Featuring:
David Palmer, Vice-President, Advancement, University of Toronto and Trevor Rogers, Chief Financial Officer, of the University of Toronto

Partnership and collaboration among senior university leaders that helps foster a culture of philanthropy and drives growth in fundraising and engagement

Transformational growth in fundraising and engagement does not come without significant budgetary investment. In an environment of increasingly tight financial constraints and intense internal competition for available dollars, finding such investment with operating budgets is often a non-starter. To meet this challenge, the University of Toronto recently re-introduced assessments on endowment distributions and expendable gifts, under the Advancement Investment Model (AIM).

The AIM model has also served as the basis for discussion of a national best practice guideline on the use of gift fees presented to and endorsed by senior advancement leaders at the CCAE National Conference in May 2024. This guideline describes principles and parameters for the successful implementation of such fees within educational institutions.

In this session, the University of Toronto’s Vice-President of Advancement, David Palmer and CFO, Trevor Rogers discuss the genesis of the AIM model and the important role that senior university leaders play in supporting a positive, productive, and growth-oriented culture of advancement that enables the pursuit of transformation growth in fundraising and engagement.

Supporting documents:
Deepening the Impact of Advancement at the University of Toronto
Guiding Principles on Supplemental Funding Sources for Advancement
University of Toronto AIM Model
CCAE AGM Presentation: Guiding Principles on Supplemental Funding Sources for Advancement

Featuring:
David Palmer, Vice-President, Advancement, University of Toronto

Supporting documents:
Guiding Principles on Supplemental Funding Sources for Advancement
University of Toronto AIM Model

With a goal to achieve transformational growth in fundraising results through its Defy Gravity campaign, the University of Toronto recently reinstated the use of fees on expendable gifts and endowment distributions as a supplemental funding source for advancement. After examining best practices in common use among higher education institutions in Canada and the U.S., and looking at related fee structures in the healthcare and cultural sectors, the University of Toronto designed and implemented an approach to gift fees termed the U of T Advancement Investment Model (AIM).

In the course of developing this model, conversations with other Canadian university advancement leaders crystallized a common desire for a national best practice statement, articulating guiding principles and recommended parameters for the development and implementation of gift fee models in higher education.

Join David Palmer, Vice-President, Advancement, at the University of Toronto, who will explore learnings from the U of T Advancement Investment Model, and how those learnings informed the creation of a proposed set of Guiding Principles for Supplemental Funding Sources for Advancement as a draft national best practice statement—prepared specifically for discussion at the CCAE Senior Leaders meeting. The presentation will be followed by an open discussion among senior leaders on funding advancement operations in a challenging economic climate.

Learning Objectives

• Explore best practices and guiding principles for the use of gift fees and endowment assessments, and how those practices may support transformational growth in fundraising programs
• Discuss the unique challenges posed by the current economic climate with advancement leaders from across the country