If you still believe “raising money” is the goal, you’ve missed the point. The point is to educate people regarding a meaningful need, share with them the benefits and the joys of acting generously, and invite them into partnership to help address the need. The money is just a happy byproduct of that work. If…
Author: Jason McNeal
I provide leadership, advancement and fundraising consulting services to educational, healthcare, and non-profit organizations.
The “Move” Metric Makes A Comeback
“Donor visits” have been a cornerstone performance metric for most all gift officer evaluations. But, instead of advancement leaders communicating clearly that donor visits were only a proxy for donor engagement – that the visit only represented potential evidence of donor engagement – the donor visit itself became donor engagement. Sure, many performance metrics systems…
The 3 Most Important Questions to Ask Before Hiring an Advancement Consultant
If you Google, “questions to ask before hiring a campaign consultant” (or something similar), you will no doubt wade through an almost-endless supply of results which purport to provide you with the keys to asking the most salient questions of potential consultants. There are tons of numbered lists – “the 10 questions every consultant should…
Permission-Based Relationships
If you are not asking your constituents what channels they wish to receive different types of communications, you are wasting a ton of time, financial resources, and energy. If you are not asking your major gift donors when they might be open to discussing their next significant investment in your mission before inviting them to…
More Diversity
We know that the more biological diversity (at the species level, the genetic level, and ecological level), the more natural sustainability and productivity for all life forms. We know that the more investment diversity in our retirement accounts, the more opportunity for higher returns with less risk. We know that the more gender diversity on…
“How Do You Know. . .?”
When it comes right down to it, you are, at heart and in practice, an educator. You educate donors regarding the needs of those you serve and how your institution can better fulfill those needs with the help of their support. You educate new donors or “not yet” donor prospects on why their consistent, year-in-year-out…
Squirrels, Doritos, Social Media, and Leadership
Our family dog, Mamie, a shepherd-mixed rescue, loves chasing squirrels. It’s her natural instinct – her prey drive. If she sees a squirrel outside, she is immediately ready to hunt. She has learned to relate the animal with the word, “squirrel,” and, so, if you so much as whisper the word to her, she’s ready…
Territoriality And Raising Money While You Sleep
There is a characteristic that most financially successful people share: They make money while they sleep. This characteristic refers to the fact that financially successful folks have figured out a way to extend their ability to make money beyond their own efforts. They have saved and invested their capital in ways that earns them…
The Outcomes We Predict
In his thoroughly-researched 2018 book, Endure: Mind, Body, and the Curiously Elastic Limits of Human Performance, “running science geek,” Alex Hutchinson, makes a compelling and fascinating argument. Gathering together decades of research from various fields, he argues that the limits of human endurance in activities such as running, cycling, swimming, hiking, etc., can only be…
Winning Donor Engagement Beyond The Pandemic
Donor engagement will be different for a long while – perhaps forever – even after a vaccine for COVID-19 is in place and distributed widely. The ways in which we engage or involve donors will change because of the reduction of in-person opportunities, events, and activities. Additionally, a change in our approach to donor engagement…