From the founding of the School of Advanced International Studies until 1959, fundraising at SAIS was a decentralized process, undertaken by the dean, his administrative assistant, Priscilla Mason, and the successive chairmen of the Foreign Service Educational Foundation, Christian Herter and Paul Nitze. In 1959, Robert Hall was appointed Assistant to the Dean with responsibility for coordinating all of the School's fundraising activities, although many long-time contributors continued to carry on their correspondence with the School through Mason or Nitze. Hall's title changed twice, in 1969 to assistant to the Dean for Development, and again in 1974 to Director of Development, but his duties remained the same.

In 1980, Hall, having assumed responsibility for alumni relations, including the publication of SAISPHERE and the Alumni Directory, was given the additional title of Director of Alumni Affairs. With his retirement in 1984 however, the two offices were split, with Richard C. Ammons becoming Director of Development and Paul C. Alter assuming the title of Director of Alumni, Governmental and Public Affairs.