Some advancement professionals focus on the work. For instance: generating the segmented distribution list for the next direct mail solicitation, or designing the invitation for the annual donor recognition dinner, or reviewing the latest wealth indicator scores for the upcoming prospect management meeting, or creating the agenda for the next Board Advancement Committee meeting, or…
Category: Leadership
Taking The Time
In the days before omnipresent and mobile internet devices, I once sat in a 100-person theatre-style classroom at Harvard University’s Management Development Program and watched in awe as a master-teacher recognized each student by name and by job-title. This faculty member had never been with our group previously and, yet, knew almost everyone’s particulars. A…
Initial Expectations
Humans are exceptionally artful when it comes to providing reasons for not behaving in ways that are in their long-term interests. For instance, ask people why they don’t eat more healthily, exercise more consistently, or save more for retirement, etc., and you’re likely to end up with a whole host of detailed reasons why, for…
5 Lessons for Post-Pandemic Fundraising
Here are 5 lessons the pandemic has taught us about fundraising: If your goal is to engage donors well, you should spend far more time asking about and learning from them than you do sharing your case for support; The narratives of how your institution impacts those you serve – i.e., your mission – are…
Let’s Hope
As the first day of the new year dawns, there are fact-based reasons to hope that: The COVID-19 pandemic devolves into an endemic virus with seasonal surges like the common cold or influenza. The long-studied MRNA vaccine technology will help end so many chronic diseases such as HIV and many cancers. The record-setting $471.44 billion…
The Leadership Choice
It’s easy to wait for direction. It’s easy to stay quiet. It’s easy to receive the gift. It’s easy to avoid responsibility. Much harder, it seems, to go on the record. To offer something of value – a solution, a strategy, a proposal, or an approach. To be proactive. To show initiative. Because in that…
5 Advancement Lessons from the Olympics
With the 2021 Summer Olympics concluded, here are 5 lessons the Games can teach (or remind) advancement leaders: The Outcome May Be A Story, But Not The Only Story– On Saturday, Kenya’s Eliud Kipchoge won the men’s marathon in dominant fashion, making him the second oldest winner and only the third to win multiple gold…
Building a Bird Nest
It takes birds – depending on species, materials used, construction type, etc. – between 2 days and 2 weeks to construct a nest. Most people, though, don’t pay much attention to the nest building process. Instead, we walk by a tree in our yard or in the park and are surprised when we find a…
Answering A Different Question
In major gift philanthropy, we regularly talk about “helping donors align their values with their giving,” or “aligning our funding priorities with the donor’s values.” We regularly say we are striving to get to know our donors deeply and to engage them personally. These types of major gift donor engagement axioms are now ubiquitous in…
On Curiosity
In general, folks can be curious in 3 ways: Curious about things; Curious about ideas; Curious about people. Typically, we all fall somewhere on the spectrum for each of these classifications. But, the most effective advancement pros lean heavily into the 3rd. (As an aside, some people are not curious about any of the 3…