According to Wikipedia, habits are routines of behavior that are repeated regularly and tend to occur subconsciously. An interesting point about habits, though, is that even though they may “tend to occur subconsciously,” we can develop and shape them. For instance, after my second bout with kidney stones a few years ago, I made a…
Category: Leadership
Are You Working For Your Institution? Or Is Your Institution Working Through You?
When we work for our institutions, we become restrained and captive. We begin mentally punching a time clock (even if we don’t in reality). We easily can get weary and frustrated. We can feel powerless, unappreciated, and unimportant. We may even feel defeated. It is all about us and our predicament. But when we let…
Size Matters
The size of your advancement team matters. On the positive side, there typically is a relationship between the number of team members and the amount of money raised. The more folks, the more money is raised, on average. Makes sense. But there are other issues tied to size. For instance, there is a relationship between…
Recognizing and Thanking Social Media Engagers
Your institution has recognition societies, clubs, and circles based on giving levels. You may even have a recognition group based on consecutive year giving. You probably have an annual event or two that recognizes and thanks your donors based on these groups. You also have a strong sense that the “new world order” of communication…
The Volunteer “Voice” of Your Advancement Program
Have you seen the NBC television show, “The Voice“? It’s a singing talent show of sorts with the gimmick of the old “Dating Game” – the judges can’t see the contestants. They can only hear them. The human voice – tone, tenor, quality, pitch, etc. – provides us with numerous cues about the individual. When…
3 Opportunities to Get Better At Our Work
Recognizing a need to do professional development better for advancement folk, my colleagues at Gonser Gerber recently launched a new division – the Gonser Gerber Institute. The mission of the Institute is “to make advancement professionals and teams more effective by delivering dynamic and innovative educational content.” The idea for the Institute came about because we were convinced that…
3 Keys To Receiving Ongoing Major Gifts
During campaign years institutions raise more money. The research is clear on this. A campaign focuses an institution and its donors on strategic priorities and gift income goals. During a successful campaign, the case for support is concisely articulated and the institution places an extraordinary level of energy on the discovery, cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship…
A Tale of Two Influences
Not long ago, I was in an airport looking forward to getting home after a long but productive week of client visits. It was late on a Friday night and a far away but severe weather system had wrecked havoc with the friendly skies. Although the weather at our location was perfect, a number of…
Manage The Mission, Not The People
How can you lead the members of your advancement team so that each performs even the most ordinary of tasks in extraordinary fashion? How do you motivate staff members to be the best version of themselves day-in and day-out? How do manage staff members so that they respond positively to new ideas or new strategies?…
Here’s a Resolution: Break Something Important In 2012
Forget about your stand-by New Year resolutions. As humans, we seem incredibly poor at keeping them. And, in the instances where we do keep them, they don’t seem to make much of a difference. One year rolls into another and we find that we still want to get better at our work, we want to…