How Can We Think About Raising Money in a Time Like This?

by Barbara Barron | Posted April 6th, 2020 If ever there was a topic that seems nearly too hot to handle, it’s the notion of raising money right now. Is it unseemly? Inappropriate? Insensitive? Too soon? Certainly the prevailing feeling (last week, anyway!) is that it is too early for schools to do anything other than batten down the hatches, …

How Can We Practice Stewardship During the Coronavirus Shutdown?

by Barbara Barron | Posted March 18th, 2020 We’re only in the first few days of this shutdown and our “new normal”. Whether we are all back in school after April 7 is still a question. All my client schools have postponed or canceled their spring fundraising events and have suspended any annual giving activity. The few still engaged in …

Is There a Role for Advancement During a Crisis?

by Barbara Barron | Posted March 4th, 2020 This week, due to the Coronavirus outbreak, my inbox is full of conversation threads about whether schools are thinking about canceling their spring galas. Or if travel to conferences and other major events ought to be rescheduled. Even when and if School Heads will decide to close the school and arrange to …

What Are the Dangers of Having an Angel Donor?

by Barbara Barron | Posted on February 12th, 2020 Are there downsides to having a donor (or two or three) who effectively secures our entire Annual Fund campaign each year? Or who provides most of our capital campaign (or major gifts program) giving?  Does posing this question make me sound insane? I mean, why would we not want to have …

How Can You Know if Your School is Prepared for a Capital Campaign?

by Barbara Barron | Posted January 7th, 2020 There is a very good reason that schools and other organizations only endeavor to launch a capital campaign every five to ten years. Capital campaigns are big and hard and scary. While they have the power and potential to transform an organization and its program, helping to better deliver on the promise …

What Should We Do When We Make a Donor Angry?

by Barbara Barron | Posted September 6th, 2019 Imagine what goes on in the mind of a donor when he decides to make a big gift to your school… Something got him amped up – maybe attending an event or reading about a recent accomplishment. Sometimes we know the moment that ignited this generous impulse because we ourselves created it. …

How Do We Get a 100% Return On Our Annual Fund Appeal Letters?

by Barbara Barron | Posted August 14th, 2019 True success story: a client reported back to me on a pretty far out-there strategy we had developed last summer for their Annual Fund approach to returning parents. Would you believe me if I told you that she is seeing almost 100% return? That nearly every family is increasing its giving substantially, …

How Do We Create Word-of-Mouth Buzz With Our Donors?

by Barbara Barron | Posted May 8th, 2019 You’ve no doubt heard the story: the little boy who left his cherished stuffed giraffe Joshie behind at a Ritz Carleton hotel. The child is distraught, naturally. So the father defaults to his go-to tactic: he tells a white lie. He assures his son is that Joshie is fine and just decided …

How Can We Train Volunteers To Be Superstars For Our Campaigns?

by Barbara Barron | Posted April 10th, 2019 I’m a big believer in training. And practice. I’ve written before about the importance of practicing how to ask for support. How we need to strike the right balance between being sharp and focused in our approach, but also relaxed and confident. And how that balance is best achieved by doing it, …

How Do We Become Schools That Truly Value Teachers?

by Barbara Barron | Posted March 13th, 2019 With huge gratitude to the brilliant mind of Gordon MacKenzie and re-reading his astonishingly smart and creative book “Orbiting the Giant Hairball”, I’ve been moved to write about our typical organizational charts and how we might think about them in a very different, and perhaps better, way. Most schools operate within a …