Results of a study identifying and ranking the institutions most successful at fund raising are reported. Rankings include the top institutions in total gift income, annual growth in gift income, gift income per student, fund-raising leverage, alumni participation, and performances surpassing statistical prediction. (MSE)

Two models of administering college and university alumni chapters--using volunteers or paid staff--are compared, based on comments from alumni directors who have addressed the issues. A flexible club structure, which integrates a fully structured, chartered-chapter model with two versions of predominantly staff-driven models, is proposed as…

The annual Comparative Performance Study of the National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO) contains data on the endowments of 223 colleges and universities. It can help answer many donor questions. (MLW)

Colleges and universities should critically review their publications periodically to save money and also as a way to present a more cohesive institutional identity. Ten recommendations are made for conducting a productive publications audit; they include choosing an evaluation method, selecting participants, making the experience pleasant, and…

Lafayette College used the Nexis database to find out if their peer institutions were receiving more and "better" national press exposure. Four categories of exposure were identified: coincidental mentions, sports stories, stories placed by an institution's own public relations efforts, and stories based on general prestige and perceived…

A survey of CASE and three other associations of higher education administrators showed a high turnover rate (17.3%) in advancement offices. Turnover rates for functional area, type of institution, size of unit, and voluntary and involuntary terminations are shown. (MLW)

Between 1981 and 1985, advancement officers' salaries stayed slightly ahead of inflation but didn't increase as much as other white-collar workers' salaries. A 1985 CASE survey of institutional advancement professionals' salaries investigated factors that influence salary, and gender was found to be a significant influence. (MLW)

How the ability of competing institutions to attract private support has changed over time is discussed. Data from 1971 to 1982 on Tufts University and 33 other selective colleges and universities was studied. (MLW)

The 1,210 respondents to the 1990 survey of the membership of the Council for Advancement and Support of Education report an average salary of $41,981, up 26.6 percent from the 1986 survey's mean salary of $33,149. Multiple regression analysis isolated effects on pay of age, education experience in the field, tenure on the job, race, and gender.…

College and university fund raisers are encouraged to test various strategies for direct-mail solicitation by comparing variations of five factors that influence direct mail response: copy; timing; package; offer; and list. Suggestions include forming a hypothesis, testing one variable at a time, choosing test and control groups carefully,…

New Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) standards for college and university fund raising establish three key rules for campaign reporting: (1) separation of gifts for featured and unspecified objectives; (2) separation of current from deferred gifts; and (3) disclosure of both face value and discounted present value of…

Five college and university fund-raising professionals discuss ways in which uncoordinated solicitations of gifts from the same prospective donor(s) by different schools or departments can be avoided by planning, coordination, and communication. Advantages and disadvantages of centralized and decentralized administrative approaches are considered.…

The effectiveness of gift range tables for capital campaign planning is discussed. The gift range table provides a rule of thumb concerning how many gifts are needed at each range of giving to ensure a campaign's success. Feasibility studies are discussed. (MLW)

Because Canadians are more fiscally conservative than Americans, a strong tradition of private support for higher education has not developed there. Wills programs are among the least labor-intensive methods of acquiring planned gifts. Life insurance policies are another route to take for planned giving. (MLW)

Although higher education institutions dislike rankings published in the mass media, they like the attention the rankings create and prefer to be included rather than excluded. Common criticisms of the methodology include emphasis on inappropriate criteria, unfair comparison of private and public institutions, faulty assumptions, inaccurate data,…