Fund Raisers See Drop in Giving in 2008-9 but Expect a Turnaround

As colleges calculate their fund-raising totals for the fiscal year ending June 30, fund raisers are predicting that private money raised during that time will be about 4 percent less than the amount raised the year before, according to a survey by the Council for Advancement and Support of Education.

Full-text article by Kathryn Masterson is available via The Chronicle of Higher Education, 7.16.09. [Subscription required.]

U of Louisville Got $156 Million Through Foundation

Since 2004, private foundations, estates of wealthy families and the health-care industry have given more than $100 million to the University of Louisville Foundation to fund a broad range of university research and studies.

Full-text article by Nancy C. Rodriguez is available via The Courier-Journal, 7.12.09.

Colleges Will See a Decline in Megagifts, Experts Predict

Fund raisers will need to focus more on donors who can give from $100,000 to $999,999, said speakers at the annual conference of the Council for Advancement and Support of Education.

Full-text article by Kathryn Masterson is available via The Chronicle of Higher Education, 7.13.09. [Subscription required.]

Nacubo Meeting Attendees Say Economic Downturn Is Not All Bad News

Construction costs are down, and public colleges are benefiting from higher enrollments, officials say.

Full-text article by Goldie Blumenstyk is available via The Chronicle of Higher Education, 6.30.09. [Subscription required.]

The Young Alumni Fund Raising Challenge

The job market is terrible for new graduates and young alumni, but development offices still want them as donors. At many institutions, this is leading to campaigns to get as many people as possible to give small amounts, such as $20.09 to symbolize this year. But there are also colleges that have decided this is a time to forget about participation rates and go for dollars.

Full-text article by Kate Maternowski is available via InsideHigherEd, 5.19.09.

Proposals Would Transform College Aid

President Obama's health-care goals may be garnering attention, but his higher-education proposals are no less ambitious.

Full-text article by Shailagh Murray is available via The Washington Post, 5.4.09.

Fundraising and the Economic Climate

CASE examines the impact of the current economic climate on institutions and advancement.

Full-text article is availabe via CASE.org, May 2009.

Colleges Using Technology to Recruit Students Try to Hang On to the Conversation

Higher education traffics in reputations. To thrive as an institution means keeping up with competitors while setting yourself apart. But as good as colleges have become at building brands, the game is shifting to social media, where there is perpetual motion and little control.

Full-text article by Sara Lipka is available via The Chronicle of Higher Education, 5.1.09.

Colleges Weigh 'Yes We Can' Approach to Fund Raising

President Obama's campaign consultants bring their message of better fund raising through technology to the college campus.

Full-text article by Marc Perry is available via The Chronicle of Higher Education, 4.21.09. [Subscription required.]

Security in Troubled Times

Article investigating the state of IT security. How are institutions coping? What are their plans? What impact does the economy have on IT security?

Full-text article by Doug Gale is available via Campus Technology, 4.10.09.

New Study Sees Surge in E-Mail Outsourcing

Academia has seen “explosive growth” in the outsourcing of student e-mail systems, according to a new study.

Full-text blog post by Marc Perry is available via The Chronicle of Higher Education, 4.9.09.

Colleges Rethink Fund-Raising Expenses and Staffs

After several years of aggressive hiring, some college fund-raising operations are now cutting back as both revenue and investment income fall. The regrouping could slow growth plans on many campuses at a time when the need for private support has never been greater.

Full-text article by Kathryn Masterson is available via The Chronicle of Higher Education, 4.10.09. [Subscription required.]

More Colleges Ask Donors to Pay Pledges Early

Cornell University’s request to one of its top donors, Sanford I. Weill, to pay his $250-million pledge early — and at at a reduced rate — may be a tactic more nonprofit organizations could use to raise much-needed cash in this recession.

Full-text blog post by Kathryn Masterson is available via The Chronicle of Philanthropy, 4.7.09.

Recession Has Silver Lining for Class of '09

Many private colleges have admitted more students than usual this year, hedging their bets as they wait to find out whether families find higher tuitions difficult to manage in the recession.

Full-text article by Susan Kinzie is available via The Washington Post, 4.1.09.

YouTube Creates New Section to Highlight College Content

More than 100 colleges have set up channels on YouTube, and this week the popular video service unveiled a new section that brings together all of that campus content in one area.

Full-text article by Jeffrey R. Young is available via The Chronicle of Higher Education, 3.27.09.

Colleges Work Harder To Lure New Students

A down economy usually means a bump in enrollment at colleges and universities: Applications tend to go up as job prospects go down. But in this recession, private colleges especially are finding themselves working harder to fill their freshman classes.

Full-text article by Tovia Smith is available via NPR, 3.30.09.

Cash Me If You Can

University endowment managers followed Yale investment guru David Swensen into private equity and hedge funds, eager for the same 16 percent annual returns he got. Now with the crash, they’re short on cash. Luckily for Yale, Swensen didn’t always follow his own advice.

Full-text article by Daniel Golden is available via Conde Nast Portfolio.com, April 2009.

To Keep Students, Colleges Cut Anything but Aid

Many smaller institutions need full enrollment to provide revenue, and reducing financial aid could send students elsewhere.

Full-text article by Kate Zernike is available via The New York Times, 2.27.09.

The Latest Online Match: Companies Can Hook Up With Universities on Tech Transfer

Online sites where universities list their available technologies are nearly as old as the Internet, but a site unveiled here Thursday is expected to be about more than e-commerce. It's an attempt by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation to foster collaboration among institutions, companies, and professors.

Full-text article by Goldie Blumenstyk is available via The Chronicle of Higher Education, 2.13.09.

Social Networking Tapped to Raise Money for UC Davis

Social media such as Facebook, MySpace and Twitter have been used for friend-making, dating and political fundraising. Soon they will be tapped for a new purpose: raising money for the University of California, Davis.

Full-text article by Laurel Rosenhall is available via The Sacramento Bee, 2.13.09.

MIT Tops Rankings of University Web Sites

The Cybermetrics Lab, a research group based in Spain, has released the latest edition of its biannual Webometrics Ranking of World Universities, which seeks to measure “the performance and impact of universities through their Web presence.”

Full-text article by Steve Kolowich is available via the Chronicle of Higher Education, 2.10.09.

2009 Horizon Report: Technologies to Watch

This new report highlights six technologies that soon could change college campuses--including mobile devices with abundant applications, cloud computing that bolsters data accessibility, and web tools that could make campus-based research faster and more thorough.

Full-text executive summary is available via the New Media Consortium (NMC)'s Horizon Project, 1.18.09.