My father ran a small heating and air conditioning company. Summer was his busy season. When summertime heat kicks in, people will do just about anything to get relief. And if the AC isn’t working, they want it fixed. . . and fast! During the summers of my youth I went to work with my…
Author: Jason McNeal
I provide leadership, advancement and fundraising consulting services to educational, healthcare, and non-profit organizations.
Admiring The Butterfly
“We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty.” — Maya Angelou Imagine for a minute the challenge of the caterpillar. Would you allow yourself to believe you could be transformed from a multi-legged, slow moving insect into a beautiful winged flyer? In…
The 2 Questions A Leader Should Answer And The 1 A Leader Must
If you want to lead people – donors, team members, others at your institution – here are the 2 questions you should be able to answer: What are we doing? How are we going to do it? Most people can answer #1 – they know what they are doing. If you say, “what is your…
Why Better Storytelling Won’t Lead to Larger Gifts
Leaders of institutions often share with me the following general frustration about communicating with donors and prospects: “We don’t tell our story well!” When probed, one (or more) of three underlying concerns almost always surfaces: A need to articulate more clearly, concisely, and authentically the positive “facts” of how the institution impacts students, patients, the…
Clicks Don’t Equal Engagement
The 2011 donorCentrics Internet and Multichannel Giving Benchmarking Report was released last month. A lot of interesting info and findings from this research. Here are two key findings: More new donors aged 64 and younger give online as opposed to offline; With only 11% of online donors acquired in 2007 still giving in 2010, retention…
A Culture of Freedom
Yesterday, the United States observed Independence Day. This pausing in the life of the country is designed to encourage reflection and celebration of independence from oppressive rule and individual freedom. Ok, we all understand what July 4th is about. But what about your development shop? How “free” is it? Here are 3 questions to ask…
The Outcomes That Matter
Think about the following scenario: You log into your yahoo news page and click on a story about someone who has just lost their home. The story is a vivid, personal account of a hardworking woman who lost her good-paying job in the economic downturn and, after 9 months of no job, ended up taking…
The Fives Things Department Chairs Need to Know About Fundraising
If you serve an academic institution, check out my recent interview with Academic Impressions’ Higher Ed Impact. I’m discussing the five most important things department chairs need to know about development work. This is a follow-up to an interview I gave them last year. Development is about education. Sometimes we educate donors, other times we…
Calling All Advancement Leaders
Are you an advancement leader at your institution? Do you aspire to move up and become an advancement leader? If so, you will want to attend this upcoming workshop – Leading To Make A Difference. The Workshop is sponsored by GGTS and I’m serving as the keynote speaker. You will want to attend if: You’ve…
Trusting Donors
In development circles we don’t talk much about trust. We when talk about donors we focus on words like “asking,” “strategies,” “engagement,” or “building relationships” (which, oddly, never seems to involve the concept of trust). But we don’t regularly focus on the need for trust. There are few, if any, conferences focused on “building…