Planned or deferred giving (through which a donor to a college or university contributes capital in the form of an annuity, life-income trust, insurance policy, pooled income fund, real estate, or other asset, to the institution but retains its financial benefit during his lifetime) is an increasingly popular form of donation to endowments. (MSE)

Alumni relations is defined as working to motivate alumni to be understanding and supportive of their university. The alumni association should be a community catalyst for moving people. A largely overlooked role for alumni is their involvement in the decision-making processes of a university. (MLW)

A study that refutes myths about the "right" characteristics of fund raisers is discussed. Characteristics under study included: educational factors, social factors, general factors, and administrative factors. (MLW)

An institutional development audit is a comprehensive evaluation of a program, its operations, and its people. Information is analyzed to assess: institutional mission, personnel and organizational structure, financial resources, program management, communication, and overall program effectiveness and efficiency. (MLW)

In politics concerning the federal government's support, higher education must either play the political game to the fullest extent or work to change the rules. To do otherwise is to betray a commitment and to hide from the realities of a complex society. (Author/MSE)

The University of Illinois used teleconferencing to ignite volunteers and leaders for a five-year capital campaign. The program was live with two-way audio communications from meeting sites back to the main studio. Suggestions for planning and organizing a teleconference are presented. (MLW)

The effectiveness of a development officer is directly proportional to the fund-raising abilities of the president and the chairman of the board of trustees. A modest program that fits the corporate culture of the institution will be better than a program that is too ambitious for the people involved. (MLW)

Describes a computer-assisted paperless system for the telephone marketing industry and claims it will enable schools to make telephone fund raising more successful. (MLF)

A training manual for volunteer fund-raisers is presented. The technique of soliciting is described and an interview with top volunteer Jerome Stone on fund-raising is included (MLW)

Alumni administrators must become full partners in institutional advancement and fund-raising. The salaries, access, and respect accorded alumni administrators must be at parity or near parity with development professionals. Some suggestions to further alumni/development partnership are provided. (MLW)

In John Steinbeck's classic novel "The Pearl," a poor Mexican fisherman finds a valuable pearl in an oyster. But instead of leading to riches, the "treasure" brings him only envy among his neighbors and violence against his family. He can't even convert the pearl to cash. Comparable drama is familiar fare for today's fund-raising professionals and…

A community-empowered school is one in which administrators, teachers, staff, students, parents, and members of the community at large feel that they have a stake in the success of that school. Despite common reservations about the involvement of parents and volunteers in the classroom, this book makes clear the long-term advantages of onsite…

Annual funds face pressures to contact all alumni to maximize participation, but these efforts are costly. This paper uses a logistic regression model to predict likely donors among alumni from the College of Arts & Humanities at the University of Maryland, College Park. Alumni were grouped according to their predicted probability of donating…

This study examined whether alumni who were resident assistants (RAs) gave more to the institution than did alumni who were not RAs. This information was deemed significant for two reasons: (1) contributions from graduates are increasingly important sources of funds for colleges and universities; (2) information on why alumni contribute is…

This handbook discusses the process of planning school grounds. It presents ideas for creating good educational landscapes and provides step-by-step procedures to achieve this goal. The steps include ground surveying and analysis, establishing community and school needs and wants, planning changes and preparing the design process, publicizing and…