It’s that time of year again! Pumpkin spice in our lattes, lower humidity (in most of the U.S.), and NFL, college, and high school football every weekend. There’s also a lot going on for community colleges at CASE!
We just wrapped up the Conference for Community College Advancement and the one-day Conference for Community College Grant Professionals in Baltimore, Maryland, and it was a ton of fun for the 370+ who attended, including 18 community college presidents and chancellors. More than 80 of your colleagues woke up early to attend pre-conference sessions held on the first day for three different groups: community college presidents and chancellors, foundation executive directors and trustees, and newcomers to advancement.
Plenary speakers included CASE President and CEO Sue Cunningham, Community College of Baltimore County President Sandra Kurtinitis, American Association of Community Colleges’ President Walter Bumphus, motivational speaker/consultant Brian Bedford, and author/consultant Jeff Bagel. Jeff’s book Annual Fundraising Plans Made Simple: A Road Map for Community Colleges and Small Development Shops, one of CASE’s top-selling books, is now in its second edition.
I invite you to save the date, and join us next fall in New Orleans, Louisiana, Oct. 8 - 10!
Another highlight of the fall at CASE is the arrival of the members of our Federal Funding Task Force to our office in Washington, D.C. The 55 or so members—led by Michelle A. Alexander, Director of Institutional Advancement, Vernon College/Executive Director, Vernon College Foundation, and Rachel A. Johnson, Santa Barbara City College’s Chief Program Officer and Director of Institutional Grants—will spend the first week of November meeting with program officers from federal funding agencies so they can develop their well-known comprehensive report for you! We’ll let you know when their video debriefs and final report will be available in the upcoming months. Many thanks to this dedicated group of volunteers who leave their jobs and families to do this important (and tiring!) work so our community colleges can identify federal funding opportunities.
CASE community college volunteers have also been setting up webinars so that our members who don’t have the budgets or time to travel can still benefit from learning and networking with our experts. Don’t miss the first of a two-part series on Leveraging Workforce Development Partnerships on Nov. 14, 3–4 p.m. (ET) in which Louisiana Community and Technical College’s Chandler LeBouef will moderate a discussion with the Maine Community College System’s John Fitzsimmons, David Daigler, and Dan Belyea about the $75 million the college received from the Harold Alfond Foundation. Workforce development partnerships are making a significant impact on community colleges and their students, and I hope you’ll join us to learn more about how this partnership developed, and continues to grow, for our Maine colleagues.
Next, on Dec. 5, 2:30–3:30 p.m. (ET), Mott Community College’s Lennetta Coney will lead a discussion about a very hot topic: Strategic Alumni Fundraising for Community Colleges. We’re grateful Northern Essex Community College’s Allison Dolan-Wilson, Dutchess Community College’s Diana Pollard, and Heartland Community College’s Chris Downing will share their thoughts on alumni fundraising, what strategies have and haven’t worked for them, and how to decide how much your college should invest in this area.
So, just like your campuses in the fall, there’s a lot going on at CASE now, too! If you’re interested in helping me organize a webinar, or if you have another programming idea for community colleges, I look forward to hearing from you! mnatter@case.org
Meg Natter
Director, Community Colleges & Foundations