In this Issue:

• Managing Up, Down, and Sideways
• Grant Writing 101: Questions to Ask Before You Write
• Take Stock of Your Stewardship Program
• Development Job Opportunities
• Welcome New Clients

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Development Job Opportunities

The Woolbright Group Job Board currently includes the following opportunities:

• Associate Director, Individual & Class Giving, Dartmouth College
• Regional Director, Eastern US, University of Michigan
• Vice President for Advancement, Culver-Stockton College
• Associate Director of Reunion Giving, Harvard Medical School
• Director of Development, Harvard Medical School
• Director of Development, (2) Harvard Medical School
• Vice President for Institute Advancement, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
• Associate Director of Annual Leadership Gifts, University at Buffalo
• Director of Foundations and Corporate Relations, Wheaton College

Recruit candidates for your organization
using the Woolbright Group Job Board.

http://www.woolbrightgroup.com/jobpostings.html

Welcome New Clients!

The Woolbright Group is pleased to welcome the following new and returning clients:

University of Rochester
YWCA of Rochester & Monroe County
Wheaton College

We are delighted to have the opportunity to work with you – thank you!

Recruit candidates for your organization using The Woolbright Group Job Board. Visit:
http://www.woolbrightgroup.net/ jobs.html

For more information on staff development assessments or customized workshops, contact The Woolbright Group at info@woolbrightgroup.com or 585.787.0325.

Managing Up, Down, and Sideways

Cynthia Woolbright, President, The Woolbright Group

A colleague recently told me that he didn’t like the politics in his organization. Another questioned her supervisor’s values. Still another complained that her boss simply did not understand how to work effectively with the president.

Unfortunately, the experiences of these three professionals are not all that unusual.  Often, when I talk with colleagues at conferences or consult with potential clients on the phone, I hear similar tales of frustration. In all of these cases, interpersonal relationships in the workplace are at the heart of the matter.

To be effective in our work, we must be effective in building relationships with our bosses, subordinates, peers, and other organizational stakeholders such as trustees, deans, and faculty. In fact, according to Dan Ciampa in “Almost Ready: How Leaders Move Up,” (Harvard Business Review, January 2005) relationship-management skills are among the qualities that differentiate good candidates for advancement from the elite candidates. In short, the ability to manage relationships, not only with those who report to us, but also with our peers and those above us, is a core career competency.

Have you mastered the art of managing up, down, and sideways? Ask yourself the following: 

• Would you like to be able to exert greater influence on your boss?
• Do you wish you enjoyed more cooperation from peers and colleagues throughout your organization?
• Do the people you supervise seem sometimes just not to ‘get’ you, your style of leadership, your goals, or your perspective? 

If you answered yes to any of the above questions, it’s time to take action.

• Establish credibility with your boss. Adapt to your supervisor’s style, strengths, and weaknesses. Demonstrate an understanding of the challenges your boss faces. 
• Develop the loyalty and support of your coworkers and subordinates. Spend time cultivating relationships with people whose cooperation is essential to your work.
• Take a broader view. Work as a “team-player” who contributes to the attainment of departmental, not just personal goals. Better yet, work with a commitment to understanding and contributing to organization-wide goals, not just departmental goals. 
• Set the example. Let your staff members and colleagues see you taking the perspective of your supervisor and investing time in developing successful working relationships with those around you.

Interested in more in-depth information on this topic? Click here to be notified of our next Woolbright Group Workshop on Managing Up, Down, and Sideways or contact us info@woolbrightgroup.com  to discuss professional coaching.

Grant Writing 101: Questions to Ask Before You Start

By Marilyn Woodman, Corporation & Foundation Relations Director, Smith College and Woolbright Group Principal

So you want to write a grant proposal to fund a “good idea” at your institution.
Stop! 

When money is dangled, it is easy to be swept up in the excitement of “winning” the grant. This enthusiasm is important, and we should take advantage of it.  However, as advancement/development officers, we need to make sure that the money will serve our institutions well and that we can spend it if our proposal is successful.

