Core Course Framework, E-Portfolio Assignment #1 MHE 626 - Introduction to Institution Advancement NMP 650 - Week #2 Dayna Boyles-Carpenter

1. MHE 626 – Introduction to Institutional Advancement
MHE 626 – Introduction to
Institutional Advancement
Dayna L. Boyles-Carpenter
Bay Path College – NMP 650
E-Portfolio Assignment #1 – Week 2
11-07-2013

2. Definition of Institutional
Advancement
• Institutional advancement represents an organized group of people
and/or initiatives that promote forward progress of an
organization.
• Members of institutional advancement act as both internal and
external connectors for a college or university.

3. Institutional Advancement Often
Includes:
•
•
•
•
•
•
Communications & Marketing
Alumni Relations
Fundraising & Development
Government & Community Relations
Advancement Services
Capital Campaigns

4. Vice President for
Development
Organization (Small Operation)
(Buchanan, 2000, p. 348)
Director of
Advancement Services
Director of Annual
Giving
Director of Alumni
Relations & Special
Events

5. Organization (Medium-Sized Operation)
Vice President for
Development
Director of
Advancement Services
(Buchanan, 2000, p.349)
Director of Annual
Giving
Director of Major
Giving
Director of Planned
Giving
Director of Donor
Relations & Special
Events
Director of Alumni
Relations

6. Organization (Large Operation)
Institutional
Advancement
Vice President
Associate Vice
President for
Public Affairs
Associate Vice
President for
Annual Fund
Associate Vice
President for
Major Giving
Associate Vice
President for
Alumni Affairs
Publications
Receiving
Alumni Fund
Corporate
Giving
Regional Clubs
Public
Information
Recording
Parents Fund
Foundation
Grants
Database
Management
Media
Relations
Prospect
Management
Community
Campaign
Planned Giving
Reunions and
Homecoming
Database
Management
Phonathons
Director of
Development
College of
Business
Parent
Relations
Special Events
Director of
Development
College of Arts
& Sciences
Board
Relations
Donor
Relations
(Buchanan, 2000, p. 350)
Associate Vice
President for
Advancement
Services
Director of
Development
College of
Medicine
Director of
Development
for Athletics

7. Centralization vs. Decentralization
Should the development operation at a university
be organized centrally?
1. Centralized
2. Decentralized
3. Coordinated decentralized
(Buchanan, 2000, p. 349-350)

8. 1. Centralized Operations
• Central office staff conduct annual campaigns on
behalf of departments, programs, and schools
• Chief advancement officer retains control and
responsibility for fundraising
• Disadvantage: development officers may not
fully identify with assigned unit and may not
have an understanding of unit’s core activities
(Buchanan, 2000, p. 349)

9. 2. Decentralized Operations
• Each major unit employs its own development
officers
• Encourages independence, motivation, and
responsibility
• Disadvantages: Heightened level of competition
between units or departments and lack of
understanding the university’s goals and mission
(Buchanan, 2000, p. 349-350)

10. 3. Coordinated Decentralized
Operations
• Annual fund raising is conducted through a
centralized office, while major gift officers work
with individual units or departments
• Advantages: Identification within the unit and
heightened understanding of university and unit
• Disadvantages: Major gift officer is serving two
masters and competition between units for same
university prospects
(Buchanan, 2000, p. 350)

11. Weerts’ Engagement Model of
Institutional Advancement at Public
Colleges and Universities
• Engagement enhances teaching and learning
• Engagement enhances research and scholarship
• Porous structures supporting engagement allow institutions to
more effectively serve the public good
• Engagement supports the emerging interdisciplinary culture
unfolding on campuses across the country
• There is evidence that engagement strengthens public financial
support for colleges and universities
• Engagement has the capacity to leverage major private gifts for
higher education

12. Communications & Marketing
• There is no ―one size fits all‖ answer for most institutions, although
broad patterns can indicate if an appropriate structure is in place:
▫ A growing stature for the communications function
▫ The increasing use of a strategic approach to communications
▫ The presence and potential of new technology
▫ The relatively new and not fully defined role of marketing
(Buchanan, 2000, p. 123-124)

13. Communications & Marketing
Typically all college and university
communications offices have three common
functions:
• Media relations
• Publications
• Internal communications
(Buchanan, 2000, p. 124)

14. Communications & Marketing
• We can think of audiences as:
▫ Internal and External
▫ Primary and Secondary
• Audiences can include a variety of constituents.
▫ Alumni, prospective and current students, parents of both
current and past students, friends of the university,
community members, faculty and staff, donors, board
members, business partners/leaders, new media, and the
general public are all potential constituencies.
• Different audiences will serve as primary and secondary
audiences for different pieces of Institutional
Advancement.

15. Communications & Marketing
Steps to Benchmarking
• Planning
• Identifying target organizations
• Data collection
• Analysis
• Implementation
(Buchanan, 2000, p. 138)

16. Alumni Relations
• Carter & Moscow on Donor and Constituent
Trust
▫ Don't talk about quick-fixes; have long term
solutions.
▫ Focus on the solutions as well as the problems.
▫ Continue to promote the mission of the
organization.
▫ Articulate realistic goals.
(Carter and Moscow, 2012)

17. Alumni Relations, continued
• Margaret Sughrue Carlson’s tactics for success:
▫ be courageous in facing tough criticism from within and outside
the university community;
▫ seize one or two major initiatives and hang on to them until the
activity is successful – perseverance cannot be underestimated;
▫ focus on those things that the association has a direct interest in
and can hand an impact on;
▫ take a behind-the-scenes approach to most of your activities, but,
when appropriate, use the press and community influence;
▫ understand that resources may need to be matched with your
commitment;
▫ protect staff members against fears that their jobs will be on the
line if they are affiliated with public policy stances that university
or community leaders disagree with.
(Buchanan, 2000, p. 219)

