Not long ago I had the good experience of listening to Adam Weinberg, president of Denison University address parents and families of current students. He delivered prepared remarks for about 15 minutes (no powerpoint) and he spent another 45 minutes addressing questions from the audience. Here are 3 things president Weinberg said that struck me:…
Author: Jason McNeal
I provide leadership, advancement and fundraising consulting services to educational, healthcare, and non-profit organizations.
Budget Decisions
Most advancement leaders agree: Major and principal gifts most often emerge from longer-term, trusting relationships built with donors on a foundation of personalized, face-to-face interactions. Annual giving programs are most effective when they are built on a foundation of consistent, multi-channel direct invitations to give. Special events should be few and are inefficient for fundraising….
Be The Wave
Ocean waves are constant. If you’re like me, that constancy is big part of the allure of a beach vacation. The dependability of both the visual and aural “white noise” of waves at the beach cause an immediate sense of peace and calm for me. But ocean (or Gulf) waves are more essential than providing…
Volunteers As Priceless Reviewers
If you are seeking a service, a product, or an experience, you can find an online review as quickly as you can access Google. Of course, finding online reviews quickly is not the same as trusting online reviews. In fact, it is estimated that between 30 – 50% of all online reviews are fake and…
Trust-Based Philanthropy And Who Knows Best
“Trust-based philanthropy,” is all over the business news pages these days. Essentially, in a trust-based model of giving, donors embrace three perspectives regarding their support: Unrestricted giving, when done through helpful nonprofit partners, offers the best type of philanthropic support to make a difference; Helpful nonprofit partners are those who are willing to be transparent…
Life’s Most Fundamental Lesson
“It’s not about me.” If there is a bigger lesson life’s developmental process is designed to teach us than that statement, I don’t know what it is. From infancy to childhood to adolescence to middle age to growing older, our lives are broken down into various moments and seasons of re-learning this fundamental lesson. Siblings…
The “Well Won’t Go Dry” As Long As You Do This
You’ve heard the expression in advancement and development circles, “We can’t keep going to the same donors over and over again. The well will go dry.” That’s not altogether true. But since it’s such a widely-used analogy, let’s play with it a bit. Certainly real water wells can “go dry.” So, that part is accurate….
5 Simple Steps to Raise More Money
The 5 critically-important, unvarnished, and uncomplicated steps to raising considerably more money: Start by creating an institution-wide strategic plan that invites input and perspectives from a variety of constituents. The finished plan should specifically identify key priorities your institution will pursue over the next 3-5 years and should paint an inspirational narrative of how you…
Becoming Expert vs. Becoming An Expert
Becoming expert (adjective) is different than becoming an expert (noun). The former implies a willingness to embrace a developmental journey focused on enhancing one’s experience, knowledge, skill, adroitness. The latter evokes a desire to seek a position or standing among others. Becoming an expert is an end result in which one is viewed as a…
The Future of Stewardship
In today’s advancement world, the function of “stewardship” is constrained (typically and artificially) to those activities and responses the institution makes once a gift has been made. For instance, we steward a donor through our public recognition programs and how we extend thanks based on their giving level, etc. But this constrained view of stewardship…