Relationships with corporate partners follow the same cycle as donors: qualification, cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship. At each stage, communication is key. Use these strategies to develop effective written materials for corporate partners. 

This article is based on a well-known theory that every story ever told follows one of seven basic plots. By understanding and embracing these plots, we can craft stories that will inspire our advancement audiences to: engage, attend, apply, accept, volunteer, mentor, donate!

The 2022 Circle of Excellence Award-winning fundraising campaigns took creativity to a new level, using ingenuity to create targeted campaigns, events, annual giving appeals, and more that engaged audiences. Here's what made these projects effective.

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.

The seeds of alumni support are sown even prior to enrolling in college.  Formative pre-college experiences play an important role in shaping pro-social habits, mindsets, and dispositions that predict later-life support for one’s alma mater.

Here’s a look at how four key gifts—including MacKenzie Scott’s surprise philanthropy—shaped four very different institutions. Advancement professionals share what made these gifts transformational: how they impacted students, alumni and donor experiences, and staff priorities.

Supporting fundraising and alumni relations simultaneously is one such example of strategic decision-making focused both on the present and the future health of our educational institutions. 

In too many organizations, advancement is lagging on diversity, equity, and inclusion when it should be leading—and leading proactively. To build inclusive cultures and achieve real success in DEI objectives, advancement teams have to move from awareness to assessment to understanding. It's action with accountability. In this book excerpt, Angelique Grant and Ronald J. Schiller share key steps for leaders to do that.

A case for support should include your institution’s fundraising priorities, why they are important, and what they will create, if funded. It should be beautifully designed, engaging, and thoughtfully written. Here's how to do that.

Sports rivalries in higher education and among independent schools foster advancement opportunities