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Bloomberg gives Johns Hopkins a Record $1.8 Billion for Student Financial Aid

Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced a record-shattering $1.8 billion donation to his alma mater, Johns Hopkins University, to support and expand student financial aid programs.

Show Me the Impact: Improving Stewardship Communications

Donors overwhelmingly report that they are not seeing the impact of their giving. The GG+A Survey Lab analyzed data from their Donor Experience Scorecard, which includes responses from over 15,000 donors across a range of nonprofit organizations, and found that fewer than half of donors, on average, clearly understand the impact of their gift.

Case Study: Virginia Tech

In one fiscal year’s time, the team at Virginia Tech achieved a whopping 53.42% retention among first time donors—nearly double the industry standard. They also raised the overall alumni participation rate by 37%—from 9% to 12.29%. How did they achieve such impressive results?

Video: 10 Questions with Frederick Hoopes Wampler

Frederick “Hoopes” Wampler’s mission is building impactful, lifelong experiences for the over 300,000 alumni at the University of Pennsylvania. He answers “10 Questions” with Scott Atwell, Senior Vice President at Grenzebach Glier and Associates.

Survey Lab: You’ve Got Your Donors’ Names. Why Can’t They Have Yours?

GG+A Survey Lab research on the donor experience finds that personalization in the age of automation elicits more positive and effective dialogue with donors. Thank you messages and other communications sent from a direct point of contact are small, yet effective, gestures of stewardship.

University of Virginia Announces $5 Billion Fundraising Initiative

This month, the University of Virginia announced a $5 billion fundraising initiative to strengthen “core priorities” - Faculty, fellowships, student access, and affordability - in the advancement of new and existing programs and capital projects.

Podcast: Conversation with Mark Wrighton

Scott Atwell sits down with Mark Wrighton, Chancellor at Washington University in St. Louis to discuss the success of the university's advancement and development during Wrighton's tenure.

GG+A Webinar on the Giving Institute’s 2018 Annual Report

Grenzebach Glier and Associates presented a webinar on the Giving Institute’s 2018 Annual Report on Philanthropy - now available to watch or download slides.

Ed Sevilla Featured in Journal of Brand Strategy

Best Practices for Aligning University Brands with Fundraising Campaigns

Institutions that are able to foster alignment of the brand and positioning among these three audiences are more likely to see investments in brand development result in improvements in market positioning and revenue generation. Two case studies demonstrate best practices.

Hong Kong Becomes World’s Largest Ultra-High-Net-Worth City (Blog Series)

According to the recent World Ultra Wealth Report, Hong Kong is the fastest growing high-net-worth population worldwide. Amy Parker (GG+A Asia Pacific) explores the city's philanthropic potential in the first of a blog series on transnational university fundraising.

Video: 10 Questions with Patrick Auerbach

Patrick Auerbach is the Associate Senior Vice president of Alumni Relations for USC. Barney Ellis-Perry, GG+A Senior Vice President and Co-Leader of the Alumni Engagement Practice Area, has 10 Questions for him.

Video: 10 Questions with Penn State's Paul Clifford

Paul Clifford is the Chief Executive Officer of the Penn State Alumni Association. Scott Atwell, GG+A Senior Vice President and Co-Leader of the Alumni Engagement Practice Area, has 10 Questions for him.

Podcast: Conversations / Alumni Metrics Roundtable at CASE Summit

Scott Atwell and Barney Ellis-Perry sit down with special guests, JT Forbes from Indiana University, Jennifer O'Flannery Anderson from Nova Southeastern Univerisity, and Jeff Todd from the University of British Columbia to discuss alumni metrics.

Survey Lab: Your Peers are Listening. Are you?

A new survey of 231 college administrators conducted by the GG+A Survey Lab finds that use of market research tools such as surveys and focus groups are in widespread use, and most respondents say that the results of this kind of market research would be useful to them.

Know Your Audience: Developing Donor Personas

Creating donor personas, or carefully defined groups that share common traits, is one method that allows you to gain a more nuanced understanding of your current and prospective donors. The resulting data can help you create targeted messages—saying the right thing to the right person at the right time—while maintaining your organization’s voice.

Donor-Advised Funds: What Do They Mean for Your Organization?

A DAF is a philanthropic fund maintained and operated by a sponsoring charitable organization. Although DAFs are a hot topic in philanthropy, there is limited aggregate data regarding their recipients, so this is a particularly exciting study for our industry.