2014 Updates and links archived from the main page.

2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 Let us know if there are any broken links. June 2014

More Jobs. Jun 16, 14 Advancement Services Assistant for Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary, Assistant Director of Advancement Services for California Lutheran University and Director, Create a Jewish Legacy for Greater Miami Jewish Federation. Post your jobs for free by registering on the site.

Free Webinar, June 24, 2014. Jun 13, 14 Acquiring accurate information on donors, especially employment information, is one of the first steps for increasing matching gifts for your non profit. Learn the Best Practices needed for improving your matching gift results and maximizing the productivity of your phonathon! More on matching gifts.

More Jobs. Jun 4, 14 Lots of new jobs on the job board. Post your jobs for free by registering on the site.

May 2014

Best Practices. May 21, 14 The Association of Advancement Services Professionals posts new best practices for review.

Who Knows Who? May 20, 14 Post from the CoolData Blog on creating a script that helps in the discovery of relationship connections in your fundraising database. More on reports and reporting.

The Internet of Things. May 16, 14 A canvassing of technology experts, builders, and users has found wide agreement that the Internet of Things will make substantial inroads into many aspects of everyday life in the next decade.

Match The Match. May 15, 14 Matching Gift Challenges are an effective way to motivate donors. There are a number of reasons the Matching Gift Challenge is such a powerful fundraising tool. More on matching gifts.

Campaign Reports. May 14, 14 Short piece on developing your campaign reports and getting it right the first time. More on reporting and analytics.

Updated. May 13, 14 Samples of various forms and some related sites with forms.

More Jobs. May 12, 14 Associate Director, Corporate Relations for the University of Michigan and Development Data Systems Manager for the Asian Art Museum. Post your jobs for free by registering on the site.

Gift Announcements. May 8, 14 The University of Notre Dame on Friday announced a $75 million gift - the largest ever to the university.

Trends in Predictive Analytics. May 7, 14 Predictive analytics is the use of statistical or machine-learning models to discover patterns and relationships in data that can help businesspeople predict future behaviour or activity. More on reporting and analytics.

Social Media. May 6, 14 Snapchat Grows Up: How College Officials Are Using the App.

More Jobs. May 5, 14 Associate Director of Research of Matching Gifts for HEP Development, Executive Director, Foundation Relations for the Salk Institute, Director of Development, Alumni Association and Administrative Coordinator for University of Michigan. Post your jobs for free by registering on the site.

Security. May 2, 14 Report on the impact of the Heartbleed security flaw from the Pew Internet and American Life Project.

April 2014

Your Target Audience. Apr 30, 14 Don’t make the mistake of not reaching your target audience. You will only be wasting your time, effort, and money. More on matching gifts.

Higher Education. Apr 29, 14 5 bold predictions for the future of higher education.

More Jobs. Apr 28, 14 Director of Annual Giving for George School and Reunion Giving/Phonathon Manager for University of Maine. Post your jobs for free by registering on the site.

Fund For Buffalo State. Apr 25, 14 MainSpring created an email series announcing an alumni giving challenge. The emails utilized variable data and segments. The emails also contain mobile friendly highlighting the challenge. The challenge will continue until the end of the fiscal year with additional emails and social media content. Email 2 - Athletics, Email 2 - General, Email 2 - Reunion. More e-solicitations.

Score Ships. Apr 24, 14 New CASE book on data driven success for your advancement team by Kevin MacDonnell and Peter Wiley. More on reporting and analytics.

Building A Strong Case For Support For Your Annual Fund. Academic Impressions. April 23, 14

Updated. Apr 22, 14 Your website is possibly your best advertising strategy for your business. Hopefully, your advertising campaigns and search engine results will bring web surfers straight to your site’s landing page. How do you know that your methods are working, though? Contributed by Sam Mauzy. More web sightings.

Channels. Top 5 Instagram Practices for Nonprofits. April 22, 14

Channels. This Is What The Internet Looked Like In 1996. April 18, 14

Building Matching. Apr 17, 14 When asked to share elements of our matching gift program, I always emphasize our most basic strategies: providing excellent donor stewardship and customer service, and educating on-campus and off-campus constituents. More on matching gifts.

Channels. Online Donations Increased By 14% In 2013. April 17, 14

Campaigns. Apr 16, 14 A seven-year fundraising drive by Penn State has topped the $2 billion mark, making it one of only 12 such campaigns by public universities to pass the milestone.

