Good data can be used to make the case for support and to chronicle trends so we can better navigate changing environments. Here, Ann Kaplan, Senior Director of the VSE, sheds light on how using survey data and understanding giving trends can help institutions grow and thrive.

Joanna Watts has more than 25 years of experience in higher education both in the U.K. and Australia. Passionate about building better donor and alumni experiences, Watts participated in writing the Australian/New Zealand chapter of the CASE Global Reporting Standards. Here, she explains how the new standards give institutions the tools to benchmark globally, no matter how small or large their advancement departments are.

The president of Augsburg University speaks about his institution’s long-running commitment to inclusion and equity, how the past year has brought more urgency, and the crucial role of advancement.

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.

This month marks an important moment in our CASE history. We have fully transitioned into a reimagined organization with one legal board. We've moved away from a complex governance structure involving 11 different legal boards, active across time zones, countries, oceans, and hemispheres. The model now has volunteers at its heart, with a structure that is maximising the immense value that each and every one of them provides.

There are three principles about the urgency of support for education described in The Advancement of Understanding and Support of Higher Education, a report written in 1958 about a convening of 80 advancement leaders and college and university presidents that are still relevant today. 

The chicken or the egg? The data or the story? Which comes first? Learn how (and why) to make your data accessible to a broad audience.

Data. Everyone is collecting it—from small, independent schools to huge, public universities. As an advancement professional, you can expect to spend at least part of your day dealing with numbers or reporting in some capacity. Here, we tackle five red flags and misunderstandings that arise over and over again. 

No longer can the college or university president be simply a learned extension of the academic enterprise itself; today’s president has to be chief fundraiser, spokesperson, alumni cajoler, and enrollment advocate. Today’s president, before everything else, is an advancement officer.
 

This issue of Currents looks closely at events on the eve of graduation season in many countries around the world. Events at their best are symbols, moments, markers, sources of celebration, and ways to meet engagement objectives.