Educational institutions famously undervalue the annual fund, perceiving it merely as a means to unrestricted funds, according to Lori Yersh, senior advisor to the vice president of advancement and external relations at Concordia University in Canada and an annual giving expert who has consulted at more than 120 educational and health care institutions in the U.S., Canada, and Europe.

Ideas we love from institutions everywhere

Once upon a time—in 2005, in fact—John Easom landed a job as alumni manager at the U.K.'s University of Keele. Easom had never worked with alumni before, nor had he worked at a university. He was a historian interested in international relations, and his only other colleague in alumni relations had a journalism background.

After a few volatile years following the financial crisis that ended in 2009, economic experts say the state of the U.S. economy is looking up. Financial markets have again reached record highs, and economic indicators are trending positive, but the average American family is less optimistic about its financial future amid concerns over college affordability. In a combustible election year full of populist rhetoric, candidates for both federal and state offices are decrying higher education's price tag and mounting student loan debt.

Emma Silva faced many challenges when she became the United Nations International School of Hanoi's first advancement director in 2011, but this was the biggest: helping her new community understand why the outwardly prosperous school needed to raise funds.

Ideas we love from institutions everywhere

The online financial services company SoFi was founded in 2011 by four Stanford Graduate School of Business classmates to provide alumni-funded student loans. (See "A Vested Interest," October 2012.) Since then, the company has expanded its financial products to mortgages and wealth management and seemingly adopted an alumni relations approach to customer service, offering members social events, career counseling, and webinars. Macklin shares the key to SoFi's success: Be relevant in several aspects of members' lives.

What members are thinking and sharing

Rory Green is a second-generation development officer—both of her parents were fundraisers—and the founder of Fundraiser Grrl, a cheeky crowdsourced blog about the rewarding, frustrating, and downright outlandish things fundraisers experience. Through the GIF-driven posts, fundraisers both celebrate and gripe about their professional lives. Face palms, snark, and funny tales abound.

SHHHH! Don't tell your faculty, but they are marketers.