mStoner, Inc., and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) announce the release of a white paper, Benchmarking Digital Advancement.

The white paper, based on interviews and a survey conducted in 2018, reflects how advancement tools, practices, and attitudes are evolving toward integrated, digitally enabled outreach and engagement for colleges and universities with their key stakeholders such as alumni, donors, parents, and others. The 2018 research builds on a decade of other surveys focusing on the use of social media and other digital fundraising and outreach tactics and strategies.

“Communications and marketing activities that support the work of advancement are key to an ‘integrated advancement function.’ CASE is pleased to once again have partnered with mStoner on this type of research, part of our overall AMAtlas initiative,” said Fred Weiss, chief research and data officer at CASE.

The survey of digital advancement focused on how schools, colleges and universities use various digital tools and techniques in alumni relations, communications, fundraising, and marketing. The white paper explores how higher ed is adopting various digital tools and integrating them into advancement more broadly.

In addition to questions exploring how colleges and universities used social and digital media and other tools in their advancement activities, mStoner and CASE researched: the reporting relationships of the chief marketing officer (CMO) and chief advancement officer (CAO); how institutional brands and campaign brands related; and which teams were responsible for important activities such as meeting enrollment goals and engaging alumni and donors.

Here are four significant findings from this research: 

• 60 percent of institution's CMOs and CAOs report to the CEO. At 21 percent of institutions, the person acting as CMO reports to the CAO, and at 17 percent of institutions, there’s another reporting structure in place. At 2 percent of institutions, the CAO reports to the CMO.
• 57 percent of institutions report that they have one or more staff members who manage social media.
• At 65 percent of institutions, “create, sustain, improve brand image” is one of the most important goals for social media.
• 65 percent of respondents say they are "somewhat successful" at using social media to achieve their goals.

 

The white paper identifies benchmarks for overall characteristics and specific behaviors that indicate how institutions are progressing on adopting various components of digital advancement. For example, while 67 percent of respondents indicated that their institutions have experimented with digitally powered fundraising such as crowdsourcing or Giving Days, only 26 percent of respondents said that their institution was using a scoring system for alumni and donors — a form of “net promoter” scoring.

According to Michael Stoner, president and co-founder of mStoner, Inc., and the author of the white paper, “Businesses are moving toward becoming digitally enabled — making digital tools and practices part of every aspect of the business. These benchmarks are really the first step at enabling colleges and universities to explore where they are on adopting a range of digital advancement tools and practices. We hope that they can serve as conversation-starters for staff as we move forward in an era when digital tools and practices will be commonplace and a foundation for engagement with everyone.”

mStoner, Inc. is a digital-first agency committed to tailored solutions that deliver real results. We craft powerful, tailored, human-centric experiences to illuminate your brand and allow you to tell the story only you can tell. We connect you with the right audience at the right time so you can form right-fit relationships. We position your team for improved productivity, sustainable growth, internal alignment, and proof-positive success. And we aim to make your job fun again and help you create inspired work that you are proud to show off. Since 2001, we’ve worked with more than 350 colleges, universities, and professional schools in the U.S. and abroad. For much more, visit our website at mStoner.com.

The Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) is a professional association serving educational institutions and the advancement professionals who work on their behalf in alumni relations, communications, development, marketing and allied areas. CASE helps its members build stronger relationships with their alumni and donors, raise funds for campus projects, produce recruitment materials, market their institutions to prospective students, diversify the profession, and foster public support of education.

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