As the first day of the new year dawns, there are fact-based reasons to hope that: The COVID-19 pandemic devolves into an endemic virus with seasonal surges like the common cold or influenza. The long-studied MRNA vaccine technology will help end so many chronic diseases such as HIV and many cancers. The record-setting $471.44 billion…
Author: Jason McNeal
I provide leadership, advancement and fundraising consulting services to educational, healthcare, and non-profit organizations.
Invited To The Dance
Being invited to the dance is not the same as being invited to dance. But we often treat them similarly. For instance, we may wonder why an alumni event (either in-person or virtual) doesn’t draw as many people as we had hoped. “They were invited to the event,” we grouse. Or, we might question why…
The Leadership Choice
It’s easy to wait for direction. It’s easy to stay quiet. It’s easy to receive the gift. It’s easy to avoid responsibility. Much harder, it seems, to go on the record. To offer something of value – a solution, a strategy, a proposal, or an approach. To be proactive. To show initiative. Because in that…
Now What?
In the U.S. yesterday Thanksgiving was celebrated. Most people paused the routines of regular life to reflect on their good fortunes, to express appreciation and show gratitude, and generally, to give thanks. Now what? For most, it’s back to routines. Or, for others, it’s on to Black Friday, the official start of the holiday shopping…
5 Advancement Lessons from the Olympics
With the 2021 Summer Olympics concluded, here are 5 lessons the Games can teach (or remind) advancement leaders: The Outcome May Be A Story, But Not The Only Story– On Saturday, Kenya’s Eliud Kipchoge won the men’s marathon in dominant fashion, making him the second oldest winner and only the third to win multiple gold…
Building a Bird Nest
It takes birds – depending on species, materials used, construction type, etc. – between 2 days and 2 weeks to construct a nest. Most people, though, don’t pay much attention to the nest building process. Instead, we walk by a tree in our yard or in the park and are surprised when we find a…
Believing and Knowing
That beliefs drive human decision-making has never been evidenced any more dramatically than we currently are witnessing in the United States – and elsewhere around the world – with respect to COVID-19 vaccine uptake. Reading stories about people who would rather be hospitalized (or worse) than receive a vaccine suggests that something different than knowledge…
Answering A Different Question
In major gift philanthropy, we regularly talk about “helping donors align their values with their giving,” or “aligning our funding priorities with the donor’s values.” We regularly say we are striving to get to know our donors deeply and to engage them personally. These types of major gift donor engagement axioms are now ubiquitous in…
On Curiosity
In general, folks can be curious in 3 ways: Curious about things; Curious about ideas; Curious about people. Typically, we all fall somewhere on the spectrum for each of these classifications. But, the most effective advancement pros lean heavily into the 3rd. (As an aside, some people are not curious about any of the 3…
What’s Their Story?
Too often gift officers focus on the donor and miss the human being. Donors are conduits for gifts. Donors are assets to be managed. Donors are, God-forbid, “giving units.” Human beings, on the other hand, are holistic. They are complex and nuanced. They are souls with lived experiences and stories. When a gift officer shares…