I visit with many college and university presidents, nonprofit executives, and other leaders. When I ask, “so, how are things right now?” I often get one of two types of answers: A reflective, introspective response focused on what is happening within the institution. How things are progressing with the leadership team, for instance. Or, how…
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“I need better data,” is the response we often hear (and sometimes give ourselves) when we are uncomfortable with a next step. Consider: “I need more data before I know how much to invite him to give. . .” “I need better data before we can run an accurate list of donors who gave at…
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Gonser Gerber LLP, advancement and leadership consultants, announces the appointment of Dr. Tyson Pinion as a Senior Consultant. As a member of the Gonser Gerber team of consultants, Pinion will provide counsel to educational, healthcare, and other nonprofit organizations in the areas of building effective advancement programs and comprehensive campaigns, board development, enrollment management, integrated…
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You delivered a well-crafted major gift proposal to current generous givers. This particular donor couple has been close to your institution for years and made one of the larger gifts to your last major campaign. Based on your recent visits and discussions with them, you know the gift amount proposed was in the ballpark (it…
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What are you trying to accomplish? Increase your donor base OR Increase your dollars raised? Enhance the number of people you serve from your community OR Enhance the sense of community among the people you serve? Raise more annual fund money OR Raise more money through annual giving? Get more people to respond to your appeal OR Get more people to experience the…
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Multi-year, comprehensive campaigns have lots of moving parts and many engaged parties. There are many ways that campaigns can be successful (and, also, many ways they can fail). But, as with most things on which human cooperation depends, successful campaigns require effective leadership. Specifically, there are 3 campaign decisions only leaders can (and should) make. …
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Some people work in the future. The next donor visit. The next gift. The next goal. The benefits of this approach are that the future is almost always perceived to be better and some sort of progress almost always occurs. The downsides with this approach are that others may not feel important to us and…
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In the for-profit world, scale matters. If 100 widgets cost me $100 to produce, then 1,000 may only cost me a bit more, perhaps $200, to produce. If I sell my widgets at a local famer’s market, I can sell maybe 10 on a Saturday morning. If I utilize the web to sell my widgets,…
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Advancement leaders sometimes find themselves awkwardly positioned with donors. On the one hand, the donor and advancement leader may have a warm, friendly, and comfortable relationship. They genuinely may enjoy spending time with each other. Social scientists call these types of relationships, affiliative. On the other hand, the advancement leader understands that the donor relationship…
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For a vast number of nonprofits, there is a single, simple adjustment that could be made which would radically change how much is received through charitable giving. . . they could invite more gifts from their donors. Just ask more. That’s it. It’s not a difficult concept to grasp. It’s been backed up by research…
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