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Our team of experts will share their experiences, tips and viewpoints in all areas of higher education consulting, leadership, and fundraising. We're a team of tenured individuals who have made it their life’s work to help solve some of the issues surrounding community colleges today. Some of our topics include:
- How to connect and establish relationships with your alumni
- Ways to create impact with all generations of people
- How to raise more on a tight budget
- How to properly manage your reputation online
- Ways to prepare for a feasibility study
- And more!
The Negative Affect of Generational Clichés on Institutional Advancement OK, I get the cliché. I will admit that I’m of that boomer generation,…
In a world where transparency and disclosure are lauded as the answer to creating an informed citizenry, a past New York Times article…
Why are we continuing to be confronted with stories revealing the disturbing reality that certain people, owing to a particular aspect of their…
The story was hidden away in the bigger story of the typhoon that struck the Philippines. A gentleman and his family owned a…
Fundraising is an integral part of nonprofit operations, and developing a solid fundraising strategy is crucial for success. According to the Blackbaud Institute's 2017 report,…
Have you ever wondered what separates schools with seemingly inelastic enrollment numbers, from those schools that struggle to keep student numbers trending upward?…
If you are writing a grant, you probably already know that the business of getting funding is quite competitive. By observing the following…
Human psychology is the key to understanding the concept of donating, and it's also the secret to developing the persuasive prowess that promotes…
With social media coming increasingly to the forefront, LinkedIn is one network that higher education professionals should definitely be paying attention to. Not…
The recent incident at United Airlines of dragging a paying “bumped” customer off an airliner provides learning lessons for any organization that operates…
Engaging young alumni is changing as the use of technology and the behaviors of each class differs. Understanding how to engage young alumni…
What possibilities could you achieve if you knew the secret to successful higher education fundraising trends in 2017?
As we start the new semester, it’s time to look ahead to what 2017 may have in store for community college development efforts.…
There is a TV commercial that you’ve probably watched many times. It’s from an auto insurance company that presents strange accident scenarios and…
Sometimes the best laid plans go – not as planned. Having recently completed an extensive feasibility study with a large group of interviewees…
I recently was interviewed by a reporter from the Chronicle of Higher Education who was interested in learning about the challenges of in-kind…
The most fundamental cause of the loss of manufacturing jobs is not companies abandoning US manufacturing; rather it’s the growth of technology.
A recent above the fold front page story featured a newly appointed board chair of a local school board who is currently in…
We’ve run across a couple of instances lately where a college development office or college leadership team has expressed frustration with either their…
Did you hear the one about the college whose endowment pockets were so deep that its students were just a sideline and not…
Where should you look for planned gift donors? People with money, you say. That’s a good start, but you’ll need to know more…
Sometimes on the way to making the ask of the usual suspects, someone comes out of nowhere with a donation to your college.…
Mary was the subject of a caustic media blitz. As President of her college, she was a well-known and acknowledged leader in the…
Developing a successful board of directors is no small task. In my experience, many advancement officers find themselves devoting a great deal of…
Bad press is never fun and it is always a distraction. Despite the many challenges it presents, however, bad press creates a great…
Just released from the "Trends Report 2016" produced by the Chronicle of Higher Education are 10 key higher-education trends for college leaders. Among…
Pop culture advertising has given us phrases that have stood the test of time: “Where’s the beef”? “A Little Dab Will Do You,”…
We often recommend that a community college engage in a campaign about every five years. If it’s been that long since your last…
Web design is more than just color and format, it's about the user-experience and traffic generation to every page of your site.…
Here are two things you already know: Stewarding a meaningful major gift relationship is not a process that should be rushed. Many community…
Your organization doesn’t have to be a major museum, hospital or university to have a planned giving program. And a development officer doesn’t…
It’s here again—income tax season. Even if we pay accountants to attend to all the details associated with completing tax forms, computing deductions,…
In this era of workplace change, what is most important to a prospective employee? You might say salary and title but you would…
We all know how hard it is to get back to work after spending time off for the holidays. Sometimes it helps to…
Are you new to major gifts fundraising? If you are, you’re probably concerned about establishing person-to-person relationships. How do you get to know…
Can’t say that I am an expert but I do have a lot of experience conducting interviews for feasibility studies at colleges, museums…
Student protests of racial discrimination from the University of Missouri to the venerable Ivy League strongholds, Yale and Princeton, have yielded dramatic results.…
First of all a confession – I’m not an economist. But I’ve been around long enough to predict with certainty that recessions and…
Chances are your foundation and/or alumni office already publishes a printed newspaper on a regular basis. Now that you’ve done the hard part…
This morning I had the honor of partnering with Shannon Hair, VP of Advancement at Danville Community College in Virginia, to present at…
Whether you’re a university, a community college or an arts organization, your fundraising success will depend upon making a compelling case for support.…
Yogi Berra made significant contributions to baseball, humor and fundraising. Wait, fundraising? Yes, fundraising. Whether he knew it or not, Yogi gave us…
Have you ever noticed that people don’t need to be told where to go once they are on the ice at a public…
In my last post I shared a few ways in which a blog written just for your colleagues can inspire them to act…
The importance of training and inspiring Foundation Board Members, alumni and volunteers to act as ambassadors of College cannot be overstated. Often times,…
By now, we’ve all figured out that Social Media is here to stay and that it can play an important role in Community…
I am often asked, “What is a major gift? Is it $1,000 . . . $5,000 . . . $10,000?” My reply is…
One of the questions I often get when making a presentation to community college leadership or a foundation board is “why should we…
As I work with my clients in the field I often identify my role differently depending on the situation. Sometimes I’m a consultant…
Workshops and seminars offering skills in good decision making practices are springing up. In an era when anything that can go wrong likely…
It’s no secret that the Internet has given community colleges unprecedented ability to engage donors. Social media services, online fundraising strategies, crowd funding…
Much has been written about the effect globalization and technology are having on the composition of the American workforce and the knowledge and…
The efficacy of online fundraising continues to be a puzzlement. For years it has appeared that disaster relief agencies, with their urgent calls…
If you’ve ever attended a planned giving workshop, there’s a good chance you walked away with your head spinning... "NIMCRUTs! CRATs! Exotic estate…
In the April 3, 2015 edition of the Chronicle of Higher Education, a commentary entitled “Four Properties of Powerful Teachers” by Rob Jenkins…
In Part 1 of this blog series I responded to two of James LaRose’s contentions about feasibility studies being the “Crack Cocaine” of…
In the March 17th issue of the Chronicle of Philanthropy there is an article about a forthcoming book by James LaRose entitled “Re-Imagining…
Do you find yourself caught up in an endless cycle of disappointing fundraising results and Director of Development turnover? The cause could be…
“Cooper Union Inquiry Puts Nonprofits On Notice,” (New York Times, 4/10/15) is a headline that is not uncommon in today’s world. Fill in…
Fundraising is not lecturing or preaching. Nor is it a Vulcan mind meld – although I’m sure that’s been tried. Fundraising is not…