Charlie Phlegar, vice president for advancement at Virginia Tech, has been named as co-chair of a new global resource made available from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE).

Called AMAtlas, the new CASE resource will serve as a comprehensive, data-rich asset for schools, universities, and colleges that are eager to use data to inform the work they do in alumni relations, communications, fundraising, marketing, and allied areas of advancement.

"For universities to have best-in-class advancement organizations, they must benchmark against peers, use data to drive their decision-making, and have metrics to measure their success," Phlegar said. "This committee will make it possible for higher-ed advancement organizations to improve their performance and serve their universities at the highest level.”

To assist in the development of AMAtlas, CASE has acquired the Voluntary Support of Education annual survey, its associated U.S. and Canadian data, and an interactive online database from the Council to Aid for Education.

Lori Houlihan, vice provost of development at the University College London, will also serve as co-chair on the advisory group.

Sue Cunningham, president and CEO of CASE, said AMAtlas will fulfill an unmet need for reliable data, relevant in the U.S. and around the world, which will allow educational institutions to benchmark their data and develop comprehensive metrics for their fundraising, alumni relations, and marketing programs.

“With the launch of AMAtlas, CASE is creating a resource that will support our 3,700 members in 77 countries, providing access to data that is invaluable worldwide for strategic decision-making,” Cunningham said.

Since joining Virginia Tech in 2015, Phlegar has led the Advancement Division, which consists of Alumni Relations, University Development, and University Relations. Since then, Virginia Tech announced that it had raised a record $162.28 million for fiscal year 2017. In March 2018, the university conducted its first Giving Day, drawing more than 5,000 gifts and raising more than $1.6 million in a 24-hour period. Participation of alumni who give to the university has also increased since Phlegar’s arrival, rising from 9 to a recent level of 13 percent.

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