Volume 9 (2024-25)

Journal of Education Advancement & Marketing Volume 9 consists of four, quarterly 100-page issues, published in print and online.

Volume 9 Number 3

Editorial
Call for Papers
Simon Beckett, Publisher
Practice Papers:
Pipeline Outreach Day: A creative approach to prospect development in fundraising
Morgan Martin, Director, Prospect Management, Sr. Development Officer, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, et al

This paper presents the implementation and outcomes of Pipeline Outreach Day (POD), an innovative initiative developed by the Development and Alumni Relations team at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. POD serves as a tool to enhance pipeline development by engaging a wide array of team members in prospect outreach activities. The paper discusses the background, methodology, outcomes and future directions of POD, offering insights and lessons learned that can be applied in a variety of fundraising settings.
Keywords: pipeline; donor; discovery; identification; data quality
Undoing the past to prepare for the future: Lessons learned from the data exchange project at UC Berkeley
Christa Schnur, Digital Transformation Project Manager, Advancement Information Services and Robyn Doughty, Senior Director of Data and Business Solutions, University of California, Berkeley

Realigning data and integration tools after years of inconsistent management can seem overwhelming at best and impossible at worst. To meet the demands of today's tools and analytics, it is a worthwhile investment to strategically improve data quality and accessibility. Whether your institution is preparing for a customer relationship management (CRM) conversion or just trying to get a better handle on managing data, this paper will examine UC Berkeley's initiative to create business and technical solutions to increase transparency, governance and data intake while decreasing customisations and confusion for stakeholders.
Keywords: integration; governance; data quality; data clean-up; project management; change management
The fundraising turnover epidemic: An evaluative holistic model
Karen Cairney, CEO, Cairney & Company and Bukky Gray, Director of Talent Management and HR, University of Cambridge Development and Alumni Relations

Demand for fundraising professionals across the advancement sector globally is increasing, leading to a war for talent. This is fuelled by the great resignation, where people are reassessing their priorities (work—life balance), and post-pandemic reflection (current job alignment with long-term goals and values). In addition, opportunities for career development, remote working and location flexibility are increasing. Burnout, stress and cultural and generational influences also impact the need to reassess the attraction and retention of fundraising professionals. It is widely known that the turnover rate in the sector is high, with the average tenure of a fundraiser being between 18 and 24 months. Other research suggests even less at 16 months, citing that ‘fundraising turnover is an epidemic’.1 This paper shares research findings from a survey conducted globally with 52 fundraising/advancement professionals, seeking to answer two questions:• What are the key motivational factors that both attract and retain fundraisers?• Do these motivational factors change through the career life cycle?The paper was inspired following a session at the Council for Advancement and Support of Education, European Annual Conference in August 2023, where the co-authors presented on the topic ‘Unleashing the power of your people: attracting, retaining and maximising the potential of your diverse talent pool’. This paper also shares reflections from two of the other panellists from the conference, both fundraising professionals, on their experiences in retaining fundraisers in their teams: Liz Reilly, former Director of Philanthropy & Donor Relations, University of Edinburgh, and Juan-Pablo Garrido, Director of Development, UIC Barcelona. The paper includes supporting insights from research undertaken by the co-authors on motivational theories and their application to the survey results. The paper provides insights on taking a different approach to retention, presenting a framework model that can be applied and one that seeks to be more transformational for the individual and organisation. Although this research is specifically focused on one of the advancement professions — fundraising — it could be applied to talent management within broader advancement and further tested to see if the hypothesis in the model has a broader application.
Keywords: turnover; motivation; retention; fundraiser; careers
Advancing excellence: A strategic framework for organisational effectiveness in advancement
Annie Quade, Associate Vice President, Strategy & Engagement and Jake Logan, Vice President for Institutional Advancement, The University of Texas at El Paso

From fiscal years 2010 to 2020, the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) raised an average of USD$14.2m per year, an amount far below what is expected from a university that has been around for more than 100 years and with more than 120,000 living alumni. A new university president started in 2019 and realised the need to rebuild the advancement operation from the ground up. Her first cabinet hire was the Vice President for Institutional Advancement (VPIA), whose directive was clear: build advancement the right way for the long term. This vision, a departure from the conventional raise-as-much-as-possible-as-quickly-as-possible fundraising approach, emphasised sustainability over rapid gains, steering away from the common pitfalls of focusing solely on major donors and immediate results. Readers will learn the strategic framework the VPIA and Executive Leadership Team implemented to create a sustainable and successful fundraising operation that resulted in three consecutive record-breaking fundraising years while also increasing employee engagement and improving Institutional Advancement's campus reputation.
Keywords: leadership; organisational effectiveness; operational excellence
From one-size-fits-all to Aston for Life: Refocusing alumni relations and development at Aston University
Kerrie Holland, Executive Director of Alumni Relations and Development and Abby Sweeting, Communications and Content Manager, Alumni Relations and Development, Aston University

