likely combined with constant or decreasing budgets for alumni activities. Well-intentioned colleagues understand the potential power of a geographically diverse alumni network but do not always grasp the time and complexity associated…

"A Guide to Fundraising at Historically Black Colleges and Universities" is a comprehensive, research-based work that brings the best practices and expertise of seminal professionals to the larger Black college environment and beyond. Drawing on data-driven advice from interviews with successful Black college fundraisers and private sector…

An effective alumni relations program provides the base on which an overall program of institutional advancement can be planned and implemented. The alumni director and staff are essential to such a program, and the prudent college president will use the alumni board as a forum for advancing programs that benefit the entire institution. (MSE)

The long-range planning strategy used at the University of the Redlands to boost alumni program productivity and increase the program budget is outlined. The effort consisted of a series of planning weekends and a number of subtle strategies to justify added resources. (MSE)

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.…

Minicapital campaigns at the 25th and 50th reunions at Williams College are described. Leadership, organization, timing, budget, purpose, marketing, and a solid foundation of positive alumni attitudes toward supporting the college help to make a successful campaign. (MLW)

Improving productivity in alumni programs involves finding the right combination of budget, staff, and program that will energize the alumni. Whitman College has found that spending money, time, and energy to motivate and train volunteers, educate staff, and involve students yields rich dividends. (MLW)

Some things to consider before planning separate alumni activities or associations for young alumni include common assumptions about young adults' interests, spending patterns, willingness to do fund-raising, and interest in meeting older graduates. (MSE)

E-mail is seen as an inexpensive, fast way to communicate with university constituencies, especially alumni. The next logical stage for the use of this Internet technology is the development and evaluation of permission based e-mail (PBE) campaigns. In this paper, we directly examine recipient evaluation of PBE in the context of a university…

The role of trustees as part of an effective fund-raising team is discussed, and fund-raising check lists for trustees and for colleges are presented by the vice president for university relations and development at the University of Michigan. (JT)

Alumni leaders should be included in a school or college capital campaign drive. The alumni office can help find prospects, provide events and programs for fund raising, promote the campaign, involve alumni staff members. Alumni themselves can assist in campaign planning and inspire others to give by donating themselves. (MSE)