Perspectives

Stewarding donors is a vital and indispensable in ensuring retention and continued loyalty – not to mention creating opportunities to deepen your donor relationships. As defined in Merriam Webster dictionary, stewardship is the conducting, supervising, or managing of something, especially the careful and responsible management of something entrusted to one's care. For us in advancement, our…

By Cynthia Woolbright Bringing new trustees on board offers great and unique opportunities to inspire and engage them in your work. Let’s begin with some assumptions on how and why individuals were asked to join the Board of Trustees, based on the Governance Committee research and assistance, such as: building a pipeline for new and future trustees; identifying and confirming the talent, skills…

By Cynthia Woolbright A follow up to Part 1 of Best Practices for On-Boarding New Trustees Bringing new trustees on board offers great and unique opportunities to inspire and engage them in your work. New members should meet individually with the President and senior officers as a part of the on-boarding process. You might arrange a group meeting, with individual officers meeting with the trustees…

Diversity and inclusion is all about building community, appreciating differences and building empathetic leaders. Learn more from Kelly Gagan, Vice President of Advancement of Nazareth College in Rochester, NY.

Join Kelly Gagan, Vice President of Advancement at Nazareth College in Rochester, NY to learn more about her leadership philosophy including the critical importance of communication, empathy, listening and leading from behind.

By Cynthia Woolbright Your next major donor is likely already supporting your organization and, perhaps, is even engaged at some level. Learn how to inspire, teach, and engage donors to a major gift. The number one reason why donors give? They believe in the mission. The number one thing donors want to know after making their gift? That their gift was received. With these truths, what might be…

By Cynthia Woolbright Last week, you met Penelope and learned how her gift officer started to deepen her inspiration, learned about her interests and engaged her in the university’s work. Now, let’s learn what they did next. Ask Her to Make A Gift In due time, the dean of the St. Jude’s research in children’s cancer and the dean at your university agree that a proposal should be discussed…

By Dawn Borgeest What donors find important when being thanked for their gift. The five P’s of memorable and meaningful thank you notes. We all know the importance of thanking donors for their support. But how do we make it meaningful and memorable? How do we do it in a way that reflects our gratitude and deepens our relationship with the donor? To help answer that question, I fielded an…

by Cynthia Woolbright The face of philanthropy is changing. Women give and give generously, but only to those organizations that earn their support. The face of philanthropy is changing. At the Forbes Philanthropy Forum in May 2018, there was near parity between female and male participants, noted Forbes contributor Bonnie Chiu. With the rise of female philanthropists, there will be more…

by Cynthia Woolbright People leave their boss, not the institution. Be prepared to hire the right boss. Based upon his research in leadership, Michael Watkins, associate professor of business administration at Harvard Business School, cautions, “the root cause of transition failure always lies in a pernicious interaction between the situation, with its opportunities and pitfalls, and the…

by Cynthia Woolbright While incremental changes on boards are occurring at our colleges and universities, we are still woefully short from true diversity on our boards. The Association of Governing Board, in its Report on Consequential Boards (2014), recommended that “boards must improve their own capacity and functionality through increased attention to the qualifications and recruitment of…

by Cynthia Woolbright Imagine the incredible things your team can accomplish when they demonstrate World Cup worthy values. Here are five values that might just inspire your team. The USA Women’s Soccer Team kicked the summer off by igniting record-breaking levels of enthusiasm and interest in the World Cup 2019 games. As I followed their award-winning journey, I was taken with the attributes…

James Husson (Boston College) spoke with us about best practices for working with Board advancement committees.

by Cynthia Woolbright In the article entitled, Turning Potential into Success: The Missing Link in Leadership Development, (Harvard Business Review, November-December 2017) senior leadership at the global executive search firm Egon Zehnder cites research conducted by the Corporate Executive Board (CEB) that found, “Sixty-six percent of companies invest in programs that aim to identify…

The homepage of Lynne Wester’s website cites an alarming statistic: “…the current first-time donor retention rate is 22%.” That statement should strike fear in the hearts of fundraisers everywhere. She goes on to point out that the cost of recruiting a new donor is seven times more than the cost to retain one. Lynne Wester: "Fundraisers are faced with a major problem regarding the…

Perhaps the quintessential characteristic of a fundraising professional is the conviction that he or she has the great fortune to be able to offer donors a surfeit of wonderful opportunities for investment in an outstanding mission. This attribute certainly applies to Pat Campolieta, one of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s talented principal gift officers. “One of the many benefits of…