The future of American higher education now depends on its ability to attract more and larger gifts for endowment. Comprehensive strategies that include all the ways to increase endowments are presented. (MLW)

Flexible endowments are a form of planned giving agreement letting highly motivated donors give endowment-level funding to colleges and universities before they are able to make an outright gift. The donor commits to giving the institution the amount of money an endowment would have generated each year until the endowment principle is fully…

To raise money for endowment, there needs to be a mix of strong leadership, solid fund-raising technique, and confidence-inspiring endowment fund management. These ingredients have helped Berea College increase its endowment to more than $100 million. (MLW)

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)

The modest foundation that publisher DeWitt Wallace established for Macalester College (Minnesota) in 1981 suddenly became $200 million in 1990. Previous strategic planning has laid a foundation for decisions regarding use of the assets, which will be used to strengthen the faculty, curriculum, student opportunities, and facilities. (MSE)

Two reports on institutional fund raising ("The Quest for Major Gifts: A Survey of 68 Institutions," 1983, by Addison L. Winship II, and "Seeking Major Gifts: How 57 Institutions Do It," 1991, by Anne W. Altizer) offer examples of how a healthy college endowment provides stability through difficult economic times. (MSE)

The article recommends that colleges and universities have a clear and detailed endowment policy that will meet donors' demands for accountability. The disclosure document needs to address investment policy and use of gifts and be communicated to trustees and staff. A collaborative relationship between fund-raising and financial operations is…

Offers guidelines for creating a strategic plan for a college or university's annual fund. Identifies benefits of strategic planning and describes six planning approaches using examples from various institutions. Two planning prototypes, from McKendree College (Illinois) and the University of Southern California, are included. (DB)

Guidelines for conducting an annual fund at colleges and universities stress the importance of aggregate donor behavior and donor value, rather than solicitation technique, in driving strategic planning and goal-setting. Suggests fund raisers track three measures of donor participation: donor retention, lapsed donor reactivation, and new donor…

A three-year endowment campaign at the University of Texas at Austin is described. Other ideas from CASE members are described including alumni endowments, foundations and corporations, federal and state endowments, and unusual endowments. (MLW)

Successful college endowment fund raising requires getting more gifts from high-level donors and bringing more donors into the fold. Institutions use a variety of approaches, including greater emphasis on general giving, endowment campaigns, state matching grants, and special programs to introduce endowment giving to a larger audience. (MSE)

The effects of poor planning may show up at the beginning of a college fund-raising campaign or much later, perhaps at a crucial stage in soliciting a leadership gift. Proper preparation starts with developing an overall institutional plan and moves to readying the development program for the upcoming drive with a campaign plan. (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)

Ten steps to planning a marketing strategy to increase endowments are identified: conditions of fund, ways to establish funds, guidelines for funds, good business practices, enduring nature for fund, recognition of donors, corporations, periodic reports to donors, etc. (MLW)

A campaign to create an endowed chair in surgery for the Vanderbilt University Medical Center is described. More than $1.1 million was raised in less than six months for the chair, and a new set of prospective donors was found. (MLW)