Analytics. Google Fusion Tables. April 16, 14

Lost Alumni Research. Apr 15, 14 There are data-driven ways to get the biggest bang for your buck from the mundane activity of finding lost alumni. CoolData Blog.

Channels. Stadiums Race To Digitize. April 15, 14

Gift Announcements. Apr 14, 14 Marc and Lynne Benioff have doubled down on their already sizable support of UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital.

Responsible Investments. Harvard Signs Pact. April 14, 14

Gift Announcements. Apr 11, 14 $100 Million anonymous gift for Dartmouth, the largest single gift in the College's 244 year history.

Is Your Online Giving Site Donor-Friendly? April 11, 14

More Jobs. Apr 10, 14 Development Research Analyst, Associate Director of Development and Project Manager for the University of Michigan. Post your jobs for free by registering on the site.

Slaying Childhood Cancer! Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation. April 10, 14

Older Adults and Technology Use. Apr 9, 14 America’s seniors have historically been late adopters to the world of technology compared to their younger compatriots, but their movement into digital life continues to deepen, according to newly released data from the Pew Research Center.

Advancement Evangelism Or The Time Is Right? CASE. April 9, 14

Why The 1% Don't Feel Rich. Apr 8, 14 The merely rich are making more, but they're not worth more. It's the 0.01 percent that are creating our new Gilded Age.

Visual Analytics. Visual Analysis Best Practices. Tableau. April 8, 14

More Jobs. Apr 7, 14 Associate Director of Donor Relations and Stewardship for Art Center College of Design and Assistant/Associate Director of Prospect Research Office of Prospect Research and Management for Tufts University. Post your jobs for free by registering on the site.

Jack Nicholson Explains Query Duplicates in Raiser's Edge. April 7, 14

Data Warehouse. Apr 4, 14 Building Your Data Warehouse - Foundation For Your Analytics. Presentation from the DRIVE 2014 Conference. More SupportingAdvancement on YouTube. Favourites.

Leading The Way In Prospect Development. Carolina Compass. April 4, 14

DRIVE 2014 Conference Videos. Apr 3, 14 Videos from sessions at DRIVE 2014 are now online and available for viewing. Have a look at some great sessions on data, reporting, information and analytics. More on reporting and analytics.

Social Media. A Breakup Letter to Facebook From Eat24. April 3, 14

A Tale Of Two Schools. Apr 2, 14 What makes one school “get it” and the other school “not get it.”? Both schools are in two of the largest cities on the East Coast. Both schools have tuition around $40,000+ per year but one school gets the matching gift piece and the other does not. More on matching gifts.

Data Visualization. Effective Charts and Graphs. Dona Wong. April 2, 14

Social Fundraising. Apr 1, 14 Middlebury College MiddStart, a network of microphilanthropy that supports Middlebury Students.

Why Fund-Raising is Fun. The New York Times. April 1, 14

March 2014

More Jobs. Mar 28, 14 Senior Planned Giving Officer for University of San Francisco, Development Operations Database Manager for Greater Miami Jewish Federation, Business Coordinator and Associate Editor, Publications for the University of Michigan. Post your jobs for free by registering on the site.

Resources. The Missing Middle. March 28, 14

Automate RFM Scoring. Mar 27, 14 A simple SQL approach to automate RFM scoring. CoolData Blog.

Understanding Alumni Networks. Alumni Futures. March 27, 14

Fund For Buffalo State. Mar 26, 14 MainSpring created an email series announcing an alumni giving challenge. The emails utilized variable data and segments. The emails also contain mobile friendly highlighting the challenge. The challenge will continue until the end of the fiscal year with additional emails and social media content. Email 1 - Athletics, Email 1 - General, Email - Reunion. More e-solicitations.

Social Media. Best Practices in Social Media. March 26, 14

LinkedIn and Bentley University. Mar 25, 14 Good use of LinkedIn on a university web page to explore the careers of Alumni.

Social Media. Are You Using This Powerful Social Engagement Tool? March 25, 14

Mobile Friendly. Mar 24, 14 Reasons your website should be mobile first, not just mobile friendly. From the Beyond Nines Independent Voices Blog.

Resources. Working In The Cloud. TechSoup. March 24, 14

More Jobs. Mar 21, 14 Senior Director of Annual Giving for The University of Alabama at Birmingham. Post your jobs for free by registering on the site.

