If you build it, they will come. Your alumni are already Facebooking, tweeting and linking in, in ever-increasing numbers. Colleges and universities are taking advantage of this activity to launch and grow robust social networks of graduates that strengthen alumni engagement, boost volunteerism and stimulate giving. “Over the years we’ve spent so much time and […]
The U.S. economy has been through major changes in the last several years, and the effects are being felt on campus. In many cases, this turmoil shows up publicly in the form of a credit-rating downgrade. On some campuses, a change in the credit rating has no effect on the day-to-day operations; on others, it […]
Old meets new at the McKinnon Center for Global Affairs, a 40,000-square-foot facility that was formerly known as the 100-year-old Johnson Hall at Occidental College (Oxy) in Los Angeles. CHALLENGE: Politics, foreign languages and other global affairs-related majors are some of the Oxy’s most popular fields of study, but there hadn’t been a centralized location […]
Over the last 30 years, the number of college courses teaching entrepreneurship has increased by 95 percent, reflecting an intense demand by U.S. college students. However, in a survey by Entrepreneur magazine, half of students polled reported that lack of resources was their main reason for not creating startups. And the Young Entrepreneur Council found […]
Fewer and fewer institutions are meeting students’ financial need. Per The College Board’s “Trends in College Pricing 2013,” the average net tuition and fee price for students attending four-year public institutions increased by an estimated $1,180 (in 2013 dollars) between 2009-10 and 2013-14. At private four-year institutions, average net tuition and fee price increased between […]
A single transformational gift can spark unprecedented momentum and result in record-shattering donations to a college or university—as officials at Baylor University in Texas know well. In early 2012, alumnus Drayton McLane Jr. and his family kicked off donor support for an ambitious $260 million on-campus football stadium. At the time it was the largest […]
The University of Puget Sound in February became the first higher ed institution to accept a gift of digital currency, when alumnus Nicolas Cary gave the Washington school 14.5 bitcoins—equal to $10,000. For the uninitiated, Bitcoin is a global, open source virtual economy created in 2009, and bitcoins are its cyber currency, used for electronic […]
Central Florida is one of the country’s most popular tourist destinations, so it makes sense that hospitality enterprises can be counted on to provide a financial boost—even to higher education institutions. Here at Rollins College in Winter Park, Fla., a $12.5 million gift from the Harold Alfond Foundation helped us build a 112-room inn that […]
The University of Florida's last fundraising campaign, completed in October 2012, surpassed its $1.5 billion goal and finished nine months ahead of schedule at $1.72 billion. Despite this tremendous success, the next campaign will deploy a new tactic—a fine-tuned army of the university's leaders prepared and practiced in the strategies of fundraising. "When we conducted […]
What makes a college or university more likely to attract million-dollar gifts? It may not be surprising to learn that longer presidential tenure, the age of an institution, strong alumni networks, and national college rankings help schools win big donations. But even schools not matching the typical profile are getting large gifts by engaging donors […]
