Hosting more inclusive campus events means building in accessibility. Learn about the principles of accessibility in event planning and how one events team works to make activities as welcoming as possible to its community.

Stanford University’s School of Medicine remembered lives lost to COVID with the award-winning “Apart-Together Remembrance" memorial sculpture that brought together people across disciplines and across campus.

Advancement teams can find themselves overwhelmed by stress and information overload. Finding focus is an essential step to deal with the distress that chaotic environments can create. Recognizing the drivers for overload and dealing with them mindfully and structurally will give advancement professionals the tools to find focus. Examine the central culprits of chaos—meetings, media, management, and messages—and how to use mindfulness to address each.

Faculty members have dedicated a lifetime to their disciplines—they are passionate about their work, their institutions, and students. Who could be better to connect with and share stories of impact with donors? But many can be intimidated by fundraising. Here’s how development officers are strategically partnering with academics by getting to know them, defining expectations, and providing them the assistance they need to be confident philanthropy advocates.

A community college development director shares her thoughts and tips on fostering a culture of faculty involvement in fundraising.

Advancement professionals need to be curious, spend time deepening our understanding of our institutions’ teaching and research, and get to know our colleagues leading this work. We would not exist without our academic colleagues, and without our teams, they would not benefit from the extra investment, connections, resources, and publicity. We are in this together.

Now, after more than two years of living in various stages of pandemic lockdown, it’s time for advancement professionals to reflect on what we’ve learned. Let’s explore how we might rethink our in-person events with four essential tactics: be adaptable, plan with intentionality, leverage partnerships, and create backup plans.

In 2020, a year of unexpected disruptions, staff at Singapore’s Nanyang Technical University found a way to use the changes for a good cause. NTU’s Leave Redemption and Donation Exercise gave faculty and staff a way to donate their unused vacation time to student aid funds.

Utah Valley University transformed its black-tie President’s Scholarship Ball gala into a socially distanced, 1950s-themed drive-in movie night.

Sharing ideas for recognizing retiring faculty members and engaging alumni employees.