An institutional advancement administrator draws on experience running an office with limited resources to offer suggestions to others, including putting basics in place first, then fine-tuning them, and developing a do-everything publication, a plan for special events and fund-raising, an annual giving structure, and a strong core of volunteers.…

Although volunteers serve many useful functions in fund raising, soliciting gifts should be left to staff. Volunteers are hard to recruit, keep, motivate, are unreliable, lacking in expertise, and they can balk at the realities of development tasks. Development offices should carefully think through the appropriate roles for these individuals.…

Four articles report ideas for improving fund-raising techniques, beginning new initiatives, and maintaining donation momentum. They are: "At Centre Stage" (Shawn Lyons); "By Hook or By Crook" (Sherwood C. Haskins, Jr.); "Small Miracles" (C. Jeffery Wahlstrom); and "The Price of Participation" (Margaret A.…