Survey Results: What Successful Community Colleges Do Differently-Presentation

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The Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) released its Summer 2025 survey results on fundraising strategies and insights from leading U.S. community colleges. The survey involved participation from 23 community colleges, including Casper College, Tulsa Community College, Lone Star College, and others across the country.<br /><br />Key findings highlight foundation board characteristics, fundraising priorities, and staff roles. Around half of the foundation boards have between 11 to 20 members, with an equal split between those requiring board members to give gifts and those not requiring donations. Gift requirements vary from $500 to $5,000. Most foundations (95%) report strong relationships and formal Memorandums of Understanding with their colleges. Regarding financial support for foundation operations, 77% utilize a mix of college and foundation funding.<br /><br />College presidents show varying levels of engagement in fundraising, with a majority being somewhat or very engaged. Chief Advancement Officers (CAOs) or VPs of Advancement typically have been in their roles from under 3 years to over 10 years, with 91% serving on their president’s cabinet. CAOs spend the bulk of their time on major gift cultivation, foundation board duties, and staff management.<br /><br />Fundraising priorities focus primarily on scholarships (both priority and actual funds raised), college programs, student emergency funds, and capital projects. About 55% of colleges have planned giving programs, with 67% of those being active to very active. Gift fees are charged by 55% of respondents, ranging from 1% to 15% depending on gift type.<br /><br />Advancement teams typically consist of 1 to 9 staff members with responsibilities divided among database management, events, major gifts, and prospect research. Scholarship awarding responsibility is split roughly equally among foundation, college, and hybrid models.<br /><br />For further details and access to survey resources, contact information is provided for CASE representatives and panelists including Betheny L. Reid, Meg Natter, Rico Guerrero, and Kari Schults. The findings offer valuable benchmarking for community college fundraising practices nationwide.

Keywords

Council for Advancement and Support of Education

CASE Summer 2025 survey

community colleges fundraising

foundation board characteristics

fundraising priorities

Chief Advancement Officers

major gift cultivation

scholarship fundraising

planned giving programs

advancement team roles