NACRO Financial Metrics Survey

As the leading organization for those working in academic corporate relations, NACRO conducts an annual survey to measure corporate investment at institutions of higher education. Developing and measuring universal metrics for our profession will help broaden understanding of the extent to which universities are engaged with the private sector, and it will provide a means of measuring the success of corporate relations programs among peer institutions. NACRO has developed our Financial Metrics Survey to develop consistency in terms of how corporate engagement is valued and managed at colleges and universities. The single metric most frequently used to evaluate corporate relationships is revenue secured.

While institutions can answer this for themselves (often restricted to organizational silos), there is no national repository for an “all sources” data set captured with clear and consistent rules. This gap creates an inability for institutions to accurately identify and compare revenue streams against peers. It is the goal of the Financial Metrics Survey to build a data set that will serve as the industry standard reference point for understanding how corporations support universities.

NACRO Financial Metrics Survey Toolkit

Co-Presidents Letter to University Leadership

Co-Presidents Letter to Members

Definitions - Document containing definitions of the various financial terms and metrics found within the survey.

Frequently Asked Questions - Frequently asked questions regarding the survey for use as needed.

Collection Tool - An Excel workbook for you to use to store data as you collect it. This is merely a tool to aid in consolidation of data collection and completion of the official Qualtrics survey - it is not being turned in.

Tutorial Video - Watch this quick three-minute video which walks you through how to take the Financial Metrics Survey.

The survey questions match those in the Collection Tool (link provided above). This survey should only be taken once you have completed as much of the Collection Tool as possible. Using the information you were able to obtain for the Collection Tool, answer as many questions as possible in the survey.  

Members who wish to view results from previous surveys, can visit our Financial Metrics Survey Results page. An Executive Summary with general data observations is available to members and non-members alike.

For questions, please contact the Tools & Analysis Subcommittee at [email protected].