Before you even begin drafting a proposal, be sure you can answer the following questions.

• Is the “good idea” consistent with your institution’s goals?  Will the institution’s leadership support the effort?
• What are the potential funder’s goals? Do they match yours? Our proposals are much more likely to be successful if our goals match the funder’s goals. 
• What do you want to do with the money? Why is funding needed? Can you create a realistic and justifiable budget? Are these expenses reasonable and consistent with the funder’s goals?
• How will you sustain the project when the grant money runs out? Funders want to make a difference and frequently expect their monies to be used to get a good program launched with the expectation that the institution will carry it on at the end of the grant. Is your institution prepared to sustain the program? If not, are you prepared to devote the time and resources to keep the project going with soft money? 
• Who will direct the project? 
• When would the project begin?  Will the potential funder act on your proposal in time for you to meet your timetable?
• How will you measure success? Who will take responsibility for conducting this evaluation? Funders need to know that their monies have made a difference, so you must propose a method of evaluating the project. 

Of course, you may need to address other questions particular to your institution and project. However, if you can answer the basic questions outlined above before you start writing, your proposal will be stronger and your “good idea” can become an outstanding project. 

Interested in learning more about corporations and foundations? Contact The Woolbright Group at info@woolbrightgroup.com

Take Stock of Your Stewardship Program

The basics of stewardship are pretty straightforward. First, acknowledge gifts promptly and effectively. Second, recognize our donors for their generosity. Third, report to our donors both qualitative and quantitative results. How we undertake these three fundamentals of good stewardship, however, presents plenty of opportunity to be creative.  

How do your stewardship efforts compare? We recently asked colleagues at independent schools, colleges, universities, and other not-for-profits to tell us about their stewardship practices. The most common stewardship practices fell into three broad categories:

1. Annual gatherings for groups of donors

• Annual events, special receptions, leadership donor luncheons or dinners
• Scholarship/special receptions or dinners that introduce donors to the beneficiaries of their support
• Presidential weekends (small, intimate gatherings at which donors meet key leaders of the organization)

2. Events to celebrate particular donors and their contributions:

• Benefactors wall celebrations
• Dedications and chair investitures

3. Communication strategies to thank, report, and recognize donors:

• Thank-a-thons (calls of appreciation from students and volunteer leaders)
• Thank you letters, including those from students or others who have benefited from support
• Endowment reports
• Personalized letters to share news of interest and keep donors informed of progress
• Recognizing donors online

Are your stewardship efforts hitting the mark?  Ask yourself the following:

• Do you thank, thank, and thank again?  Or do some donors or gifts go unacknowledged or suffer from errors or delays in gift acknowledgements?
• Are expressing appreciation and staying accountable to donors a high priority in your organization or do stewardship activities sometimes become an afterthought? 
• Do specific, accurate, and detailed records support your stewardship efforts or do you sometimes struggle to piece together what happened after your organization received the gift?

If your stewardship program could stand improvement, consider the following:

• Establish a stewardship committee. Charging a group to oversee your efforts places a priority on high-quality, consistent stewardship.
• Schedule accountability visits with your donors to thank them and report on progress personally.
• Commission an audit of your donor relations program. Sometimes an outside perspective can help make the case for investing to improve your stewardship activities.
• Ask your donors to tell you what they think of your stewardship. Survey them to find out how they feel they are treated by your organization compared to others that they support.

To learn more on stewardship from a donor’s prospective, visit “The Ten Most Important Things that Philanthropic Officers Should Keep in Mind in Dealing with Donors,” remarks given by A. MacDonald Caputo, former Brunswick School board chair, former Deerfield Academy trustee, and current University of Virginia Trustee at a June 2004 Woolbright Group Workshop on Successful Stewardship Strategies.

Interested in a review of your donor relations & stewardship program? Or starting such a program? Contact The Woolbright Group at info@woolbrightgroup.com