When Karen E. Osborne first started working in development in 1982, she’d wake up early to exercise before work. Because from the moment she walked into the office, colleagues came to her with so many questions she hardly had a moment to sit down. 

Realizing she had a lot to learn, she headed to a CASE conference.

“Up until then, I didn’t know I belonged to a profession,” says Osborne. “Going into that CASE conference so early in my tenure, I met all these people who were jazzed about philanthropy and proud of being fundraisers.”

That, she says, sold her on the profession—but also on CASE’s learning opportunities. Osborne (then Director of Corporate Relations at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York, U.S.) went on to be one of CASE’s longest serving volunteers, presenting at programs like the Summer Institutes, Minority Advancement Institute, CASE Academy, and more.

Throughout CASE’s 50 years, advancement professionals like Osborne have turned to CASE for professional learning and found, in addition to best practices, a network of colleagues and mentors. CASE’s educational programs have over time expanded globally, attracted more participants, and explored trends and ideas—all with the signature CASE sense of community and connection.
 

The CASE DNA

CASE held its first Annual Assembly—which would become the Summit for Leaders in Advancement—in 1975 and announced a slate of nine conferences, including programs on government affairs and managing alumni programs. The July 1977 issue of Currents reported that conferences and learning opportunities were “the council’s most valuable single service” according to members. 

Today, CASE’s more than 70 in-person conferences and online trainings, seminars, and courses serve thousands of advancement professionals. A CASE program is “a space to learn and network with colleagues, where [advancement professionals] feel that they are not alone. They can share challenges and successes; they have the potential to connect with others and learn,” says Angélica Careaga, Executive Director of Latin America.

Early on, CASE zeroed in on a conference model that’s still used today. Advancement practitioners serve as volunteer faculty, working with staff to develop programming with an “emphasis on getting together, learning from and teaching each other,” writes Rob Moore in the book CASE at 50. “This formula, deeply embedded in our DNA, plays through all CASE conferences and workshops throughout the world.” 

Evolving to Meet Learning Needs

Beyond offering rich opportunities to connect, CASE programs have also needed to fit the profession’s broad, diverse, and changing learning needs. That was clear to Norma Walker when she became Vice President of Educational Programming in 2000, having served on staff since 1982.

“My responsibility was to provide training for advancement professionals through the length of their careers. We had to consider all the types of institutions that are CASE members, from public to private, large to small, all levels of the practice—newcomers, mid-level practitioners, senior professionals,” she says. “The professions were, as time went on, becoming more and more specialized. We had to consider how we were going to meet the [learning] demands, from leading big operations to running the alumni magazine.”

Thus, CASE’s team has adjusted program offerings over time to address learning needs and respond to trends—like building out online course offerings during and after the COVID-19 pandemic or creating new conferences like Development for Deans and Academic Leaders in the 1990s or the Diverse Philanthropy and Leadership conference in 2011. 

At the 2024 Congreso in Ensenada, Mexico, staff and volunteers added more keynote sessions on the latest trends in advancement and an innovative preconference on managing a university’s reputation, which participants loved, notes Careaga.

“Participants enjoy having workshops that allow them to have a more hands-on experience,” she says. 

Through the years, CASE has also assessed and refined its curriculum, culminating in 2019 with the CASE Competencies Model, which defines essential skills and abilities for advancement professionals. And CASE calls upon volunteers to help adjust program content—as Osborne did with the CASE Academy’s information on diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging. She served on the competency committee that defined essential skills for the program.

“The great thing about CASE programmes is that there is that desire to continue to make them the best that they can be,” explains Rich Nicholl, Senior Director, Global Programmes Strategy and Delivery, based in London, U.K. “The opportunity to continually work with colleagues and volunteers to ensure that the experiences delegates have across the globe is memorable and invaluable.”

Over time, CASE has extended those learning opportunities across the world. Beng Hwee Chua remembers her first CASE conference in Singapore vividly. Chua came on board as CASE Asia-Pacific’s first Executive Director in 2007. The Asia-Pacific Advancement Conference that year opened with a lion dance, which is traditionally performed to bring good luck and good fortune.

“It just lit up the room; everyone was so energetic and enthusiastic. It was a very good start for a few days of learning and sharing,” she says.

With such diversity in the region, APAC and other regional conferences “allow participants to gain not just knowledge and know-how of advancement practices, but also invaluable, nuanced cultural understanding,” she says. 

Driven By Volunteers

After her initial CASE conference, Osborne learned the ropes in advancement—in part by attending CASE programs in disciplines outside fundraising, which helped her collaborate with colleagues. When she started volunteering with CASE, she’d attend other faculty members’ sessions, soaking up advice on the skills she wanted to teach about, like “working a room” as a fundraiser.

She was hungry to learn and eager to share—and that’s what characterizes CASE volunteers, says Walker.

“[The CASE moniker] ‘copy and share everything’ really does describe the generosity and the sense of what people are willing to share—their plans, their programs, their approaches. The volunteer is a driver of whatever CASE is doing. They are the leaders and [our staff is] there to back them up and help them succeed. The staff develops tremendous admiration for the volunteers they’re working with,” she says.

From the get-go, writes Moore in CASE at 50, “collective wisdom—roundtable thinking—has been fundamental to the CASE approach,” and Walker made volunteer stewardship a top priority during her time at CASE. Though CASE recognizes volunteers in many ways, the Crystal Apple Award for Teaching Excellence is a special honor for conference volunteers. Launched in 1983, the award celebrates outstanding performance at 10 or more CASE international educational programs.

But giving back is an honor in itself, says Osborne; days at a program like the Summer Institutes are busy (“you’re on your feet from breakfast until after dinner”) but worthwhile.

“The camaraderie and support of the faculty are pretty amazing and special,” she says.

CASE’s history is filled with stories of advancement professionals who met a mentor at a conference, found answers to their toughest workplace quandaries there, or realized they’d found “their people.” For Nicholl, that spirit of community sets CASE programming apart. He loves the moment when, at the start of the event, he can see the audience relax and realize “they are in the right place.”

“There is something very powerful about hearing delegates discuss how career affirming a CASE programme was or is,” he notes. “That translates into the community of practice that we are part of globally.”