Education Archives

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Data & AI

Advancement AI in 2026: Future-proof your strategy

Advancement teams are the backbone of financial sustainability for colleges and universities. Yet, they face mounting challenges: reduced funding, rising expectations, and an increasingly complex donor landscape. Artificial intelligence offers a powerful way forward—but only if institutions adopt it strategically. We have compiled our best advice for 2026. Learn how AI can transform advancement operations,

Lyndal Cairns January 9, 2026

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CRM

Simplifying Salesforce for schools: Best practices and FAQs

Salesforce is a powerful tool for schools—if administrators know how to use it. Learn about different use cases and best practices of Salesforce for schools.

Lyndal Cairns October 31, 2025

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Team Heller

Join us at the 2025 AASP Summit

We’re thrilled to once again be sponsoring, exhibiting, and attending the 2025 AASP Summit! It’s one of our favorite events of the year, and we’re proud to be longtime supporters and active members of the AASP community. This year, Heller nonprofit partner and account executive Joshua Moore will be presenting a session with Kathy Hein

Lyndal Cairns August 28, 2025

A young woman holding a stack of books stands in front of a whiteboard filled with complex mathematical equations and diagrams, smiling confidently—an inspiring image of higher education change management in action.

Change Leadership

A complete guide to higher education change management

As a higher education advancement professional, you have countless items on your to-do list to ensure your team is set up for success. From coordinating multi-touch outreach and wrangling manual data inputs to training staff to use new platforms, the size and scope of change is enormous. With so many factors at play, planning large-scale

Lyndal Cairns August 12, 2025

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Technology Strategy

Best practices in advancement tech

Advancement teams are the backbone of financial stability and growth for educational institutions, but they face significant challenges both internally and externally. Engaging donors across an increasing number of channels in a complex fundraising landscape is no small feat. Many institutions struggle with outdated and fragmented technology systems that hinder operational efficiency and personalized appeals.

Lyndal Cairns March 15, 2025

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Kindsight

Loyola University Chicago ascend implementation

Loyola University Chicago Salesforce and Kindsight Ascend implementation and customization Loyola University Chicago is a prominent private Jesuit research university located in Chicago, Illinois. With an enrollment of approximately 17,000 students, it is one of the largest Jesuit institutions in the United States. The university offers a diverse range of more than 80 undergraduate and

Lyndal Cairns February 1, 2025

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Education

How to Prepare Your Advancement Org for a CRM Implementation

How to Prepare Your Advancement Org for a CRM Implementation Table of Contents Introduction: Building Bigger and Better Forward-thinking advancement teams are modernizing their CRM ecosystems to better support alumni engagement, fundraising performance, and institutional growth. A CRM implementation isn’t just a tech upgrade—it’s a strategic opportunity to transform how your institution builds relationships, manages

Lyndal Cairns January 1, 2025

CRM

Advancement Tips and Tech for Alumni Engagement in 2025

If your advancement org is typical, you’re faced with the challenge of making donor and alumni engagement more effective with technology that you may have used for 10, 15, or even 20+ years. It lacks the features and functionality you need to deepen connections and provide a more modern donor and alumni experience. So, how

Lyndal Cairns November 21, 2024

Salesforce

3 Steps to Move Your Higher Ed Advancement Team Forward with Salesforce

Many higher education advancement teams are ready to implement more sophisticated approaches to donor and alumni engagement. But to do so, they need to move away from their aging software. They need technology that gives them better access to their data, helps them work more efficiently, and generally supports more innovative and modern practices. That’s

Lyndal Cairns November 19, 2024

Education

Top Considerations When Moving to New Higher Education Advancement Software

The start of a new year is a common time for reflection. But for many, it’s also a time to prepare for any changes or decisions that may be coming. For example, colleges and universities typically use this time to prepare for the spring, when budget planning for the next academic year kicks off. As

Kaia Swift January 24, 2024

Education

Takeaways for Advancement Services Professionals from AASP Summit 2023

Here at Heller Consulting, we always look forward to attending the annual AASP Summit. It’s a great opportunity to hear more about what’s on the minds of advancement services professionals from higher education institutions and nonprofit organizations. Last month’s AASP Summit 2023 didn’t disappoint. What advancement services professionals are talking about We had multiple conversations

Kaia Swift October 9, 2023

CRM

Connect with Donors and Alumni Through an Online Portal Built on Salesforce

As a higher education advancement leader, you’re probably on the lookout for ways to engage more effectively with donors, alumni, and other constituents. If you use (or are thinking about using) the Salesforce platform and ecosystem, one powerful and simple way to deepen connections and provide a great donor and alumni experience is to offer

Kaia Swift July 26, 2023