Publications

Position Paper

Elevating Corporate Relations through Institutional Commitment is NACRO's first position paper, written in 2016 by members of the Benchmarking Committee. The paper was prompted by discussions regarding the commitment needed to facilitate effective corporate engagement.

Research Reports

Industry Perspectives on Academic Corporate Relations is NACRO's first research report. For this first report, 149 academic relations specialists representing nearly two dozen industry sectors were surveyed to investigate the corporate perspective on university engagement. The results of the survey were analyzed to identify actionable opportunities for academic institutions to improve their relationships with corporate partners. Questions such as “How does industry decide which universities to partner with?” and “How does industry evaluate its academic partnerships?” are addressed. The report includes best practices, industry priorities and partnership trends, as well as incorporating the full set of survey responses.

Industry Survey Report Update is a follow-up to NACRO’s 2019 research report “Industry Perspectives on Academic Corporate Relations.” To inform this update, NACRO collected survey responses from over a dozen industry sectors in Q4 of 2021 and Q1 of 2022. A total of 102 respondents from university relations, human resources, research & product development, talent acquisition, and more completed this survey.

White Papers

CORPORATE RELATIONS REIMAGINED: How Academic Institutions Can Build Sustainable Industry Partnerships (2025) illustrates how successful corporate relations programs in higher education require a strategic, institution-wide approach that fosters long-term, mutually beneficial partnerships with industry.

Adapt-Migrate-Perish: EXPLORING A NEW VALUE PROPOSITION FOR CFR offers a fresh look at the changing role of CFR professionals and how we can better articulate the unique ways we "lead from the middle" to accomplish our institutions' top priorities.

Engagement of Academic Corporate Relations Officers in University-Industry Centers of Research Excellence describes a typical Center development cycle, including the five main stages, and examines the role the CR professional in the Development Cycle of sustainable Centers of Research Excellence.

Metrics for a Successful Twenty-First Century Academic Corporate Relations Program provides engagement process models, frameworks and tools for assessment of CR programs, and more.

Corporations no longer consider themselves ‘donors’ to academia; they consider themselves ‘investors. Read about this in the Five Essential Elements of a Successful Twenty-First Century University Corporate Relations Program. A PowerPoint presentation developed as part of this white paper can be found here.

Additional Member Resources

Results from our Annual Member Survey, including the Salary Survey Interactive Tool are available to current NACRO members. Login to access these resources and additional member only Publications and Resources.

Questions?

Looking for something else or have questions about the items listed above? Please contact us at info@nacro.org.