For those of you who practice the craft of development in the education arena, you are aware of CASE – the Council for Advancement and Support of Education. A fine and helpful organization. Because CASE conferences have been effective in disseminating good ideas and initiatives, the friendly joke within development circles in education is that…
Category: Leadership
Lack or Faith
“We don’t have the money to do that.” I hear this statement (or another variation on the theme – “we have too much on our plate already”) far too often. And it is almost never the reason why we don’t attempt a new direct mail strategy or make more visits on our most promising donors…
Is A Culture of Philanthropy Really The Goal?
A common aim – usually unwritten – of advancement professionals is to “create a culture of philanthropy” within their institutions. The typical reason for this goal stems from a sense that board members and others with high giving capacity are not responding to the institution with a matching degree of generosity. I usually hear a…
The Believe First Rule
When soliciting a major gift prospect, it is best practice to engage only volunteers who already have made their commitment. This is the “Give First Rule.” Not only is this an ethical practice, but we know that modeling the giving process encourages others to respond favorably to a gift request. Development professionals smile when they…
Dancing With the One Who Didn’t Bring You
Much research on leadership development suggests that, as an individual moves up the org chart, her work-style needs to evolve from task-orientation to relationship-orientation. Task-oriented people like to work on projects. They like jobs with deadlines. They get primary fulfillment from “checking off” their completed assignments. They measure success by “getting things done.” On the other…
Leading and Caring
One of the biggest issues facing education and philanthropic organizations today is one of talent. Attracting and retaining talented individuals, especially on the development team, is becoming more and more difficult. It is estimated that development officers are staying in their positions an average of 1.5 – 2.5 years. Understanding that quality development work is…
Looking for an Accomplice
When we ask for advice, we are usually looking for an accomplice. – Marquis de la Grange I love this quote. It can be read as manipulative, but I choose not to. And yes, “accomplice,” does convey wrongdoing of some sort. But if not taken so literally, it can be read in a way that…
Allowing Your Board to Lead
Who do you attract to your Board? “The heavy hitters,” I heard recently when I asked this question. “These are people of influence and affluence.” Great! To our Boards we attract leaders from business, the clergy, political players, and other people of social and financial importance. And then, if we aren’t careful, we take…
What Is A Gift?
We use the word everyday, but what does it mean? What, really, is a gift? Recently, Seth Godin blogging about Gifts, misunderstood, stated the following: A gift costs the giver something real. It might be cash (enough that we feel the pinch) but more likely it involves a sacrifice or a risk or an emotional…
Who’s In Your Hotel?
In the past few months, I’ve had 2 late night flights cancelled causing me to spend extra nights in cities not of my choosing. In each case, the airline provided me with a hotel voucher. As I checked into each hotel, I asked the front desk attendants if they wanted my loyalty number. It just…