Throughout 2024, CASE has convened panels composed of enthusiastic advancement leaders to reflect on this 50-year milestone and, more importantly, to look to the future. These “Next 50” panel discussions have been held at CASE conferences around the world. 

In this special anniversary edition of Currents, we invited a few members who have participated on panels to take part in a print panel discussion.

What do you see as one of the top challenges for the advancement profession in the next few years?

Morrel Wax: The biggest challenge I see is in the use of [artificial intelligence]. Will we, as a profession, embrace it or get left behind? How can we lead in this area? I believe now and into the next decade, we will need to learn how AI fits into the ecosystem of advancement, and how to tap into its great potential—for instance, how AI can help us better understand donor intentions. I don’t ever see a day in which it will replace us, but I do see the day where we use AI to improve, streamline, and enhance our capacity as a routine part of our operations. 

Cyrielle Bazin: Two immediate challenges come to mind, and I agree that one of them is AI. It’s both a challenge and an opportunity. It continues to evolve, and I think we are at a crossroads in what we are going to do with those tools. When ChatGPT became available in 2022, it reminded me of when Wikipedia came on the scene. I was in college, and professors were scrambling to write guidelines. Now 15 years on, and it’s fully integrated into our lives to the point we aren’t thinking about it. I think something similar will happen with AI as we learn to use these tools to automate and streamline how we engage with stakeholders, especially when it comes to prospecting and demographics. AI has the potential to move into more predictive models—as long as we don’t lose our authenticity in relationships.

The second challenge I see, coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic, is staffing—particularly in the school sector. In a time of crisis, it often seems advancement is the first to take the hit. How are we going to work effectively with the teams we have who are doing more with less (so to speak), while also looking to the future with adequate staffing? Part of that comes down to demonstrating our return on investment so that our institutions’ leadership supports our staffing needs.
 
Rodger Devine: One of the biggest challenges is the data privacy and regulatory landscape, which is already impacting our profession. With the rapid acceleration of tech development, including AI, we need to invest in talent and new skill sets to navigate these complex requirements. As advancement practitioners, we must be at the forefront of safeguarding our institutional data. We are in a relationship-driven profession, and trust is a key element of building these relationships. If our constituent base does not trust how we are handling data, we may encounter or observe a reluctance to engage with our institutions.

Julie Melton: Regarding AI, I think it’s a great tool and an opportunity for us now and in the near future. We provide donors with student profiles on every scholarship recipient. It’s a very manual process to ensure these are grammatically correct and articulate, but still have the student’s voice. We are playing around with having AI write those first draft profiles for us, and that will be a game changer. AI can enhance our work. The challenge will be keeping up with it as it continues to evolve. 

On the community college front, we have a unique challenge, especially in Illinois where we are receiving increased state and federal funding to support students to help meet workforce needs. We are looking at what we call braided funding for our philanthropic dollars with the grant support. We absolutely still need donor support [though], so it’s important to be intentional about how we maximize all of our dollars in the most effective way to ensure we offer the best programs to serve our community and that all of our prospective students have access to a quality education. From a foundation standpoint, it’s a challenge, but a beautiful challenge.

Helen Pennack: Here in the U.K., and especially in marketing and communications, we’ve seen a meteoric rise in the importance of what we do for universities in recent years. And amid rapid growth, the challenge is that we’re being held to account for the things we deliver. As we grow our teams, there is increased scrutiny on what our “value add” is to the university. I think that’s right. It’s up to us to demonstrate our value in more sophisticated ways. 

The key to this is in how our teams work together. We are the sum of our parts. To be truly productive, we must collaborate across advancement. That’s how we become our most efficient and effective. We must really look at how we work. Are we collaborative across organizational boundaries? 

Going back to AI, that does come into play here. There’s an opportunity. If AI frees time by doing the more routine tasks, we can focus more on collaboration, which is hard to do when you are overwhelmed with tasks. And then we can do a better job of demonstrating our value.

Turning to CASE’s history, what do past accomplishments tell you about what we can accomplish in the future?

Pennack: What CASE does very well is bringing senior leaders—vice chancellors, presidents—into the advancement sector. This is a huge benefit for the profession. CASE has the credibility that gets the attention of those leaders and invites them into the advancement space, into CASE volunteer roles and programs. This not only helps us work better with them, but it gives them a bit of insight into the work we do and how we do it. And as we look to the future of advancement, our potential to grow and expand within our institutions is dependent on leadership supporting us and understanding the value we bring.

Devine: I would look to CASE’s crucial role in defining global reporting standards for the profession. Going back to the question about future challenges, how will CASE define standards for what lies ahead, like data privacy? CASE has continued to update the standards and training to keep pace with changing times and member needs. We will look to future program iterations and next practices to assist us in staying ahead of the curve.

Melton: We just celebrated our 50th anniversary at Richland, too, during which we reflected on our history with an eye toward the future. I believe anniversaries are the perfect time to be aspirational. When I think about how we have evolved and become a more sophisticated profession, I do think CASE has been at the forefront of that with standards and trainings. We have become recognized as an important sector within education. CASE will continue to support us as our role within education continues to grow.

