What is it like to win the coveted CASE Robert Sibley Magazine of the Year Award? The VCU Magazine team at Virginia Commonwealth University, U.S., answer this question and more as they share their strategies and philosophies, along with the surprise, excitement, and gratitude that come with receiving the top honor.

Groundbreaking discoveries by university researchers are typically featured in scientific peer-reviewed journals. So how do the rest of us find out about these landmark discoveries that have the potential to impact our lives? Enter the talented university communicators who employ their passion, curiosity, and storytelling skills to elucidate complex topics. Hear from five award-winning writers who share their passion for science storytelling, along with their best advice.

A look back at Currents magazine provides a historical record of the profession’s evolution. Our cover stories through the years show not only advancement’s growth, progress, and sophistication, but the evergreen topics that continue to define this work.

From tracking alumni engagement to presenting fundraising data to leadership, dashboards are creatively solving problems and making day-to-day work more efficient for advancement professionals. Here, five Circle of Excellence Award-winning dashboard creators provide a deep dive into the origins, execution, and successes of these projects. 

Readers still love print magazines—but amid print cost issues, paper shortages, and staffing challenges, it’s more important than ever for magazines to have a strong digital presence. To build a strong digital strategy: know your audience, hone your content strategy, choose a platform that works for you, and use digital tools to promote and share content. This piece offers examples of and tips from teams who have shifted or transformed their digital magazine approaches.

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.

Milton Academy is the first independent school to win the CASE Sibley Magazine of the Year Award. Its themes and “flow” for readers, its marriage of words and design, and its people-centered storytelling make this publication a magazine with ambition.

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. 

One of the hallmarks of development operations is the abundance of data. But how can a small shop stay afloat in such a tremendous tide? In this excerpt from their book, Carrie Collins and Necie Liggeons look at why metrics matter for small shops, benchmarking, and which metrics matter most.

How can small teams accomplish great things, even with tight budgets? Here’s how four small teams accomplished award-winning work in communications, fundraising, events, and recruitment—and key takeaways on how teams of any size or context can work resourcefully.