The old advancement staffing model no longer works

The year was 2004. “The Facebook” had just launched at Harvard, the iPhone was still a few years away, and AOL was competing with a brand-new Gmail service. That was the year I stepped into the advancement field.

Back then, the work was simpler. Student callers ran phonathon programs, we recycled the same direct mail appeals year after year, and email was just beginning to find its place in fundraising. Two decades later, advancement looks completely different. Success now depends on using data to pinpoint opportunities, personalizing outreach across multiple channels, and running year-round campaigns that demonstrate measurable impact to leadership.

But while the work has evolved, our leadership and staffing models largely have not. Lean teams are still expected to be “all things” in an increasingly complex environment. It’s no surprise that many advancement offices are stretched thin and struggling to keep up. EAB’s 2025 Advancement Leaders Playbook found that three in four advancement teams have open positions, and more than a third of leaders say hiring is their top priority for the next year. Yet even when (and if) those roles get filled, it’s getting harder to find candidates with the right mix of digital, analytical, and strategic skills.In this blog, I’ll explore how advancement leaders can modernize their approach to build the capacity and expertise their teams need to succeed.

Strategic partnerships build capacity for advancement

Across higher education, more institutions are turning to strategic partnerships — collaborations that pair internal expertise with external specialists in areas like digital marketing, analytics, campaign strategy, and creative execution. These partnerships keep critical work moving and help teams grow their reach, experiment with new ideas, and make meaningful progress even with limited staff capacity.

This is not about outsourcing your advancement strategy. It’s about building a team model that combines your internal strengths with specialized skills and technology. EAB’s 2025 Advancement Leaders Playbook found that 59% of advancement leaders cite data silos and 35% cite limited staff expertise as barriers to success. The right partnership model can help close those gaps by sharing the workload and expanding what your team can accomplish.

We’ve already seen similar shifts in enrollment management. When student recruitment became more digital and data-driven, institutions began partnering with experts in analytics, marketing, and communications. Enrollment leaders kept ownership of relationships and yield while partners managed the technical and tactical work that required deeper expertise. Advancement now faces those same pressures — and the same opportunity to evolve.

What this looks like in practice

• Miami University
  At a pivotal moment for annual giving, Miami University faced high staff turnover, rising goals, and declining donor engagement. The team wanted to invest more in digital outreach but needed outside expertise to do it effectively. Partnering with EAB on digital marketing and campaign strategy led to a 171% increase in undergraduate alumni dollars raised and 226% growth in Giving Day revenue.
• Chicago State University
  A small advancement team with limited time, budget, and resources needed to reengage alumni and build a sustainable donor pipeline. With added support from EAB, Chicago State achieved a 25% increase in annual giving revenue, proving that extended capacity can drive meaningful growth even in lean environments.

The case for strategic partnerships

Strategic partnerships work because they solve problems that hiring alone cannot. Through EAB’s Advancement Marketing Services, we’ve seen many advancement teams struggle with the bandwidth to analyze data in real time, the digital expertise to reach new donors, and the capacity to maintain donor engagement year-round. The right partnership helps close those gaps and keeps strategy and execution aligned.

For many leaders, these partnerships offer three key advantages:

1. Expand your team’s expertise and capacity immediately.
   Finding one person who can write appeals, analyze data, and design digital campaigns is nearly impossible. Strategic partners bring that expertise on demand and can help run key campaigns or test new channels while your team focuses on relationship building.
2. Provide stability when change is constant.
   Vacancies, turnover, and reorganizations are inevitable, but fundraising cannot pause while you rebuild. Strategic partners help keep campaigns on track and donor communications consistent through transitions, so your progress doesn’t stall.
3. Bring in outside insight and innovation.
   Partners who work across many institutions offer perspective that’s hard to get from inside one organization. They can share what’s driving donor growth elsewhere, adapt those lessons for your institution, and give your team confidence to evolve without unnecessary risk.

Strategic partnerships are not a replacement for in-house expertise. They are a way to build flexible, sustainable capacity that allows your team to focus on the work that delivers the greatest impact.

Building the team your goals demand

If you’re wondering whether a strategic partnership is right for your team, start with a few questions:

• Where is your team stretched the thinnest, and what work is suffering because of it?
• Where are you losing time waiting to hire or backfill critical roles?
• Where could outside expertise help you move faster or reach better results?
• What work truly requires your internal oversight, and what could be done just as well (or better) by a partner?
  

The advancement leaders seeing the most success today are those blending the strengths of their internal teams with the specialized support of trusted partners. They’re expanding their reach, easing the load on staff, and finding new ways to achieve results with the resources they have.Twenty years ago, advancement was simpler. The work is harder now, but the opportunity is greater too. The leaders who embrace new structures and smarter partnerships are proving that you can still grow—even in lean times.

Mark Shreve

Managing Director, Partner Development

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