Good onboarding welcomes new colleagues into a team—like a welcome mat for the organization. That philosophy helps the University of California, Davis, U.S., start its newcomers in advancement off on the right foot. In 2021, the development and alumni relations division there launched The Learning DO–Development Officer Boot Camp. It’s a comprehensive, centralized, nine-week academy for fundraisers.

The average tenure for an advancement professional today is just five years. To keep staff on board, our workplaces need to be flexible, empathetic, inclusive, and transparent. Here, two researchers share what they’ve discovered about human-centered talent management and the key steps to retain staff: align talent to mission and values; engage the whole person; and recognize colleagues’ impact.  

CASE’s 50th anniversary is also a time to look to the future. Five advancement leaders share thoughts on the challenges ahead, along with what makes them optimistic in this roundtable discussion.

A solution to ensuring educational philanthropy and engagement workforce stability is considering candidates with transferable skills, says Ann Synder, CASE Senior Director, Communities Engagement. But what sorts of skills make someone good at advancement? Find out how to assess data-driven and strategic thinking, drive and follow-up, listening skills, and more when hiring to attract talent that will infuse the advancement industry with new ideas.

Advancement professionals share stories of data in action. They are using the metrics and insights that come from participating in CASE’s industry-leading surveys to set strategy and goals, benchmark against peers, target constituent groups, enhance programming, meet campaign goals, and add new staff.

Hundreds of decisions advancement professionals make each day are data-driven. When we are functioning at our most strategic, we use the significant data at our disposal to make informed decisions that will improve our institutional advancement outcomes. We bring these outcomes to life with the stories of impact we tell.

Dos and don’ts of virtual interviews.

In fall of 2016, the CASE Commission on Alumni Relations created the Alumni Engagement Metrics Task Force to address the need for an industry-wide framework to measure alumni engagement. The result was the Alumni Engagement Metrics survey, CASE’s first truly global survey. Now, with results from three years of AEM, advancement professionals who work in alumni relations are benefiting from measuring their results in four areas: volunteerism, experiential, philanthropic, and communication. The ability to document positive outcomes is already elevating the profession. In this article, we hear from CASE members who participated in AEM and how it is changing their work for the better. 

The pandemic and the Great Resignation (on top of years of financial pressures and change) have created new levels of stress and mental health challenges for higher education staffs around the world. Here’s a snapshot of mental health in today’s advancement workplaces—including what institutions, leaders, and individuals can do to address burnout and support well-being.

With the Great Resignation, many professionals find themselves leading as middle managers for the first time. They got there because they excelled in previous roles; however, many have not had the appropriate training to help them reach their potential as team leaders. Several newer managers share how they’ve navigated the transition to leadership, along with their best advice for those new in such roles.