For most all of us, the reality is that we fall short of living out our full promise not because we fail in attempting something ambitious and important but rather because we simply get comfortable. Comfort comes in the form of familiar people, old habits, daily routines, and mindless decisions. In our fast-paced, 140-character, always…
Author: Jason McNeal
I provide leadership, advancement and fundraising consulting services to educational, healthcare, and non-profit organizations.
5 Things Effective Development Professionals Say
It’s common for board members and other volunteers (and some development professionals) to ask the question: “What is the best way to ask someone for a gift?” What they are looking for, of course, are the “magic words.” The words or phrases that, when uttered with confidence and enthusiasm, wondrously unlock a donor’s generous spirit…
Are We Really Interested In Building Relationships?
Last week our family enjoyed celebrating my wife’s birthday. She received gifts, cards, Facebook greetings, and good food over the course of a few days of celebration. She even received a handful of text and email messages. In today’s world it is simple enough for a friend or colleague to drop a quick text or…
Further Evidence on the Critical Role of Donor Engagement
In today’s development field the phrase, “donor engagement,” get tossed around like a football owned by Peyton Manning. Everyone uses it. But not many people pause long enough to provide any definitional specificity to the phrase. What do we really mean when we say we need to “engage” donors? And why is it really important…
Asking Too Early or Asking Too Late
Both are bad. But asking too early is worse. You risk injuring the relationship by signaling that you value the donor’s money more than the donor. And sometimes that is never repaired fully. When you ask too late you risk getting a smaller gift (you didn’t strike while the iron was hot). And you risk…
The Social Media Question for Development Professionals
The most often-asked question about social media is, “How can we raise more money using Facebook/Twitter/Foursquare/YouTube/etc?” But this question has it a bit backwards. The more helpful question for us to ask is, “How can we use Facebook/Twitter/Foursquare/YouTube/etc., to raise more money?” When we turn the question around, our focus becomes using social media not…
Where Is Your Strategic Focus?
Recently, I was in attendance at a higher education institution’s Board meeting and watched as an administrative leader at the institution rose to address the members of the Board. As she began her presentation on the progress to date on the institution’s Strategic Plan, she projected a huge S-W-O-T Quadrant onto a screen behind her…
Is Your Mission Worth Sacrificing For?
When talking with Board members or other major donor prospects, we often use the words, “meaningful” and “personal” when describing the characteristics of the gift commitments we would like them to consider making. But, I find fewer and fewer advancement professionals who are using the word “sacrificial” when describing the types of major gift commitments…
Time vs. Money
Many people shy away from the process of asking others for a financial gift. Interestingly, the level of trepidation usually is much lower when people are confronted with the task of asking someone to spend their time (and not their money) helping out a good cause. Based on the differential responses to these activities,…
So Who Wants Some “Cookies and Cream”?
You know, the ice cream flavor that regularly is voted as a favorite flavor of ice cream lovers everywhere. Do you know where this ice cream flavor was created? The University Dairy at South Dakota State University, in Brookings. This is only one of the fun reasons that effective advancement professionals should consider one of…