Bazin: CASE has always been at the forefront of how educational institutions approach advancement—not just in terms of best practices, but how to connect people with one another. I look to CASE conferences and the CASE Library to see what others are doing and how they are answering challenges and seizing opportunities. Through CASE, we have a strong network. It’s where we go for solutions. We are all in this together. CASE brings people together and will continue to do so in the future.

Wax: Global expansion has been a major accomplishment for CASE, providing us with connection points that show how small the world can be. In an increasingly globalized workforce, that has served us well and will only become more important in the future, especially when it comes to standardizing universal advancement practices and guidelines for the profession.

What stands out to you about the newest generation of advancement professionals as we look to the future?

Pennack: We are always on a learning curve no matter where we are in our career. My learning curve since the COVID-19 pandemic has been about workplace culture—how important it is for people to feel empowered, supported, and part of the team. That comes much more instinctively to younger people. They are in touch with their working life, and they want to find the personal value in it. When I started 20-odd years ago, it was more about getting the job done. And I see this younger generation is more intuitively aware of working together and how they treat one another. This gives me great hope for the future of our profession because they will be future leaders. 

Bazin: One of the things I love about this generation is that they are not afraid of challenging the status quo. That’s very valuable in a field like ours that is constantly evolving. They are committed to social impact and inclusion. With that said, I don’t like applying sweeping generalizations to a generation. To me it’s simply exciting to work with anyone who brings a fresh perspective.  

Melton: They are eager and offer new approaches. I think at times we have to reign them in only because they are so enthusiastic but don’t have the years of experience. We should be careful to do that without putting out that spark. Passion is so important to this work. I had it when I was new, and I still have it. That’s what we share with our newest generation of professionals. Our best ideas come from brainstorming and working together, and having new perspectives at the table only makes us better.

Devine: It’s encouraging that they are so attuned to and focused on accessibility and inclusion. We can learn from their digital-first perspectives and changing expectations of work. They are also entering the workplace with a positive expectation of efficiency and focus on how an organization lives up to its stated values. I have also observed a curiosity for learning and navigating new systems, which is exactly what we need right now with accelerating technology change. Could we have imagined five years ago the degree to which we rely on Zoom today? What’s the next iteration? Will we be virtually meeting with colleagues around the world through high-fidelity 3D video with AI-assistance? Let’s look to our early-career colleagues to help us think beyond our current capabilities, imagination, and workflow!

Wax: I’ve observed that Gen Z professionals work smarter. They value their time and flexibility—having a balanced life. That’s a good thing. I find that they are successful at raising money, especially when they are speaking to a cause—they are mission-driven. In order to thrive, the profession needs to embrace change. Relationship-building will always be central to this profession, but that doesn’t mean we need to be set in our ways about how we make and cultivate those connections. There are so many trends we can get in front of if we provide the opportunities and support to young professionals—for example, the way we use social media and influencing as part of our strategies. How are we using different channels to share impact stories? For those who have been around a bit longer, we have to be open and trusting, and that’s just what I am seeing among my colleagues. The future is bright.

Will advancement become even more important to the success of educational institutions in future years?

Melton: Absolutely. I am the veteran on our president’s cabinet. Increasingly, we are seeing advancement vice presidents have a seat at the table. Our view can’t be limited to advancement. We are integral to how the college operates in all areas. When we have that knowledge; we are a trusted resource on our campuses.  
At nearby North Park University, [Chicago, Illinois, U.S.], where I teach nonprofit management, Vice President for Advancement Mary Surridge became the president of the university. That’s a huge testament to how important advancement is, and I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw this happen more often.

Devine: So much of what we do in advancement is helping translate the future vision of leadership into actionable, achievable strategy, solutions, and resources. More broadly, under the umbrella of external affairs there is a host of emerging challenges and opportunities that require institutions to reimagine constituent engagement in scalable and sustainable ways. Building relationships and resourcing powerful ideas for institutional change is what we do best, and it’s a role that will only become more important.

Wax: It’s already happening. Often, and more so in the past, we are brought in too late or after plans are in motion. Increasingly, advancement is part of leadership cabinets and councils. CEOs, presidents, and trustees are looking to us for guidance in the overall health and growth of institutions. It’s a positive trend and one that needs to be even more widespread.

Bazin: Speaking from what I know best (international schools), the landscape has changed so much in the last 10 years. We have moved away from a model of international schools being for expats and companies paying for tuition. There was a lower need for marketing and fundraising back then. That expectation has changed. Companies are now reluctant to cover tuition, and student demographics are changing. Schools are responding by creating advancement teams with experienced marketing and communications professionals and dedicated fundraisers. Our value is becoming clear, so much so that many of us are now sitting at the senior leadership table. We bring our expertise to help make informed decisions about the future of the school.  

Pennack: With my perspective of marketing and communications in mind, student recruitment must be first and foremost in a university strategy. Here in the U.K., this is the major income stream for the higher education sector. In terms of communications, there are so many more challenges as the discourse has become so complicated in terms of politics and cultural sensitivities. That means we must be present at the start of any conversation about marketing and communications. What is the right message? How can a communications strategy mitigate difficult circumstances? So I do think our role continues to grow in importance. And here I go back to that first question and my response. With this growing importance comes scrutiny and accountability. We must be prepared to demonstrate, by objective means, that we deserve a seat at the table.