Advancement leaders tend to fall into 3 categories when it comes to their approach to Board member engagement: Keep Board members at arm’s length as much as possible because they are more nuisance than helpmate; Engage Board members as needed, primarily on their governance and fiduciary roles; Appreciate Board members and engage each in various…
Author: Jason McNeal
I provide leadership, advancement and fundraising consulting services to educational, healthcare, and non-profit organizations.
It’s Never Too Late
. . . to better engage your Board; . . . to reinvigorate your institution’s social media presence; . . . to make your direct mail solicitations more compelling; . . . to do something about climate change; . . . to get on the road and visit with donors more; . . . to…
Building Trust vs. Promising Specifics
If you ask a conference full of major gift officers how to best motivate major gifts from new donors or how best to encourage increased giving from already generous donors, a significant number likely will respond that communicating how their major gift will make an impact is the way to go. The conventional wisdom is…
Doing Less
In 1945, Pablo Picasso famously created, The Bull, a series of 11 lithographs which showed the evolution of a picture of a bull from more detailed version down to the essence of the animal. The evolution between Picasso’s first bull and the last bull in the series is striking: The first version of the bull…
The N=Me Fallacy
Here are some potentially less helpful starting points when brainstorming new advancement strategies with colleagues: “I wouldn’t go to that event . . .” “I don’t respond to direct mail . . .” “I’m not seeing that much at all on my social media . . .” There are 2 potential problems with these strategy-setting…
Jimmy Buffett Can’t Sing
Even if you aren’t a “parrothead” (the endearing term given to Jimmy Buffett’s most loyal fans), you probably know at least a few lines of a Buffett song. “Wastin’ away again in Margaritaville. . .” is a classic many recognize. If you’ve ever been to a Jimmy Buffett concert, you know that a whole lot…
“Why Should I Care?”
Everything we do in advancement should help a current, past, or prospective donor answer this question concisely and easily. “Why should I care about the campaign?” “Why should I care about the institution’s end of fiscal year?” “Why should I care about being a consecutive year donor?” “Why should I care about responding to this…
The Same River Twice
We know “we can’t step into the same river twice.” Typically, we think about the river itself changing which makes it a different river over time. However, we also change over time and so we can’t step into the same river twice as well. So many variables and complexities wrapped in this simple reminder. Why,…
The Real Reason ‘Dollars Raised’ Is A Horrible Evaluation Metric – Part 2 of 2
In part 1 of this post, I made the case that evaluating how gift officers approach their work is far more important than the outcome. That using a “dollars raised” metric as part of gift officer’s evaluation is unhelpful and unhealthy for gift officer and program development. Today, I turn attention to 3 fundamentally effective…
The Real Reason ‘Dollars Raised’ Is A Horrible Evaluation Metric – Part 1 of 2
For gift officers and development leaders there is not a more damaging, distorting, and destructive evaluation metric than ‘dollars raised.’ Yes, I’m aware that just about every gift officer and development leader uses ‘dollars raised,” as an evaluative tool today. Yes, I understand that current industry-wide thinking is that raising more money this year as…