June 2024 Survey of Advancement Professionals

The WASHBURN & McGOLDRICK June 2024 survey of advancement professionals is the eleventh in our Advancement Moving Forward series. The previous ten surveys in this series were conducted in April 2020, June 2020, September 2020, January 2021, May 2021, November 2021, April 2022, December 2022, June 2023 and November 2023. Details about the methodology and participating institutions are found at the end of this report.

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As the nation’s colleges and universities prepare for the upcoming fall semester while dealing with a period when many campuses faced student unrest and protest, a new survey finds there has been a significant drop in confidence among these institution’s senior advancement leaders in their ability to achieve their financial goals for the year.

According to the survey, while a slight majority (56%) of these senior leaders believe they will reach their goals, the level of confidence has dropped by twenty-two percentage points from a year ago (78% vs. 56%). In fact, the survey reveals that this level of confidence among senior level advancement leaders (CAOs/AVPs) is at its lowest level since June 2020, when the nation was in the grip of the Covid pandemic.

The Advancement Moving Forward survey, the eleventh in a series conducted by WASHBURN & McGOLDRICK, one of the nation’s leading educational and institutional advancement consulting firms, finds that while senior advancement staff are confident about current outcomes (giving and engagement) they are significantly less confident about building toward the future with donor and volunteer pipelines.

Despite this decline in confidence among CAOs/AVPs, the percentage of gift and alumni relations officers expressing confidence in reaching their goals increased over the last six months to 70%, a full 14% ahead of CAOs/AVPs. While the gap is the most significant recorded, the report notes it is not unusual for the two groups to trend in opposite directions.

The survey also finds that while tenure in their advancement role is not generally a factor in overall confidence in achieving fundraising goals, there is one exception – those who have been in their role for three to five years. According to the findings, respondents with three to five years of advancement experience are roughly twice as likely not to be confident in achieving their goals (35%) and are the only cohort where fewer than half (48%) express confidence in reaching their goals.

The survey also examined the impact of the protests and disruptions on college campuses during the recent spring semester. According to the survey, these disruptions did have some impact on the majority (70%) of advancement leaders.

In particular, the respondents stated that there was an increased need for donor communications (39%), a disruption in regular campus activities (32%), negative press coverage (31%) and, a negative effect on charitable giving (29%).

“The microscope placed on college campuses over the past year, especially on the student unrest and protest at many high-profile educational institutions, along with the normal challenges of the advancement field, most likely contributed to a higher level of uncertainty among senior level advancement leaders,” says Carla Willis, Managing Partner, WASHBURN & McGOLDRICK. “Our goal in the coming year is to continue to work with these institutions and their educational advancement leaders to help them overcome these challenges and deepen their support and engagement with all levels of donors.”

Among the survey’s key highlights:

• A large majority of advancement leadership and gift/alumni officers are satisfied with their jobs with more than eight out of ten (84%) of CAOs/AVPs and three out of four (76%) of gift and alumni officers stating that they were very satisfied or satisfied.
• The survey results show that longer tenure is correlated with higher job satisfaction. Eighty-two percent of respondents with 10 or more years in Advancement report they are satisfied or very satisfied and 78% with six to nine years in Advancement feel the same way.
• More than half (55%) of respondents is using artificial intelligence (AI) as part of their work primarily in areas related to writing. These tasks included helping write steward communications (25%); writing annual giving communications (20%); creating personalized content (19%); and drafting job descriptions (12%) among others.
• A sizable number of educational advancement leaders (45%) are not yet using AI as part of their work.
• The survey found notable differences between CAOs/AVPs and other staff in their use of AI. Senior staff are more likely to report use of AI in all but one category (updating donor records and contact information), typically by a margin of ten points or more.
• Thirty-six percent of CAOs/AVPs say they do not use AI, compared to 51% of gift and alumni officers.
• The cost of tuition is cited most frequently as the factor making the case to give more difficult by both CAOs/AVPs (32%) and gift and alumni officers (33%). Size of the endowment is also commonly cited with 28% of CAOs/AVPs stating as such.
• Among major gift/gift officers, one-quarter (26%) say large gifts overshadowing small gifts is a major obstacle they face in making their case to give more.

The WASHBURN & McGOLDRICK survey on advancement leaders was conducted online during the period May-June 2024 with 257 respondents representing 111 institutions across the nation. The institutions surveyed ranged in size from small private liberal arts colleges to independent schools to state and private universities offering master’s and doctoral degrees. The margin of error was +/- 6% with a 95% confidence level.

Key Findings

 

 

 

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