WASHINGTON, DC – The Council for Advancement and Support of Education today announced that it received $499,000 from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to support its work stimulating the conversation about the public value of higher education.   

The grant will allow CASE to use the power of its community of advancement leaders across all sectors to strongly convey the importance of higher education through an ongoing public education campaign aligned with the foundation’s  Postsecondary Value Commission in support of the value of postsecondary education.   

CASE will collaborate with the American Council on Education and the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges on reaching their respective members and leaders from colleges and universities nationwide to focus on consistent and effective messaging. As the global nonprofit association dedicated to educational advancement, CASE will work with its member institutions to amplify the impact of the campaign and its messages.  

"CASE is thrilled to be working with the foundation, in partnership with ACE and AGB, to convey the positive impact of higher education. By harnessing our members at colleges and universities across the nation to stimulate a collective conversation about the value, role, and purpose of education, this effort will emphasize the importance of education to transform lives and society," said CASE President & CEO Sue Cunningham.  

ACE will focus on leveraging its new digital learning and community engagement platform, ACE Engage, to convene leaders on this topic and amplify messages through innovative learning opportunities to the platform’s subscribers and to its membership more broadly. 

“ACE is excited to be working with CASE and AGB to help deepen the broad understanding of the multiple ways America’s higher education institutions create value for individuals, communities, and the nation,” said ACE President Ted Mitchell.

Funding from the grant will be fundamental to the development of the messaging, brand and identity for the effort, and will underwrite a series of online talks by leaders from the education, business, and civic sectors, focused on the positive impact of colleges and universities in terms of personal, economic, social, cultural, and scientific progress. Outreach to key constituencies—including college and university trustees and other volunteer leaders nationwide—will be key to success. 

“AGB is thrilled to be collaborating with CASE and ACE, two leading partners in higher education,” said Henry Stoever, AGB president and CEO. “As fiduciaries and higher education leaders, governing boards are accountable for elevating the value of the colleges and university they oversee. I believe that aligning boards, presidents, provosts, advancement professionals, and others in creating and conveying the value of postsecondary education will be invaluable.” 

Digital tool kits—generated by CASE for college and university advancement teams and alumni associations— will provide messages and visual templates to be used as assets to advance the conversation within and in addition to institutional communications. With approximately 3,400 member institutions in 82 countries, CASE members are well positioned to contribute to a robust dialogue about the importance of the education sector. 

“The experiences of students during the pandemic has demonstrated globally that higher education is about more than sitting in a classroom, it’s about the value of experiences,” said Terry Flannery, CASE Board of Trustees chair-elect and interim vice president for marketing and communications at Stony Brook University. “It’s clear from my experience working with CASE volunteers and members from all over the world that the impact of CASE’s work makes a difference in lives and societies every day at a very real level. If that impact can be multiplied by working together with our graduates, that’s bound to be a powerful, persuasive message.”  

“Now, more than ever, we recognize the work our member institutions are doing to positively affect the lives of their students, graduates, and surrounding communities to build resilience and success in challenging times,” said Cunningham.