A vice president for advancement and a president recently were on a solicitation visit with a donor. The president is new to his position (less than a year) and the donor is a long-time supporter of this institution and is a major philanthropist in the region. The vp and president were there to ask for…
Author: Jason McNeal
I provide leadership, advancement and fundraising consulting services to educational, healthcare, and non-profit organizations.
Do You Believe In The Benefits of Giving?
Here’s a simple “what’s really important” check for you today: Do you believe that giving is an important component of a healthy life? Do you believe that giving stimulates our brains in much the same ways that food and sex do? Do you believe that giving reduces chronic pain? Do you believe that giving lowers…
The 3 Key Levers to Raising More Money
You will recall your days in elementary school when you first learned about the power of the lever and the fulcrum. This tool shows us that putting our emphasis on simple, well-positioned components can have huge effects. The Greek scientist, Archimedes is noted to have said, “Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum…
How Do Your Donors Learn?
I like books. I have a Kindle. But I prefer books. And not because I’m a bookophile who craves the smell and texture of books. And not because I like to have books as intellectual souvenirs as Seth Godin describes. No, I like books because I learn better from them. I have read a number…
The Metrics of Perfection
How do you measure success? More importantly, how do you view success? By this, I mean, how do you think about what success looks like for your advancement team? For many institutions, an answer might be, “if we raise $(fill in the blank) million next year we will be successful.” Or, “if we grow our…
How Volunteers Can Help You Shave Better
I have found that development volunteers typically fall into 1 of 3 categories – Latherers, Raisers, and After-Shavers. 1. Latherers – these are the volunteers who enjoy encouraging prospects to give or get involved. I once had a college roommate who could get a party together within a few hours by calling all of our…
The 5 Years Before You Raise Serious Money
Here’s an enlightening exercise: Go through your database and identify your current donors who have made leadership-level annual gifts, current major gifts, and planned gift commitments. Next, do the following: For those donors who have made leadership-level annual gifts (whatever the amount as defined by your institution), determine the average age at which they made…
Is “Hard Data” The Best Way to Make Your Case?
In building a case for support for our institutions, advancement professionals typically rely on one of two approaches: a fact-based, quantitative, logical approach, or a story-based, qualitative, anecdotal approach. Depending on the predilection of the author of the message, a reader or listener quickly can see a fondness for one approach over the other. If…
Interruption or Opportunity?
True story. Yesterday, a major gifts officer at one of my clients received a call from the President’s office. Seemed the executive assistant had a man on hold who wanted to talk with someone about making a gift. The MGO took the call. Here’s what happened next. The man on the other end of the…
How Do You Respond When A Mistake Is Made With A Donor?
The gorgeously designed and perfectly-bound printed annual report was just mailed. It was a master-piece. It was a work of art. The VP’s pride directed him to fan out 5 copies of it on his coffee table in his office. And then his phone rang. It was Mrs. Donald, the lead gift donor during their…