Ratings Or Rankings? Inside Higher Ed. March 21, 14

From a Design Perspective. Mar 20, 14 Design experts understand that great design addresses every product detail. Think about companies that are experts at design – Bose, Apple, Kohler – how do we integrate great design into reporting and analytics? Brian Dowling.

Resources. Newsletter From Lois L. Lindauer Searches. March 20, 14

More Jobs. Mar 19, 14 Administrative Associate, Planned Giving for Stanford University, VP of Institutional Advancement for Lesley University and Grants Manager for the Exploratorium. Post your jobs for free by registering on the site.

Finance. Endowment Decisions. Inside Higher Ed. March 19, 14

Complex Diagrams. Mar 18, 14 Site devoted to various aspects of data visualization. More on reporting and analytics.

5 Tips For Improving International Alumni Data. Academic Impressions. March 18, 14

We Care About Data. Mar 17, 14 Machines are challenged when it comes to making inferences – humans are more comfortable with the semantic inferences involved in relating data to decisions. Brian Dowling.

Maybe It's Time For A Reread Of The Donor Bill Of Rights. March 17, 14

Digital Life In 2025. Mar 14, 14 Experts predict the Internet will become ‘like electricity’ — less visible, yet more deeply embedded in people’s lives for good and ill. Pew Research Internet Project.

Social Media. Infographic. How To Double Your Facebook Likes. March 14, 14

Fundraising Data Warehousing. Mar 13, 14 Presentation made at DRIVE on constructing a data warehouse including a case study using the appeal codes table. Brian Dowling.

Thanks For The Money But Please Keep Your Name. Globe and Mail. March 13, 14

Growing Matching Gifts. Mar 12, 14 Join HEP on March 26th for a free webinar on Five Strategies for Growing Matching Gifts. More on matching gifts.

Social Media. 7 Resources To Help You Get Started With Twitter. March 12, 14

More Jobs. Mar 11, 14 Associate Director of Development for Veterinary Medicine and Associate Director of Development for Athletics for Tufts University, Development Associate, Associate Director of Development, and Director of LST Development for University of Michigan, Major Gifts Officer for University of Southern Maine, Director of Development for Virginia

Gift Announcements. $60 Million Gift To Boost KSU Academics and Athletics. March 11, 14

An Analytics Roadmap. Mar 10, 14 A successful analytics program needs to have a roadmap, it just doesn’t happen on its own. A roadmap needs to leverage changes in processes, people, pragmatic, data quality, have appropriate governance and sponsorship and provide the right people with the right information and develop the right skills to help them make business decisions. Brian Dowling.

Colorbrewer. Choose The Nature Of Your Data And A Color Scheme. March 10, 14

Gift Announcements. Florida A&M Receives $85M in Software From Siemens. March 3, 14

February 2014

Planning Information Goals. Feb 28, 14 Information is critical for managing fundraising and engagement. If we don’t have the right intelligence we simply won’t be able to generate the return to mission that we aspire to. What information do we need in our data warehouse, how do we plan for it and how do we set our priorities? Brian Dowling.

Automate RFM Scoring Of Your Donors With This Python Script. CoolData. Feb 28,14

Matching Gifts Brochures. Feb 27, 14 Some sample matching gift brochures. College, K12, Arts and Culture and Healthcare. More on matching gifts.

Fundraising For Presidents: A Guide. Academic Impressions. Feb 27,14

More Jobs. Feb 26, 14 Institutional Giving Officer for the Morton Arboretum, Director of Development and Business Systems Specialist for the University of Michigan, Web Content Strategist for University of San Francisco. Post your jobs for free by registering on the site.

Social Media. Howard University Students Turn to Crowdfunding to Pay Tuition. Jan 21, 14

UCLA Launches It's Own Crowdfunding Program. Feb 26,14

Really Swell SQL. Feb 25, 14 A couple of tips and tricks in using SQL for analysis. CoolData Blog.

Can We Predict The Future Of Alumni Relations? Part III. Feb 25,14

Mapping Twitter. Feb 24, 14 Mapping Twitter Topic Networks: From Polarized Crowds to Community Clusters. New report from Per Research Internet Project.

Crowdfunding: Stats and Critical Advice From a Recent Training. Feb 24,14

Lamar Year End. Feb 21, 14 MainSpring created an email to coordinate with print mailings being sent by Lamar University in fall 2013 and end of calendar year. The email links to a mobile friendly giving form to ensure that making a gift on a mobile device is user friendly. The email was sent twice and achieved a unique email open rate of 44.6% over the 2 sends and a completion rate to give of 0.5%. More e-solicitations.