This paper will show the advantages of a strategic approach for a development and alumni relations function, including how to gain maximum benefit for your alumni, your team and your institution throughout the process itself. Using the Aston for Life strategy as a case study, the paper will outline how Aston University set the direction for alumni and development, creating a distinctive, clear and impact-driven offer. No dusty filing cabinet for this strategy: it has informed major investment and allocation of resources, team roles and structure, measures of success and provided a springboard for the role of alumni and philanthropy in the ambitious new institutional strategy Aston 2030. The paper also includes a deep dive into the development of the major initiative within the strategy, the Aston for Life platform, to demonstrate one way in which the strategy was put into practice.
Keywords: alumni relations; development; strategy; leadership
Gift fund compliance: Tackling underutilised funds
Shannon McBratney, Director of Gift Compliance and Saskia Sawyer, Assistant Vice President for Gift Services, University of Colorado Foundation

‘Millions of philanthropic dollars found unspent in university coffers!’ A headline no one wants to read on the front page of a newspaper. For fundraisers, telling a donor that their donation has not been utilised to fulfil the intended purpose is detrimental to soliciting further support. For university leaders, institutional reputation not only drives enrolment but is also political capital to influence legislation and unlock government funding. If the cost of higher education becomes insurmountable, how can it be that scholarship support does not reach students? If cancer has not been cured, why is research funding not being spent? Is it greed or is it a systematic disconnect between advancement services and the fund managers that they are working so hard to support? This paper describes how we are tackling the all-too-common problem of underutilised or untouched gift funds through a multi-layered approach, combining data, training and conversations to unlock these funds given for the common good.
Keywords: compliance; underutilised; utilisation; spending; report and fund
Building a culture of content creation: How to maximise your audience engagement
Rosemary Simm, Alumni Officer (Groups & Networks), Development and Alumni, Edith Ault, Digital Content Officer and Angharad Jones, Alumni Officer (Colleges & Schools), Development and Alumni, University of Glasgow

This paper will share how Development and Alumni colleagues at the University of Glasgow built a digital content strategy with the aim of embedding a culture of content creation within Development and Alumni and across the wider university community. The paper will provide easily transferrable insights into how content categorisation decisions can be made and how these decisions can be used to shape an effective and accessible content planner and strategy. The paper will focus on sharing practical tips to build confidence in colleagues and encourage collaboration in all stages of content creation, sharing a case study highlighting the benefits of this approach.
Keywords: digital engagement; content creation; social media

Volume 9 Number 2

Editorial
Simon Beckett, Publisher
Practice Papers:
Shared equity leadership: Working collaboratively to achieve DEI fundraising priorities
Alyssia Coates, Senior Director of Development, Inclusive Philanthropic Engagement, Brown University

In 2023, the article ‘Shifting the donor landscape paradigm: Strategies for increasing philanthropy among donors of color’ described the steps Brown University took to work collaboratively, nurture engagement and philanthropy among donors of colour and promote diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives to the broader donor community during the dual national crises of the pandemic and anti-Black violence.1 At that time, more Brown constituents became aware of the University's DEI initiatives, and the Division of Advancement discovered that donors from all backgrounds were interested in learning more and supporting diversity priorities. This led to a shift in the donor landscape paradigm and enabled the division to collectively raise over US$30m for DEI priorities in one fiscal year. This paper will focus on the Shared Equity Leadership (SEL) study by the American Council on Education in collaboration with the Pullias Center for Higher Education at the University of Southern California.2 The study describes how broadly inclusive and collaborative approaches to leadership are necessary to achieve equitable outcomes in which equity becomes everyone's responsibility. Through this paper, readers will learn how Brown's Advancement Division, in hindsight, practised SEL to achieve its DEI goals.
Keywords: shared equity leadership; diversity plans; equity and inclusion; diverse alumni; alumni engagement
From innovation to impact: Establishing a pre-exit philanthropy programme at Imperial College London
Kristin Martin, Development Manager and Sarah Flew, Deputy Director of Development, Imperial College London

