Archive: Around Town

Aurora, NY - The Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) announced today that Wells College is a first-time recipient of a 2019 Educational Fundraising Award. The College's advancement division was recognized for best overall performance in the category of private liberal arts institutions with endowments under $100 million.

In assessing "overall performance," the CASE evaluators look for colleges and institutions whose advancement operations demonstrate "solid program growth, breadth in the base of support and other indications of a mature, well-maintained program." Wells is one of 39 institutions which received this award from CASE for the first time in 2019, and one of 90 institutions that received a CASE Educational Fundraising Award this year.

"Our advancement staff have long set the bar for what a college of our size and scope can achieve through collaboration, hard work and ingenuity. That the CASE organization has formally recognized their efforts is a real testament to their results-oriented focus," said Jonathan Gibralter, president of Wells College.

The Council for Advancement and Support of Education announced the names of more than 90 U.S. higher education institutions that are being recognized with 2019 Educational Fundraising Awards. The winners include 39 institutions being recognized for the first time—a record number since the awards were established in 2002.

The Educational Fundraising Awards annually recognize exemplary development programs based on a blind review of data submitted to the CASE AMAtlas Voluntary Support of Education (VSE) survey. CASE member institutions that have participated in the VSE for the past three years are automatically considered. A group of experienced educational fundraisers spends hours reviewing the data to determine the following awards:

Overall Performance: For colleges and universities that show solid program growth, breadth in the base of support and other indications of a mature, well-maintained program. Overall Improvement: For colleges and universities that demonstrate significant program growth across the three years of data.

"These institutions have not only demonstrated the highest levels of professionalism and best practice in their fundraising efforts, they have contributed to the betterment of educational advancement worldwide by serving as a model to which others can aspire," said Sue Cunningham, CASE President and CEO.

CASE members have access to all of the benchmarking data used to determine winners, as well as fundraising data for scores of other U.S. and Canadian institutions through the online Data Miner tool that is part of CASE's AMAtlas. Users have access to 10 years of survey data from more than 1,000 survey respondents.

"The beauty of this awards program is that we look at the data not knowing what institution is being represented. In showcasing these best-of-the-best programs, CASE helps its members identify institutions doing smart and innovative work from which everyone can learn," said Sue Kubik, an accomplished educational fundraiser and long-time CASE volunteer who led the judging panel this year. "We not only encourage—we highly recommend—that you spend some time in the CASE VSE Data Miner to dive into details about what makes these programs aspirational."

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