Gift Announcements. Kenneth Griffin Makes $150 Million Gift to Harvard College. Feb 21,14

Phonathon Check-In Sheet. Feb 20, 14 Good idea using Google Docs to create a phonathon form. Spreadsheet of responses. More on telemarketing and telefund.

Call for Submissions for APRA Canada Conference in Toronto. APRA Canada. Feb 20,14

Adventures in Phonathon. Feb 19, 14 A collection of best practices and tips on phonathon management. Gloria Goosby.

Trust Begins With Transparency. Scott Monty. Feb 19, 14

Higher Education Giving. Feb 18, 14 Colleges and universities raise $33.8 Billion in 2013. Giving at highest level having increased by 9% according to the Voluntary Support of Education survey results.

16 Experts Explain How To Keep Donors Coming Back. #fundchat. Feb 18, 14

More Jobs. Feb 17, 14 Executive Director, Foundation Relations for Salk Institute, Director of Development for Lycoming College, Director, Advancement Services for Mission Aviation Fellowship, Associate Director of Annual Giving for University of New Haven, Assistant Director of Donor Relations for University of Michigan, Data Management Assistant for George School and Administrative Associate for Stanford University. Post your jobs for free by registering on the site.

Valentines For Everyone. Inside Higher Ed. Feb 17, 14

Valentines Day Samples. Feb 14, 14 Valentine Card, Valentine Response, Valentine Card Cost Analysis. Rendi Hahn. Valentine Card. Syracuse University. More samples.

Canada's New Anti-Spam Law Could Pose Challenges for Universities. Feb 14, 14

Disinformation Visualization. Feb 13, 14 Post on disinformation with some examples of creative and mischievous visual manipulation.

The Huntsinger Tutorials: All About Fundraising By Direct Mail. SOFII. Feb 13, 14

Teach Them to Fish. Feb 12, 14 Guest post on the CoolData blog on taking responsibility for acquiring new skills.

Trends. Why Mobile Email Marketing is No Longer Optional. Jan 8, 14

Channels. Most Charities Fail at Online Fundraising Basics. Feb 12, 14

Charitable Giving. Feb 7, 14 Blackbaud releases it 2013 Charitable Giving Report with a variety of statistics on how charities performed.

Gift Announcements. UCSF Medical Center Receives $50 Million. Feb 7, 14

Big Data. Feb 6, 14 Blog post on hardcore analytics and big data and why you might not want to use it if you've not mastered using the data you already have.

Security. Non-Profit Credit Card Refund Scam. Feb 6, 14

Gift Announcements. Feb 5, 14 University of Texas to get $60 million gift from the Houston based Mulva Family Foundation to the business and engineering schools at the University of Austin.

CASE President John Lippincott Announces His Retirement. Feb 5, 14

Mega Campaigns. Feb 4, 14 Columbia University announces the completion of its campaign with a total achievement of more than $6 Billion.

Friendraising Earns Alumni Engagement, Allows for Annual Giving Infusion. Feb 4, 14

More Jobs. Feb 3, 14 Development Services Manager at the Exploratorium, Director of Development for the University of Nevada, Reno, Development Assistant for Information Management and Research for the Brearley School, Director of Women in Leadership and Philanthropy for the University of San Francisco, Director of Development, Executive Assistant to Associate Vice President, Development Assistant and Associate Director for the University of Michigan, Executive Director, Annual and Leadership Giving for the University of Toronto and Associate Director, Corporate and Foundation Relations for Tufts University. Post your jobs for free by registering on the site.

Social Media Update 2013. Pew Internet and American Life Project. Feb 3, 14

January 2014

Campaign Strategies. Jan 31, 14 A recent study published in The Journal of Consumer Research suggests that giving donors fewer options spurs gifts at a campaign's end.

Six Tips For A Successful Conversion. Blackbaud. Jan 31, 14

International Fundraising. Jan 30, 14 European business schools get into the fundraising game. The Wall Street Journal.

How To Get Better ROI From Your Telephone Data Lists. Jan 30, 14

Boston University Matching. Jan 29, 14 Boston University's matching gifts page which is part of the overall web site for the Campaign for Boston University. Image of Boston University's matching gift brochure. More on matching gifts.

