School districts across New York are constrained from fully exploiting a potential source of revenue to help offset pressure on local taxes. The revenue source in question is commercial advertising--including signs, sponsorships and facility naming rights, especially for athletic facilities. Experience in other states suggests New York school…

While there are many causes at the root of the academic achievement gap between high- and low-income students, one that is seldom acknowledged is summer learning loss, which disproportionally affects low-income and minority students. With a wide achievement gap across all regions of Massachusetts, private schools in the commonwealth should…

A growing number of U.S. institutions are recognizing the importance of reaching out to and involving alumni in meaningful ways--so much so that it's encoded as a specific campaign goal. But, like fundraising goals, alumni engagement goals are not realized easily, overnight, or just because they're committed to paper. Lasting engagement takes…

This white paper reports on findings from the fourth survey of social media in advancement, conducted in January and February, 2013 by the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE), Huron Education, and mStoner. The survey was taken by more than 1,000 CASE members. Featured are six case studies on the effective use of social media in…

How important is the faith associated with an educational institution in raising funds? Do development professionals at faith-based institutions use strategies different from their secular school colleagues? Are there particular challenges to raising money from donors who may already have philanthropic ties to churches or synagogues? Fundraisers…

When the U.S. Census Bureau began releasing population reports from the 2010 count, the findings reaffirmed demographers' projections about the nation's rapidly changing racial, ethnic, and economic makeup. African-American, Hispanic, Asian, and Native American populations grew about 30 percent since 2000 and will account for a majority of the…

Community colleges are enjoying a rare moment in the limelight right now. But part of what is being revealed by that light is just how much scrambling two-year institutions must do to keep up with increasing demands and decreasing budgets. With the recession sending many laid-off workers back to school for job retraining, and with President Barack…

Due to the decrease in public funding, community colleges are in a position where they need to generate private gifts. Alumni represent the largest untapped pool of prospective donors, and the success of alumni giving at 4-year institutions illustrates the potential that exists for community colleges. To develop effective fundraising strategies,…

Strapped for cash, a Massachusetts high school creates its own venture capital fund to incentivize teachers to create programs that improve student learning. The result has been higher test scores and higher job satisfaction. One important program is credited with helping close the achievement gap at the school, while others have helped ambitious…

The changes and uncertainty people have seen in the economy over the past 20 months have created a paradigm shift in fundraising. This has certainly been the case at Holy Cross, a Jesuit liberal arts college of 2,900 students in Massachusetts, as it has been forced to rethink its strategies and adapt in creative ways to the new reality. Other…

At the end of 2010, for the first time ever, smartphones outsold PCs. Mobile device adoption rates continue to rise rapidly around the world. A recent forecast by Cisco found that global mobile data traffic more than doubled last year, and by the end of 2012, the number of mobile devices in use will outnumber the world's population. In the United…

How are independent schools to be useful to the wider world? Beyond their common commitment to educate their students for meaningful lives in service of the greater good, can they educate a broader constituency and, thus, share their resources and skills more broadly? Their answers to this question will be shaped by their independence. Any…

Research suggests that institutional commitment to community engagement can be understood by examining levels of student, faculty, and community involvement in engagement; organizational structure, rewards, and campus publications supporting engagement; and compatibility of an institution's mission with this work (Holland, 1997). Underlying all of…

Everyone in the business of raising funds for graduate and professional schools knows that the effort has certain challenges. Deborah McCreery, of Widener University School of Law, identifies two main hurdles to alumni fundraising at Widener Law: (1) student loan debt; and (2) a perception problem. At Widener Law and other professional and…

High-quality youth arts programs that take place outside the formal education system play a vital role in supporting the developmental needs and well-being of today's youth, particularly youth at risk of negative outcomes. Out-of-school time (OST) youth arts programs provide opportunities for youth to learn about themselves and their world while…