When disaster strikes, communicators (and their educational institutions) need to be prepared. Advancement professionals share lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as past crises, about being transparent, showing heart, and balancing speed with accuracy.

Regional events can offer major engagement dividends, from identifying new donors to connecting with alumni. But success isn’t as simple as hosting a happy hour. You need to think strategically about what you offer, where you do it, and whom you’re trying to reach.

Starting immediately, he told the audience at the August 2018 event, NYU would offer full-tuition scholarships to every medical student, regardless of merit or need.

You can find him sporting UCLA blue and gold and USC cardinal red and gold, which is like simultaneously rooting for the Yankees and the Red Sox, Barcelona and Real Madrid, Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader—you get the idea.

Dee Dee Mendoza works in development, but she thinks like an entrepreneur. As managing director for West Coast advancement for Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, she teams with alumni volunteers to host the Dartmouth Entrepreneurs Forum in San Francisco, an annual event for networking, sharing ideas, and learning from speakers such as PayPal Chairman John Donahoe (Class of '82). Before that, she was a senior director focusing on innovator engagement at the University of California, Berkeley, where she and her team developed the Berkeley Founders' Pledge, a commitment by alumni entrepreneurs to make a gift when their startup is acquired or goes public. Since its 2014 launch, 234 entrepreneurs have taken the pledge, creating a gift pipeline estimated at $15 million over the next three years.