This paper provides an overview of the establishment of pre-exit philanthropy programmes in universities in the US, Australia and Canada, before discussing in detail how Imperial College London started the first pre-exit philanthropy programme at a university in the UK. Readers will learn the history of these programmes and gain insight into the detail of how one university established, grew and stewarded such a programme themselves.
Keywords: pre-exit philanthropy; entrepreneurship/entrepreneurs; founder; major giving; principal giving; university fundraising
The future of funds management: Collaborating to build the tools and processes to meet emerging needs
Aaron Rouse, Director of Fund Stewardship and Management, University of Nebraska Foundation

Since 2019, the University of Nebraska Foundation (UNF) has been conducting an end-to-end redevelopment of its funds management systems. Through a collaborative approach with a consulting partner and key stakeholders, UNF examined every step in the life cycle of a donor fund and identified new tools and processes to deliver efficient and effective funds management practices that will support organisation growth into the future. This paper demonstrates the management of a large-scale and multi-year project, provide a framework for successful cross-team collaboration and provide examples of the tools needed to manage donor funds.
Keywords: funds management; stewardship; collaboration; partnerships; systems; processes
How University of Warwick successfully united its development and alumni engagement functions
Andrea Crowley, Deputy Director of Development, Natalie Lloyd, Deputy Director of Development (Philanthropy) and Ruth Lindley, Senior Fundraising Writer, University of Warwick

In 2018, the University of Warwick embarked on a project to build an integrated development and alumni engagement team by merging what were then entirely separate development and alumni engagement functions. This paper reviews that merger, outlining how Warwick arrived at a shared vision and strategy while overcoming practical management challenges and the concerns of staff members. It will share learnings from two specific strategies that were deployed to assist with the integration process: agreeing upon and socialising a team behaviours framework and setting department-wide objectives and key results. These techniques allowed Warwick to create a culture of empowerment and ownership within the newly integrated team, encouraging everyone to participate in new stretch ambitions. This case study will provide suggestions for other advancement professionals undergoing restructures and building teams aligned to a common goal. For those not undergoing a restructure, it will share ideas for increased collaboration within an existing or newly aligned team, with guidelines on how to bring diverse groups of people together under one new strategy or vision.
Keywords: development; alumni relations; merger; restructure; behaviours; objectives and key results
A postgrad marketing journey: How University of Limerick created and implemented its first university-wide postgraduate marketing campaign
Eleanor McCormack, Head of Marketing and Campaigns, University of Limerick

The Stay Curious campaign for postgraduate studies at the University of Limerick, Ireland is one of the most successful campaigns that the institution has ever had, not just in terms of student recognition and brand recall, but more importantly, in the sense of ownership it has given the campus community. The strength of the campaign has resulted in consistent messaging and narratives across postgraduate marketing as the university continues to implement a devolved model of marketing and communications. The key has been anchoring the campaign in extensive research to achieve mass buy-in and making it as easy as possible for the wider university to get on board — creatively and collaboratively. While they are not without their challenges, this paper should illustrate that devolved models of university marketing and communications can work if there is a strong overarching campaign that key units can get behind. This paper argues that maximising the expertise in-house and maintaining an institutional focus rather than a departmental one can yield positive results.
Keywords: postgrad marketing; digital marketing; storytelling; higher education marketing; devolved marketing models
Regional public university chief marketing officers’ perceptions of best practices for addressing the enrolment cliff
Carrie Phillips, Chief Communications and Marketing Officer, University of Arkansas at Little Rock and Stephanie Jones, Professor, Higher Education, Associate Vice President of Research & Innovation, Texas Tech University

Higher education institutions rely on student enrolments to generate revenue through tuition and fees. The next decade will bring a significant enrolment drop for many institutions because of several factors, including birth-rate declines and demographic shifts. The projected enrolment decline has been called the enrolment cliff due to the impact on colleges and universities that will face a major revenue loss if enrolments decline as predicted. This case study explores chief marketing officers' perceptions of best practices at regional public universities that must be addressed to utilise marketing to help mitigate the enrolment cliff.
Keywords: enrolment cliff; regional public universities; RPUs; marketing; chief marketing officer; CMOs; branding
Cultivating a community from collaboration: The secret to a strong vertical video strategy and system
Angelia Meffe-Baccarella, Social Media Strategist, Office of Communications and Shauna Rempel, Editor and Senior Social Media Strategist, University of Toronto Mississauga

