University PR Offices and Alumni: A Disconnect?
Many university public relations offices seem to have a tin ear when it comes to the potential power of harnessing alumni voices for strategic campaigns – such as legislative advocacy. And it’s a missed opportunity. Monovision in the PR office is not what’s needed at a time when making the case for investing in education is vital to universities, the workforce and the...
Read MoreFundraising is Business!
There’s been a lively debate underway in the Chronicle of Philanthropy about whether about fundraisers are “selling” a product. Putting money at the center of the development relationship taints the process, argues veteran fundraiser Jennifer McCrea in her Exponential Fundraising blog. Yet the notion of “selling” shouldn’t be a dirty word because it solves...
Read MoreDuke Mag & UVA President Share “Brutal Facts” with Alumni
With increased focus on alumni associations as portals for support for university strategic priorities, Duke and the University of Virginia have come forward with best practice communications worthy of serious notice. Both elite institutions with significant endowments, in 2009 they wrestled with what Jim Collins calls “the brutal facts” that “great” organizations...
Read MoreWhat’s Hot, What’s Not: 5 Marketing Trends for 2010
OUT with “Survival,” IN with “Growth” — these lead my What’s Hot/What’s Not marketing trends for 2010. Feeling whiplashed by 2009, many of us have been talking about a sudden flurry of activity as 2010 opened. Pushing uphill with ferocity the first week of the new year, a university colleague mused, “I think we’re just doing more with...
Read MoreReally Putting Social Media to Work
Two new studies provide new and compelling data about ongoing struggles to keep social media in the strategic marketing mix by nonprofits and corporate chief marketing officers. These reports confirm some trends I’ve observed recently with clients in university marketing communications and alumni relations offices – good ideas and technologies need appropriate staff and budgets to...
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