Working in community college advancement comes with a unique set of challenges and opportunities. As we gear up for the Conference on Community College Advancement this October, we sat down with Kristen Bennett, vice president of institutional advancement at Trinity Valley Community College and executive director of the TVCC Foundation, who will be chairing CCCA, to hear her advice for newcomers to community college advancement and what she’s most looking forward to at the conference.

According to the most recent results from the Voluntary Support of Education Survey, CASE estimates that colleges and universities in the U.S. raised $52.9 billion during the 2020-2021 fiscal year, up from $49.5 billion the previous year.

Community colleges, however, experienced a net increase of 52.5% over that same period of time, thanks in large part to transformational gifts from MacKenzie Scott, American novelist, philanthropist and ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. But if you exclude her gifts, how did community colleges fare?

While there’s no silver bullet in philanthropy, there are ways to stay the course and meet your goals and objectives in recession fundraising mode. Here are five things to consider ahead of and during a recession.

Annual giving days are a top tool for independent schools seeking to hit fundraising goals. But for many schools, planning and executing successful giving days is no easy feat.
 

5 lessons learned from Katie Shultz, 15-year grant professional and chair of the 2019 CASE Conference for Community College Grant Professionals.

The last 50 years of professional advancement have seen many technological advances, but the magic 0s and 1s that now build our social, fiscal, and industrial infrastructure hasn’t fundamentally changed the way we raise funds for our schools.

It’s the time of year for reflection and resolution and it’s also year-end giving season, so your advancement teams are working double time, wrapping up Giving Tuesday campaigns and thinking through those pledges and gifts they want to secure before December 31.

Bringing students and advancement professionals together to share student advancement best practices and network is the main goal of the 46th annual CASE ASAP Network Convention.

Independent schools face many challenges as they execute comprehensive campaigns, from developing a strategic plan to managing leadership and staff transitions. Read on for strategies schools can deploy to achieve their campaign goals.

The success of independent school fundraising hinges critically on the involvement of the head of school. For advancement directors, the HOS is not just your ally but a vital partner, wielding a unique influence that can turn a good fundraising campaign into a great one.