The Donor Bill of Rights outlines the rights of donors in the work of philanthropy.

A set of core principles were identified by CASE Europe, the Ross Group and the 1994 Group of Development Directors to provide guidance for European institutions regarding the acceptance of gifts.

A physical location provides context for an educational institution. And institutions that use this context to not only differentiate themselves in a crowded marketplace but also to exemplify their mission and values are doing themselves a huge marketing favor.

The more we ask alumni, donors, students, staff, and faculty about their experiences and passions, the more stories we will find that carry on connections to our institutions

I can hardly believe that this year marks my 30th anniversary in the field of fundraising. Ever since I fell into a development job right out of college with my newly minted journalism degree, fundraising is pretty much the only thing I’ve done. When I haven’t been securing philanthropic gifts at work, I’ve been called into service at my church, the kids’ schools, and countless other worthwhile charitable endeavors. I guess I’m a one-trick pony in that regard. And I’ve loved every minute of it.

Tales of bad Greeks proliferate: In early 2015, a video surfaced of University of Oklahoma Sigma Alpha Epsilon members spiritedly chanting about lynching African Americans rather than allowing them to join the fraternity. In fall 2015, the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity and Alpha Phi sorority chapters at the University of California, Los Angeles, held a "Kanye Western" party—and some attendees reportedly wore blackface. By late 2015, SAE was back in the news, its Yale University chapter accused of admitting "white girls only" to a party.

For Hannah Brencher, postcollege life in New York City wasn't what she expected. Depressed and struggling to find purpose, she reached out to others with words of kindness and support by leaving anonymous spirit-lifting love letters throughout the city. In October 2010, she blogged about the experience and promised: If you send me your address, I will write you a letter. Her email inbox filled up. Eleven months and 400 letters later, the project turned into MoreLoveLetters.com, a website where people can request love letter bundles for people in need or volunteer to write them. More than 20,000 volunteers—including students belonging to the site's 60-plus Campus Cursive chapters—have helped send more than 100,000 letters to people around the world. Brencher's memoir, If You Find This Letter: My Journey to Find Purpose Through Hundreds of Letters to Strangers, comes out in paperback in spring 2016.

Dee Dee Mendoza works in development, but she thinks like an entrepreneur. As managing director for West Coast advancement for Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, she teams with alumni volunteers to host the Dartmouth Entrepreneurs Forum in San Francisco, an annual event for networking, sharing ideas, and learning from speakers such as PayPal Chairman John Donahoe (Class of '82). Before that, she was a senior director focusing on innovator engagement at the University of California, Berkeley, where she and her team developed the Berkeley Founders' Pledge, a commitment by alumni entrepreneurs to make a gift when their startup is acquired or goes public. Since its 2014 launch, 234 entrepreneurs have taken the pledge, creating a gift pipeline estimated at $15 million over the next three years.

Increased giving reported in the Voluntary Support of Education Survey should help advancement leaders approach 2018 with cautious optimism.

Educational advancement, the building of philanthropic and civic engagement, is increasing across the Asia-Pacific region.