Category: Institutional Advancement

Special Events

The Special Events is responsible for overseeing all the logistics of fundraising, community, and third-party events for the College. It works with academic and administrative departments, outside organizations, and individuals to schedule auditoriums, galleries, and conference spaces for purposes other than regular classes. The events team books facilities ensuring that the appropriate facilities are used, and coordinates audio-visual and other equipment set-ups, catering, crowd control, security, and parking arrangements.

The College has outlined General Event Policies for events being held at the A. Alfred Taubman Center for Design Education, and the Walter and Josephine Ford Campus in the Facility Use and Special Events Manual.

Public Relations

Public Relations, primarily news media outreach, is managed from within IA Marketing and Communications. The CCS Public Relations function is charged with engaging key audiences (potential students, donors and potential donors, industry and government opinion leaders) to promote and strengthen the CCS brand image. Chief responsibilities of the public relations unit include initiating and maintaining relationships with the media, promoting newsworthy CCS events and activities to key audience segments, while helping coordinate CCS involvement in community activities.  Any requests made to faculty or staff for media interviews, tours, etc. should be run through the Public Relations manager prior to being accepted.

Marketing and Communications

The IA Marketing and Communications unit is responsible for planning, budgeting, writing, design, production and distribution of all internal and external CCS communications including student recruitment materials and the CCS website and social media channels. The Marketing and Communications unit also manages the CCS brand and graphic identity standards. 

CCS staff needing print, or video, web-based marketing materials should contact the Director of Marketing and Communications. CCS personnel other than Marketing and Communications staff should not hire designers, contract printing or develop websites or Facebook pages without the involvement of IA. All print jobs must go through the Marketing and Communications office.

Sponsored Projects

The College partners with corporations, associations and other enterprises to incorporate sponsored research projects into the educational experience for CCS students. Sponsors typically present a design challenge of strong educational value to a CCS studio class for the class to work on over the course of a semester.  Students present their solutions to leading industry representatives at the end of each project. Beyond the educational benefits to students, sponsored research projects enable CCS to build relationships with industry for internships and career placement as well as generating revenue and helping create marketing and public relations opportunities for the College.

Corporate, Foundation and Government Relations

The Corporate, Foundation and Government Relations unit in IA secures financial and in-kind contributions from corporations, foundations and government sources. This unit works closely with faculty, staff and others to organize and develop programs for funding, while also cultivating and soliciting prospects for capital giving, endowments, grants, scholarships and other support.  A primary role of this unit is corporate sponsored research projects.

Development

The Development unit in IA raises funds to support CCS at all levels, from supporting general operations and addressing ongoing needs to enabling special projects, new initiatives, endowed programs, and positions, reducing the financial burden of students through scholarships, capital improvements, and more. The Development team is also responsible for all gift processing, compliance with IRS laws related to receipting/acknowledgment of gifts, documentation of gifts to support the audit and donor intention, coordination with the Office of Business Services related to philanthropy, as well as coordinating efforts on behalf of the College related to donor relations and stewardship.

If faculty and staff are interested in raising money or securing/accepting a gift-in-kind for a project or initiative, they should begin by discussing their idea with their Department Chair and/or Dean to ensure that their initiative aligns with the College’s mission and priorities. Once approved at a conceptual level, faculty and staff should contact the Office of Institutional Advancement for further conversation. Policies related to fundraising may be found in the policy database in the section pertaining to Fundraising and Marketing or by searching the database using the keywords “charitable gifts.”

For gifts-in-kind specifically, the College accepts gifts-in-kind on a limited basis and they must be approved by Institutional Advancement (IA) in advance of accepting any such gift. If the donor stated value of the gift exceeds $105,000, approval by the Vice President for Administration and Finance is also required to ensure the College is complying with IRS laws that require an independent appraisal/documentation to determine the value of goods, reporting after use/sale, and more. Refer to the policy in the College’s database titled, “Charitable Gifts – Types and Acceptance” for additional information. The Gift-in-Kind Form can be obtained from the Institutional Advancement (IA) office and should be returned to IA once the donor completes the form for acknowledgment and record-keeping purposes.