“The culture and history of our Board has never been to raise big dollars.” “Our endowment needs to be twice what it is currently, and we just don’t have the donors for that.” “We are in year 4 of our 5-year campaign and we still have 30% of the money to raise. We’ll never get…
Author: Jason McNeal
I provide leadership, advancement and fundraising consulting services to educational, healthcare, and non-profit organizations.
The Human Storyline
Advancement professionals regularly are looking for ways to “better tell our institution’s story.” I have written in the past about how better storytelling alone won’t lead to larger gifts. Instead, I’ve suggested that the concept of story-listening is a much better way to go about attracting larger gifts. It is the donor’s story that is…
A Report on Reports
Bruce Cameron is credited with the quote, “Not everything that can be counted counts. And not everything that counts can be counted.” In the world of measuring and evaluating development officer performance, we have many variables which we could employ to judge effectiveness. But just because we can track something and report it, doesn’t mean that we…
Bringing Your Umbrella
There is a often-told story about the distinction between activity and belief: “A rural church in the middle of farming country had a special service to pray for rain. A drought had hit the area hard and the farmers and community were suffering financially and spiritually. Many people came to the service to pray and,…
Reason and Relationship
Effective development officers are said to blend science with art. While it sounds nice and is easy to say, I have never really found the “science and art” phrase to be overly helpful in explaining our work. Here’s why: Being an scientist and an accomplished artist can occur from individual effort – I can…
The Bad Recordings In Your Head
Recently, I visited with one of our newest consultants at Gonser Gerber, Robert Driver. Robert has a long history of both healthcare and higher education experience in development and he made an interesting point as we were talking about how we can help development leaders become more effective. He said: “I think a lot of…
Mission, Vision, and Strategic Plans – A Golf Analogy
You know that mission, vision, and strategic planning are key components to raising serious money. But it’s not always easy to articulate clear definitions for each. To help us more clearly define and understand mission, vision, and strategic planning I like using a golf analogy. Imagine you have just stepped into the tee-box and are getting yourself ready…
The 5 Be’s of Better Leadership
Many have the mistaken belief that leaders should “do” more. But the opposite actually is true: Leaders should “be” more. 1. Be reflective. Slow down. If you find yourself regularly thinking, “I just don’t have time,” you are most likely focused on doing more as opposed to being more. Schedule time away from the hustle…
The ROIs of Advisory Boards
If your institution is like most, members of your advancement team help to plan, implement, and engage an advisory board of some sort. Perhaps it is an alumni board, a parents’ council, an programmatic advisory board, or an institution-wide advisory board. Whatever the form, these groups take valuable time, energy, and resources from the staff…
Responsibility and Accountability
The good leader is not responsible for everything that happens. She encourages and directs team members so that they grow into the best, most effective versions of themselves. She engages volunteers so that their passions are realized through their efforts on behalf of the institution. She manages those to whom she reports so that they…