Evaluating annual giving results can invite the following types of questions from annual giving directors and their supervisors: “Did our last direct mail solicitation raise as much money as last year’s?” “Is our phonathon on pace to meet our goal for dollars committed?” “What was the final giving total from our giving day?” But such…
Author: Jason McNeal
I provide leadership, advancement and fundraising consulting services to educational, healthcare, and non-profit organizations.
Allowing Others To Care
The best advancement leaders and development folk understand that inviting others to give is important, but allowing others to care is essential. As leaders, we allow others on our team to care when we encourage them to try something new and, simultaneously, eliminate the anxiety of potential failure. If the new thing doesn’t work, ask,…
Working Historically
Fifty years from now, someone may write a history of your institution and it likely will include observations about today’s advancement program successes. For instance, the history might note that, during this period, your year-over-year total giving increased significantly. It might report on the fact that your comprehensive campaign went over goal by some significant…
Making It Easy vs. Making Them Care
Making it easier for donors to give is a fantastic technical success story. In the span of 25 years we have gone from a process that has taken days (even weeks) by giving through snail mail (with actual reply envelopes, paper checks, and live stamps), to almost instantaneous one-click, electronic giving on mobile devices. There…
Our Role
Far too many of us in the advancement and development world misunderstand our role. We believe it’s to ask for money. Or, to steward donors. Or, to implement events. Or, to strengthen relationships. Or, to focus on some other technical aspect of our work. When really, we all are here to help more people believe…
They Might Be Right
During his life, Howard Baker, Jr., the longtime politician and diplomat from Tennessee, credited his father with the following quote: “You should always go through life working on the assumption that the other guy might be right.” Not only does this quote strike me as a thoughtful way to travel through life personally, but it…
“We Don’t Make Enough To Give”
Recently, I provided a keynote address to a gathering of high school presidents. During our time together, we discussed faculty and staff giving at their high schools and multiple presidents said, “We had tremendous pushback during our faculty and staff annual giving campaign, so we don’t do that anymore.” “What was the primary objection from…
In A World
In a world where you are told to “build your brand,” commit yourself to a cause instead. In a world where people are constantly busy, be productive instead. In a world where posing is applauded, work when no one is watching instead. In a world where spectacle is celebrated, create meaning instead. In a world…
Just Something Special
Go to any college or university and interview alumni who are proud of their school. “There is just something special about this place,” you will hear over and over in various forms. The reality, though, is that there isn’t that much truly special (or different) about the place. It’s an institution of higher education (like,…
Big Change
Every year, every decade, every generation brings with it societal-level questions that are complicated and unsettling legally, socially, politically, morally, and ethically. The U.S. has had to confront some of its thorniest and deeply disquieting societal issues and questions since its founding. For instance. . . From 1787 until 1865 and the passage of the…