Many cultures are deeply generous about the immediate needs of food, clothing, and shelter and less so for long-term, more abstract missions.

CASE has named Beth Smith to the newly created position of executive director of volunteer and member engagement.

How does an international school that sends 99 percent of its graduates off to universities abroad get alumni to come back?

When Pat Summitt, head coach of the University of Tennessee Lady Vols basketball team, died from Alzheimer's disease in June 2016, her death shook the campus community.

Joan Garry, principal of Joan Garry Consulting, believes the best nonprofits are like twin-engine jets. In advancement, the board chair and institution president are co-pilots. The staff and lead volunteer engines need to be strong, effective, and efficient. But, of course, there will always be turbulence. "If you haven't had a crisis at an institution, it's not because you're good—it's because you're lucky," she warns. The author of Joan Garry's Guide to Nonprofit Leadership, Garry shares advice on dealing with disorder.

Nicola Hunt knew she had to "challenge how things had been done" when in 2013 she became the events manager at the University of Warwick.

Dee Dee Mendoza works in development, but she thinks like an entrepreneur. As managing director for West Coast advancement for Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, she teams with alumni volunteers to host the Dartmouth Entrepreneurs Forum in San Francisco, an annual event for networking, sharing ideas, and learning from speakers such as PayPal Chairman John Donahoe (Class of '82). Before that, she was a senior director focusing on innovator engagement at the University of California, Berkeley, where she and her team developed the Berkeley Founders' Pledge, a commitment by alumni entrepreneurs to make a gift when their startup is acquired or goes public. Since its 2014 launch, 234 entrepreneurs have taken the pledge, creating a gift pipeline estimated at $15 million over the next three years.

Many people conjure up images of whiskey, bagpipes, and men in kilts when they think of Scotland. Kate Perkins had a different vision in mind in August 2014 when she accepted her post as the second secretary for Scottish Affairs at the British Embassy in Washington, D.C.

Ideas we love from institutions everywhere

In 2011, the Alumni/ae Council at St. Paul Academy and Summit School in Minnesota was nearly nonexistent. Other than holding monthly meetings and a lackluster fundraising phonathon, the council sponsored no programs or events; it did not follow its bylaws and had no reporting structure or processes for recruiting new members. Most of the 11 council members were suffering from volunteer fatigue, particularly the president. Few members attended meetings, which were unproductive. The council frequently discussed the need to recruit new members but never developed an action plan.