18. Fundraising & Development
• Heintzelman, Major Gifts: Up Close and Personal, had a list of
guidelines for staff development that could be applicable to
development on a broader sense. He recommends:
▫ Hire good people. ―[W]e have always asked our major and planned gift
colleagues to choose new hires since they understand the job and have
an incentive to choose effective team members. Don’t feel that you need
to ―purchase‖ someone’s expertise – all we do technically is learnable.‖
▫ Keep the job ―pure.‖ ―Keep the job pure so that none of the officers has
anything to divert him or her from the personal contact with prospects
and donors.‖
▫ Build a team. ―[M]ajor and planned gifts occur best where the officers
are all part of a greater organism.‖
▫ Support your people. ―Once you hire the right people, you need to focus
on giving them all of the support that they need to succeed‖.
(Buchanan, p. 319)

19. Fundraising & Development
Stages of Giving
• Minimal Response
• Involvement & Interest
• As Much as Possible
• Maximum Allowable
• Beyond the Max
• Percentage of Wealth
• Capping Wealth
• Reducing the Cap
• Bequests

20. Fundraising & Development
• Grenzebach’s Prerequisites of Success
▫ A positive image with the institution’s constituency and the
community;
▫ A clearly perceived need, well defined in the minds of those
who know the institution best;
▫ The presence of available funds in the institution’s
constituency to meet the institution’s goal;
▫ Capable leadership, holding the respect of the community
and willing to devote time and talent to the institution;
▫ A favorable economic climate and the absence of competing
campaigns or enterprises.
(Buchanan, 2000, p. 300)

21. Government & Community Relations
• ―all politics is local‖
• Local issues and concerns drive both elective
and legislative politics in all policy domains,
including higher education.
• Smaller institutions usually rely on membership
associations to alert them to policy
developments and to help organization and
execute their advocacy activities.

22. Government & Community Relations
William McMillen spoke about the impact that a university can have on decisions that pertain to higher
education in government - "At the state level, a university -- even a private university -- can have great
influence. From funding to enacting laws, higher education affects the lives of just about everyone, from the
governor to agency heads to first-term legislators. But at the federal level, a university has little influence‖
(McMillen, p. 70).
On whether a university should have a presence in Washington D.C. (through Higher Education Associations
or lobbyists), he said that depended on the following things:
•
The ambition level of your institution's president and provost - "If your president and/or provost are
interested in eventually moving from your university to another, larger or more prestigious university,
then Washington networking and connections can be essential.―
•
The role of your congressperson - "If your university is in the district of a congressperson who is a party
leader, or if she sits on an education/research committee, is a Cardinal, or otherwise serves on
Appropriations, you . . . owe it to the associations and all of higher education to be active in Washington.―
•
A crucial back-home issue: "An association may be able to provide insight and valuable contacts
in making that change happen.―
•
Your university's reputation -- "If your university has no presence in Washington, and only a limited
government relations budget, membership in an association may be the cheapest way to get
your university's name out there (McMillen, p. 103-104)."

23. Advancement Services
Donor Relations Responsibilities Include:
• Acknowledgements
• Stewardship
• Coordination of events
• Coordination of publications
• Participation in marketing and communications
strategies
(Buchanan, 2000, p. 453)

24. Capital Campaigns
Kent Dove’s 10 steps to a successful capital campaign:
1.
Commitments of time and support from all key participants — the governing board, the
chief executive officer, prospective major donors, key volunteer leaders, the professional
fundraising staff and the institutional family.
2.
A clear organizational self-image and a strategic plan for organizational growth and
improvement.
3.
Fundraising objectives based on important and legitimate institutional plans, goals,
budgets and needs.
4.
A written document that makes a compelling case for supporting the campaign (and the
larger and more complex the campaign the more support materials will be needed).
5.
An assessment of the institutional development program and a market survey
addressing internal and external preparedness.
6.
Enlistment and education of volunteer leaders.
7.
Ability and readiness of major donors to give substantial lead gifts before any public
announcement of the campaign.
8.
Competent staff and, perhaps, external professional counsel.
9.
Adequate, even liberal, funds for expenses.
10. Consideration of other factors, such as the age of the organization, the caliber, size and
distribution of the constituency, the range of the institution’s giving program, previous
fundraising success and the quality of the program and the impact of its services.
(Dove, 2012).

25. The Future of Advancement
•
•
•
•
•
Rising Importance of Stewardship
Fund-raising Participation Rates Unchanged
Decline in Voluntarism Levels Off
More Campaigns, Better Targeted
Fund-Raising Focus Shifts
(Buchanan, 2000, p. 372)

26. Conclusion
• At the heart of institutional advancement are relationships.
Relationships with our donors, prospects, alumni, students, faculty
and staff, community members, corporate partners, etc. are at the
core of everything we do.
• Institutional advancement is a sophisticated and intricate operation.
• The field is changing quickly. Advancement professionals need to
constantly evolve and be ready to embrace new technology and
communication methods.

27. References
Buchanan, Peter McE. (2000) Handbook of Institutional Advancement, 3rd Edition. Council for Advancement and
Support of Education. Washington, DC.
Carter, L. & Moscow, L. (2012, March 18). Nonprofits must tell donors about solutions if they expect to win the
public's trust. Retrieved from: http://philanthropy.com/article/Nonprofits-Must-Tell-Donors/131184
Dove, Kent. (2012). 10 steps to a successful capital campaign. The Non Profit Times. Retrieved from:
www.thenonprofittimes.com/managment-tips/10-steps-to-a-successful-capital-campaign/
McMillen, William. (2010). From Campus to Capitol – The Role of Government Relations in Higher Education. The
Johns Hopkins University Press. Baltimore, MD.