Dear Board Member: I am back in my office having just completed our most recent Board meeting. As I reflect on our work together in support of our institution’s mission and vision, a number of thoughts are occurring to me. The most important of these thoughts, I believe, involve offering my sincere thanks and an…
Author: Jason McNeal
I provide leadership, advancement and fundraising consulting services to educational, healthcare, and non-profit organizations.
The Tyranny of Knowing
What do you know about your work? I mean, really know? The reality is that we all believe we know a lot more than we actually do. In fact, in all facets of life, we walk through situations believing we have more knowledge than we do. It’s part of being human. Each day our brains…
Making the Invitation
If there is one word in our work that captures people’s imagination and interest more than, “asking,” I don’t know what it is. Gift officers are conditioned to talk unremittingly about “making the ask,” presidents and CEOs wonder if they are “asking” enough and for enough, Board members want the development team to “ask” more,…
Do Not Solicit
Recently, I was with a client and we stumbled upon my donor record in their database. “Do Not Solicit,” it read. “That’s interesting,” I observed. “Why would you have me classified as a “do not solicit?” “Well,” came the response, “we didn’t want you to receive all our phonathon calls and direct mail solicitations. ….
Guilt or Grace
Which culture characteristic animates your advancement team’s efforts? While there are a number of ways to assess team culture, assessing your team’s placement on the “Guilt or Grace Continuum” can lead to helpful understandings. In the Guilt Culture, the fundamental assumption is that an organization gets better when problems or gaps in performance are identified…
3 Differences Between Nonprofit and For-Profit Boards
Nonprofit organizations, including colleges, universities, and schools, seek financially-successful, influential, and generous individuals to serve as governing board members. In seeking individuals who fit this profile, nonprofits will regularly pull from a pool of successful for-profit leaders. Not only do many leaders in the for-profit world have access to significant financial resources, they also can…
Getting Ready. . . To Ask – A Professional Development Opportunity
There are two questions consistently asked by serious advancement professionals: “How can our institution get better prepared for our next campaign?” and “How can I get better at asking for major gifts?” These questions, of course, are linked. Consistently soliciting gifts effectively will help ensure that an institution is well-prepared for a campaign. However, there…
What Are You More Afraid Of?
Setting goals and not meeting them OR Realizing that your work isn’t important; Not knowing the right answer OR Not knowing the best questions to ask; Feeling as though you have failed OR Feeling as though you didn’t try hard enough; Being made fun of OR Being unable to make a significant difference; Giving your…
“This Needs To Be Run More Like A Business!”
Recently, I facilitated a focus group populated with private higher education governing board members. One slice of the discussion included a board member lamenting, “Our business model in higher education is broken. I simply do not understand why our tuition and fees are not sufficient to cover our costs. We need to be run more…
Fundraising Is Not A Commodity
A lot of the services we experience from businesses today are commodified. For instance, there are 3 “legacy” airlines now – United, American, and Delta. While each has its own strengths (United has the best mobile app., Delta still serves the best free snacks on flights, etc.), the overall experience of air travel has been…