Tips for publications managers are provided. Suggestions that are time, money, schedule, and labor savers include: force clients to clarify what they want, check the budget first, keep written records, use student labor, etc. (MLW)

Presents marketing guru Guy Kawasaki's seven rules for revolutionaries, and examples of alumni relations innovators who are implementing change with cutting-edge programs, services, and business practices. Rules include: "jump curves" (look for new paths); "break down barriers" (challenge roadblocks of ignorance and inertia);…

Institutional advancement office needs a communication strategy for interpreting the retrenchment effects on the institution. Fourteen guidelines for communication about retrenchment are provided. (MLW)

Guidelines for selecting the most appropriate typeface for school publication needs include determine the intended audience; decide which typefaces convey the goal, theme, or message; and select typeface for the time period the piece is meant to reflect. (MLW)

This article maintains that the best alumni magazines present lively campus topics on the cover and at the core of the feature section, arguing that too many alumni periodicals seek to be clones of general-interest commercial magazines. Examples from various alumni magazines are presented. (MDM)

This article presents five basic guidelines for initiating a successful alumni merchandising program: (1) shop around for the best vendor; (2) decide what to sell; (3) manage merchandise properly; (4) watch out for risky business; and (5) get what you pay for. (MDM)

This article presents an interview with Robert Deware, associate professor of organization behavior at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, who offers advice on setting up and managing a university public relations office. It focuses on issues of office size, staffing, structure, and strategy. (MDM)

Graphic design expert Jan White presents five principles to make alumni magazines more dynamic and more relevant to readers: (1) reach the reader; (2) write better captions; (3) pack photographs with power; (4) keep the design consistent; and (5) effectively integrate visual material and text. (MDM)

Oberlin College's alumni association group for gay and lesbian alumni provides a case study in setting up new affiliates. Comprehensive and practical guidelines that any interested alumni group can follow are needed. Groups that develop around sensitive issues raise the toughest questions for alumni administrators. (MLW)

Guidelines for managing fund-raising programs are presented including: recognize variability of costs, understand salaries as major cost, compare institution only with its peers, manage volunteers well, allocate enough resources for the long-range development of young alumni and planned giving, pursue endowment gifts, etc. (MLW)

This article presents five guidelines for running a successful faculty-staff fund drive, illustrating them with anecdotal evidence from recent college and university fund drives: (1) educate your constituents; (2) tailor your campaign; (3) choose your leader; (4) guard against disaster; and (5) make it easy to give. (MDM)

Dishonesty in vendor-buyer relations is nothing new. Any alumni director who has contracted with a tour company for alumni trips knows ethical questions can arise, begining with the issue of familiarization, or fam, tours. Some suggestions for setting policies in an alumni office are presented. (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)

Administrators concerned with institutional development at an independent elementary/secondary school, a state university, a school of theology, and a private college share suggestions for maintaining the fund-raising momentum between major capital campaigns. Suggestions address leadership, volunteers, donors, planning, and administration. (DB)

Organizers of auctions, fairs, rummage sales, and other fund-raising events at schools and colleges offer suggestions for making sales run smoothly, avoiding burnout, and complying with the law. These include ideas for improving efficiency, using volunteers effectively, making changes to accommodate new situations and conditions, and addressing…