Advancement

How Volunteers Inform Cornell's Advancement Strategy

Let's face it—sometimes managing volunteers can feel like more work than the volunteers are helping your office can get done.

It's important to have a strategy for integrating them into your work, whether you work in alumni relations, advancement, or elsewhere.

Loreal Maguire is Director of Volunteer Programs and Laura DenBow is Senior Director of Volunteer Programs in Cornell's office of alumni affairs. We asked them to share how Cornell integrates alumni into their advancement strategy.

5 Email Trends to Steal for Your Alumni Communications in 2017

There's a steady email arms race going on between retailers, nonprofits, and everyone else eager for a moment of your attention.

Too often, commercial enterprises edge nonprofits and higher ed institutions out of the inbox with innovative copy and design.

Here are five email tactics you can use to keep up in 2017—if you aren't using them already.

What Alumni Relations & Advancement Can Learn from Public Radio

Alumni relations and advancement offices aren’t the only ones thinking about engagement these days—every company, website, and media outlet is, too. And that means competition.

One institution is engaging its audience particularly well—it’s a bright spot in an otherwise gloomy-looking industry. Public radio is excelling where other news outlets and media are declining. And it has insights to offer those of us in higher ed who are also competing for our audience’s attention.

Don't "Go Dark" — How UBC Manages Communications Between Fundraising Campaigns

What should happen to our communications with our audiences when a major fundraising campaign ends? Do we let them slow to a trickle? Or can we find other opportunities to stay in touch? 

Richard Fisher is presenting on the subject at the upcoming CASE District VIII conference. He's Chief Communications Officer in the Office of Development and Alumni Engagement at the University of British Columbia. We asked him to share his thoughts on fundraising communications between campaigns.