The University of Toronto Mississauga (UTM) central social media team has developed an overarching strategy and system over the course of three years, from 2020 to 2023, to help improve their vertical video production while building a community of practice with other internal campus content creators. This case study will discuss the benefits for campus content collaborators. It identifies three types of social video collaborations employed by UTM communications staff to meet the unique requirements and capabilities of different teams. Pulling from the UTM social media team's findings, this paper shares a formula for success used to create vertical videos that improve key performance indicators while building capacity among practitioners. By highlighting strategic practical tips to utilise when creating higher education video content, the authors aim to illuminate the steps involved for those wishing to set up a similar system and strategy. This case study concludes with a reflection on the lessons learned and pitfalls to avoid when collaborating with other campus content creators.
Keywords: content strategy; vertical video; collaborative video production; Instagram Reels; TikTok; higher education; case study; YouTube shorts
Workplace inclusion in higher education philanthropy
E. John McKee, Associate Vice President, Office of Philanthropy, University of Maryland, Baltimore

Positive workplace inclusion is important for any business today, but especially so for higher education philanthropy. Higher education philanthropy suffers from high turnover and lack of diversity, making successful workplace inclusion urgent. Higher education philanthropy exacerbates low diversity and high turnover through education bias, compensation and opportunity imbalance, work culture expectations that favour in-group members, low task interdependency, isolation from co-workers, low support from leadership, and burnout. To address the primary challenge of turnover, this paper proposes unit-level measures that higher education philanthropy offices might use to increase inclusion, promote diversity and improve work group performance and morale.
Keywords: inclusion; philanthropy; advancement; retention; higher education

Volume 9 Number 1

Editorial
Simon Beckett, Publisher
Practice Papers:
Leading thriving teams: How the Washington State University Foundation is structuring frontline fundraiser positions for retention and recruitment
Brooke E. Ledeboer, Jennifer R. Miltenberger, Keith Powell and Don Shearer, Washington State University Foundation

The Washington State University (WSU) Foundation undertook a transformative restructuring of frontline fundraiser positions to enhance retention, recruitment and operational efficiency. By addressing key areas such as titles and job descriptions, accountability and productivity and salaries and budgets, the WSU Foundation aimed to create a thriving and equitable work environment for its fundraising teams. Implementing standardised titles and roles, a fixed accountability grid and a revised funding model ensured fairness, clarity and improved resource allocation. Challenges, including communication gaps and salary disparities, were acknowledged and addressed. The restructuring efforts aimed to boost employee retention and professional growth and strengthen relationships with academic leaders and donors. The WSU Foundation's dedication to overcoming obstacles and learning from challenges ultimately led to the successful implementation of the restructuring, benefiting WSU and the communities it serves.
Keywords: fundraising; restructuring; employee retention; recruitment strategies; higher education fundraising; philanthropic campaigns
Analysing a campaign as a lens to the future: A case study
Paul Brown and Austin Morgan, North Carolina State University

On 31st December, 2021, North Carolina State University concluded a successful, nearly ten-year US$2.1bn fundraising campaign, breaking past both the initial US$1.6bn goal and the US$2bn stretch goal. Simultaneous with celebrating their success, the institution looked back at donor behaviour across its campaign period for insights to leverage in future advancement operations. This paper analyses the reviewing of donor behaviour in NCSU’s ‘Think and Do’ campaign. The paper starts by giving background information and then presents the findings. By analysing donor behaviour throughout the campaign, NCSU discovered how institution-specific priorities allowed leadership to strategise around the next campaign, as well as how alumni and donors can best be reached.
Keywords: campaign; data; analytics; donor behaviour; partnership
Branding a new university: The development of Atlantic Technological University’s brand identity
Seán Duffy, Atlantic Technological University

This paper analyses how Atlantic Technological University (ATU) successfully created a unique brand identity for this newly established university located in the west and north-west of Ireland. The opportunities and challenges presented by such a large task are reviewed. Developing a new higher education brand uniting three education institutes, each with over 50 years of history, required a team effort and considerable communication and engagement skills to ensure that all stakeholders supported the project. A strategic partnership between three Institutes of Technology, the Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology, Institute of Technology Sligo and Letterkenny Institute of Technology, was formed in 2012 and was known as the Connacht-Ulster Alliance (CUA). The goal of the CUA was to establish a university of size, scale and impact for its region, which would make a substantial contribution to higher education nationally and internationally. Developing a brand for the new university involved dedicated and motivated internal teams supported by an external branding consultancy company. This case study outlines the work of the team responsible for developing the brand identity, along with the lessons learned which ultimately resulted in a successful launch of a brand for a new university — ATU. The approaches and considerations for branding a new institution may also apply to rebranding an existing entity.
Keywords: branding; identity; university; Ireland; rebranding
Strategic collaboration: Using multimedia projects to inspire giving and steward donors
Jennifer Eburg, UConn Foundation, et al.

