The Profile
Like a bee to honey
Why CASE president Sue Cunningham pursued a career in higher education and why storytelling is a major part of her daily work.
By Afifah Darke
“I would never have thought I’d be doing what I’m doing now.”
As the daughter of a university lecturer, Sue Cunningham was no stranger to university campuses. From a young age, she wandered the charming historic buildings and manicured green lawns of institutions like University of California, Berkeley to Queen Mary College in London, while waiting for her father to finish work.
Little did Cunningham know then, her familiarity with these environments would come full circle, but in a way far different from what she might have imagined. With a bachelor’s degree in performing arts, Cunningham spent her early career in the world of theatre and museums. She did work covering fundraising, marketing and administration for galleries and museums, slowly discovering that she “loved all aspects of it”. During the early 90s was when the arts, cultural and education sector was getting more interested in fundraising and alumni relations, she says. “I was just fortunate to be on the crest of a wave. I found myself in wonderful roles in wonderful institutions,” she fondly recalls in an online interview with QS Insights Magazine.
Today, Cunningham leads the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) as President and CEO. CASE, a nonprofit association for educational institutions in over 80 countries, enables its members to achieve their goals. From fostering alumni relations and fundraising to crafting marketing and communications and advocating for public support of education, CASE offers a comprehensive suite of services.
Cunningham began her career in educational advancement in 1998 as director of external relations at St. Andrews University. It was also during this time that CASE was mentioned to her and described as a "great and supportive community" to learn from. “I went there like a bee to honey and just discovered this incredibly supportive learning environment with the global community,” she says with a big smile.
"If you want to lead an organisation, it has to be one you care deeply about"
"There are remarkable things happening in schools and universities around the world every day of the week"
‘My North Star’
With offices in Washington DC, London, Mexico City and Singapore, Cunningham has championed CASE and its members worldwide with her own style of strategic and operational leadership since 2015. “If you want to lead an organisation, it has to be one you care deeply about,” Cunningham tells QS Insights Magazine. When the opportunity came up for her to take up the lead role in CASE, Cunningham says, “I actually can’t think of an organisation I care more deeply about than this organisation that has been my North Star for 18 years”.
And her passion for CASE is obvious through her work in recent years – Cunningham has engaged with thousands of CASE volunteers to produce a framework that helped to refine the organisations’ governance structure; she also championed the recent acquisition of the Voluntary Support of Education Survey, as well as the update of CASE's management and reporting standards and guidelines.
But leading an organisation with such cause comes with its own set of challenges, especially when it comes to philanthropy. When global disruptions such as the global financial crisis in 2008 and the recent COVID-19 pandemic occurred, it was observed that philanthropic support for US institutions specifically, dipped, says Cunningham. Giving to US higher education institutions was $58 billion in the 2023 academic year, a 5 percent (after inflation) drop from 2022, according to CASE's latest Voluntary Support of Education Survey. Despite the decline however, this amount is the second highest on record, demonstrating that the level of support is still strong, says CASE.
“Continued engagement is critical for the success of this work,” Cunningham emphasises. Global crises can and do affect philanthropic support, but Cunningham is convinced that the level of philanthropic giving has broadly continued to go up in the last 20 to 40 years. “Philanthropy is about building relationships and about people holding the institutions or organisations or individuals they're investing in in high esteem.”
The power of storytelling
This is where, Cunningham’s role as a storyteller plays an integral part in such engagements. “There are remarkable things happening in schools and universities around the world every day of the week,” she states. “Telling these stories in a way that engage people is clearly a critical and important thing to get right.”
Cunningham continues: “The reason that investment is coming philanthropically is because those institutions are thoughtfully connecting and building a deep understanding in their community about why investing in that work is so transformational. That's why I think [philanthropy] is growing.”
If the stories and successes of these institutions are happening in a vacuum, she illustrates, then the potential to outreach and engage broadly is lost. With 70 physical programmes held annually, and another 10-15 online virtual programmes, CASE must ensure its “storytelling” is done in an impactful manner, Cunningham adds.
When Cunningham listens to stories of families whose lives have been transformed through education, teaching or research, she tells QS Insights Magazine that she feels an incredible sense of fulfilment. This passion is evident in her own words: “I spend a lot of my time working and I feel incredibly fortunate to be doing something I love very deeply,” she says with a smile. “To be able to play a tiny part in supporting institutions around the world to be successful is incredibly motivating.”
Looking to the future, Cunningham aspires to a world where education reaches everyone, regardless of financial limitations, particularly in societies that restrict women's access to secondary and higher education. She envisions a future marked by deeper understanding and connection between communities, one that respects the diverse needs of learners, moving beyond a "one-size-fits-all" approach to education.
“I look forward to seeing how future leaders and inspiring academic leaders take this whole sector to the next level,” she says. “The nature of schools, colleges and universities, many of whom have been in existence for hundreds of years, is constantly evolving and changing. And I'm confident about the solutions for the future being delivered, being transformational and their impact.”