Double Your Fundraising By Asking Donors Not To Give. Jan 29, 14

Matching Gifts Month. Jan 28, 14 The Matching Gift Advisory Council established February as "Matching Gift Month." It's a good opportunity to remind donors of the value of having their gifts matched. More on matching gifts.

The Changing Student Experience and Alumni Relations Part II. Alumni Futures. Jan 28, 14

More Jobs. Jan 27, 14 Major Gifts Officer for Valparaiso University, Development Generalist for the University of Michigan, Senior Director of Development for University of Arizona, Assistant Manager, Prospect Research for University of Nevada, Reno and Assistant Director of Corporate Relations for the University of Virginia. Post your jobs for free by registering on the site.

5 Links We Love: Virtual Volunteers, Website Resolutions and More. Wild Apricot. Jan 27, 14

Fundraising Data Warehousing. Jan 24, 14 Handouts for presentation made to the BC Blackbaud User Group on constructing a data warehouse. Brian Dowling.

Gift Announcements. Heifer International Receives $25 M Grant. Jan 24, 14

Fundraising Data Warehousing. Jan 23, 14 Presentation made to the BC Blackbaud User Group on constructing a data warehouse including a case study using the appeal codes table. Brian Dowling.

For Data Scientists, The Big Money Is In Open Source. Jan 23, 14

Social Giving. Jan 22, 14 Facebook adds "Donate Now' button for non-profits. Donate Nonprofit Interest Form on Facebook.

Save the Dates! 2014 NEDRA Annual Conference. Jan 22, 14

More Jobs. Jan 21, 14 Assistant Director of Annual Giving for Grand Valley State University and Vice President and Chief Advancement Officer for Saint Joseph's College of Maine. Post your jobs for free by registering on the site.

Social Media. Howard University Students Turn to Crowdfunding to Pay Tuition. Jan 21, 14

LinkedIn and Alumni. Jan 20, 14 Checklist for using LinkedIn to engage alumni from Academic Impressions.

Gift Announcements. Denver Art Museum Gets $100 Million Gift of Paintings. Jan 20, 14

Reading Habits. Jan 17, 14 Research study from the Pew Internet and American Life project on reading media. Print is not dead yet.

U.S. Charitable Giving Jumped 13% in 2013 to a Record. Jan 17, 14

Score. Jan 16, 14 New CASE book on data mining and data-driven decision making by Peter Wylie and Kevin MacDonnell.

CharityChannel is Relaunching Its Forums as a Free Resource. Jan 16, 14

More Jobs. Jan 15, 14 Director of Corporate Relations for the University of San Francisco. Post your jobs for free by registering on the site.

Gift Announcements. Bowdoin Receives a Major Gift from Vogels. Jan 15, 14

Segmentation. Jan 14, 14 Presentation on how to do segmentation in Raiser's Edge contributed by Tamara Wojdylo, Raiser's Edge Database Manager for the VGH & UBC Hospital Foundation. More Revenue.

2014 Nonprofit Communications Trends Report. Wild Apricot. Jan 14, 14

Matching Gifts Community. Jan 13, 14 You can join CASE's matching gifts community to learn more about matching gifts, view and post samples and more. Note that you don't have to be a CASE member to participate in the discussions. More on matching gifts.

Cloud and Saving Files. 10+ Reasons To Use SkyDrive. Jan 13, 14

Disruptive Technologies. Jan 10, 14 Paper from McKinsey and Company on technologies that will transform live, business and the global economy. Worth a read.

Thank You Videos. Jan 9, 14 Mills College, Thanking Our Donors, Pomona College Annual Fund, Thank You Video, Cal Poly Pomona Annual Fund Music Video. More e-solicitations.

Segmentation Recommendations From An Association Member. Wild Apricot. Jan 9, 14

More Jobs. Jan 8, 14 Director of Annual Giving and Director of Development Communications for the United States Air Force Academy Endowment and Coordinator, International Giving for the University of Michigan. Post your jobs for free by registering on the site.

Statistics Gone Wrong. Jan 7, 14 A PhD statistics student at Carnegie Mellon University, covers some of the common analysis mistakes. FlowingData.

Trends. The Internet of Cars Draws Nigh. Jan 7, 14

Social Media Changes. Jan 6, 14 Recent statistics show that teens are leaving Facebook in favour of a number of the new social media properties.

A Lonely President's YouTube Greeting. Inside Higher Ed. Jan 6, 14