If your goal is to make your advancement program more effective. If your goal is to make your program more professional. If your goal is to raise significantly more money than you’ve done previously. If your goal is to engage your volunteers in activities they’ve never done before. If your goal is to create any…
Brand tribes have been a buzz concept in marketing circles for a few years now. From a marketing perspective, tribes – or customer communities made up of like-minded people who gather together based on shared interests and brands and the values those brands project – represent an opportunity to efficiently engage and motivate a large group…
We can be convinced that the solution to our problems must be in receiving the “big gift” from our wealthiest donor prospect. Maybe for your institution that’s $25 million. Maybe it’s $10 million. Maybe its $1 million. For a time about 20 years ago, the idea of the “mega gift” and the people with the…
“We can’t get our Board/Advisory Council/Volunteer Group to focus on consistently helping us with fundraising and giving.” I hear this complaint regularly from advancement leaders. And, then, I review the previous meeting agendas for the group and find: Too much reporting from institutional leaders, instead of time for question-asking and discussion; Too much quantitative data…
Everyone expects “more.” Each year, our annual fund goal increases. Our new campaign will be the biggest ever. The goal for the number of donors next year will be more than this year’s goal. Getting to “more,” though, often means focusing on less. If our annual fund goal is increasing, who are the small subset of current…
Why are we reducing our direct mail solicitations from 4 per year to 3? Why are we no long conducting a phonathon to interactively engage donors and invite their gifts? Why are we continuing to plan for the next gala? Why are we no longer printing our magazine and only creating a digital version? Why…
This past week Jason’s Blog broke. The specifics don’t matter much (mostly because, while I’m comfortable with technology, I’m definitely not a techie and I still don’t fully understand what happened). Just that the site went down, it was not a simple issue, and I didn’t know how to fix it. So, it was time to do everyone’s favorite…
Humans are built to walk. Our walking ability not only provides us with the mobility to enjoy and govern our physical world in ways most other species can not, it also is a great form of exercise. Simply walking consistently produces a host of wonderful benefits including reducing body fat, enhancing memory, strengthening bones, lowering blood…
The economy is in recession. We’ve experienced a natural disaster. Our institution just endured a difficult leadership transition. The latest downturn in the stock markets has hit our community especially hard. What should we do now? Whenever real or perceived crises hit, it is not uncommon for advancement professionals to urgently ask this question. Too…
Gift officers are notorious for attending Prospect Management meetings and recounting the biographies and histories of the donors to which they are assigned. Over and over again, they tell the stories of what has happened in the past with that donor that sets up the potential for the next gift. What if, instead of focusing…