In 2021, the UConn Foundation began creating multimedia packages to show the impact of philanthropy. These packages are a collaborative effort between the foundation's Marketing and Communications Department and development officers. By taking the time to establish a partnership built on trust and respect, they have honed the process and developed strategies and best practices to identify story leads, create multimedia packages and use the packages effectively for fundraising and stewardship purposes. This paper analyses the UConn Foundation's process and how to apply these practices in their own organisations.
Keywords: fundraising; donor engagement; stewardship; multimedia; video; stories
From legacy systems to modernisation: A case study on migrating to a new customer relationship management system
Christian Elsberry and Trevor Price, University of Idaho

This paper presents a case study of how one mid-size institution of higher education found themselves modernising their database of record with a new customer relationship management (CRM) system, while managing the realities of limited funding and staffing, changing strategies and organisational legacies of longstanding policies and processes. At their core, changes to systems are organisational changes. Software systems are updated in line with the changing technological improvements in global cultures and their intersection with the evolving needs of institutional strategies. At its best, a system and software update's primary purposes are to serve and amplify the people who design, build and work within those systems. As with everything involving change, there needs to be an honest assessment of the organisation's strengths and weaknesses in the areas of cultural readiness for the necessary human engagement and support for the updated systems, an actionable plan hung firmly on the vision and strategies outlining the specified changes and, most crucially, an evolving staffing alignment of skilled professionals to business needs. CRM conversions are a worthy test of these three essential pillars of successful systems change.
Keywords: advancement services; systems change; customer relationship management; CRM conversions; organisational readiness; data migrations; CRM staffing
The age of personalised video: Driving enrolment at Villanova School of Business
Cathy J. Toner and Monica Allen, Villanova School of Business

In today's highly competitive college application landscape and heavily connected world, standing out has never been more important for higher education institutions. Coupled with Gen Z's appetite for personalised social media content — particularly videos — colleges and universities across the country are facing unique challenges on a scale unheard of just a decade ago. This paper analyses how, in order to address this problem, the Villanova School of Business (VSB) introduced personalised video content into its recruitment process for early action accepted candidates as well as prospective graduate students. This innovation tool has set VSB apart and provided a creative way to share its personal approach to higher education. The paper discusses the success of this tactic over the last few years, which has affirmed key aspects of VSB's understanding of prospective undergraduate and graduate student audiences. Video continues to be an essential and effective tool for engaging Gen Z and millennial audiences. Students and parents notice and appreciate personalised content. The paper describes how students want to feel a connection with the schools they select. Universities should use personalised video to differentiate themselves from their peers and build or strengthen relationships with individuals they want in their community. Showing prospective students that their institutions are investing in them as individuals can make all the difference in encouraging them to see themselves at a specific institution and persuading them that there is a home for them in higher education.
Keywords: college admissions; college recruitment; college applications; personalised video content; creative marketing
No dollar left behind: Leveraging major gifts during days of giving
Kate Gigliotti, Harvard University and Shela Levante, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts

Major gifts are crucial to the success of any comprehensive campaign and giving days are crucial to building institutional awareness and annual philanthropy. This paper analyses how Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts merged the two together to leverage multiple six-figure gifts into days of giving that raised historic funds and participation. Through the power of relationship building, peer-to-peer fundraising and volunteer activation, this paper will share how a rural college inspired a community to give and how you can do it too. Whatever size ‘major’ is for you, embrace the opportunity to leave no dollar behind, impact more students and build excitement along the way.
Keywords: annual giving; campaign strategies; donor relations and stewardship; major gifts
FURst Aid: Advancement opportunities from hybrid public outreach series
Jens Odegaard, Oregon State University, Carlson College of Veterinary Medicine

FURst Aid is a series of free, hybrid events for animal lovers. Attendees learn practical first aid and preventative care skills from a diverse pool of experts at the Oregon State University (OSU) Carlson College of Veterinary Medicine (CCVM) to help them look after their furry friends. This case study will cover how the FURst Aid series offers public outreach, engagement and service, as well as continuing education to professionals (including CCVM alumni). It will also elaborate some practical tips and lessons learned for offering a successful hybrid event series. Though produced by a small advancement team and on a tight budget, the series yields great results and reaches a wide spectrum of audiences. By offering all events free of charge, economic barriers to the public's participating in and receiving benefits from this service are greatly reduced. From an advancement perspective, the series has enabled the college as well as the OSU Foundation to engage with a strategically important community for marketing, alumni relations and fundraising efforts. Readers will learn how to tap into their own experts to engage their own core communities, and considerations to plan, advertise and deliver a hybrid event series.
Keywords: marketing; alumni relations; events; fundraising; digital engagement; public service