by Barbara Barron | Posted May 3rd, 2023 | Subscribe to this newsletter

As all of my readers know, I deeply value and respect my colleagues in advancement. I am one of you. I’ve done the work like you. I’ve walked in your shoes. I’ve written extensively on the valuable roles we can play when we are allowed.

I’ve talked about the pressures, lauded the one-woman office, and offered advice for how Heads and Boards can help us do our jobs and bring about collective success.

Sometimes, no matter how hard we work, how positive our attitudes, how determined (doggedly?) we push through, we come to the end of our rope.

This has happened to me.

I suspect it has happened to you.

We get to the place where we know it’s simply time to move on. And that’s ok. 

Often, a terrific opportunity finds us. We simply can’t resist the chance to run a bigger program, or a smaller, more intentional one. To move or stretch or make more money. All legit. But when we go, it’s disruptive. Even chaotic. 

Is there a way we can make it less so?  What about succession planning for our roles? 

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Some Troubling Statistics

A problem in most small nonprofit organizations, and in particular independent schools, is that succession planning for even the Executive Director or Head of School is neglected. A recent study revealed that:

Few nonprofit organizations admitted they were prepared for what may be a massive transition of leaders from their roles. 27% of those nonprofit organizations surveyed have a written succession plan. Only 17% of smaller nonprofits (under $1M) have a plan.

Source: https://www.einnews.com/pr_news/553396839/80-of-survey-respondents-indicate-they-don-t-have-a-formal-talent-retention-strategy

Wow.

If your school doesn’t have a plan for the transition, sudden or well-planned, of your Head, it stands to reason that there is no plan for your departure, sudden or otherwise. And unlike Heads, who typically provide 12-24 months (in the well-planned scenario) of advanced notice, most advancement directors give far less. Unless you are retiring, you are unlikely to know a year out about a change because either you aren’t currently looking, or that irresistible opportunity hasn’t come to you (yet).

I have several current and former client schools with Directors of Advancement serving in their role — at that school — for more than a decade. Some more than 20 years. They’ve “outlived” Heads, many Board chairs, and countless key leaders and colleagues. The level of institutional knowledge they hold, and the deep and long-standing relationships they have built and enjoy with donors, faculty, and students is deep and vast. After putting in so much time, there is simply too much that lives exclusively in their heads–beyond a well-kept database. (I still recall the way every Board chair I have ever worked with takes their coffee. Ok, that’s not essential information and I frankly wish I could off-load it and make space but it’s there. How about you?)

More stunning news. Another study reveals an “alarming” trend on the horizon for nonprofit organizations around the U.S:

“… 45% of responding nonprofit employees indicated that they will seek new or different employment in the next five years. Of that group, 23% said that nonprofits would not be among the types of organizations they intend to pursue.”

Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/chrisstrub/2020/02/10/nonprofithr/?sh=f0 be44c15caf

Ouch. If the research is to be believed, and close to half of our leaders are going to leave their jobs in the near term, and virtually no organization has a succession plan for their top leaders, never mind our positions, we clearly have a ticking time bomb here.

Five Suggestions for How to Not Make a Mess When You Leave

I’ve written about this problem and some of the ways we might be able to hang onto great advancement people, a bit longer. But once they choose to go, now we have a succession problem.

What can we do to reduce the chance that we’ll leave a giant hole in our program? How can we ensure that a process is laid out in advance so that in the event of our departure, sudden or planned, we haven’t created a mess that our colleagues, Heads, and successors will have to clean up? 

Here are some suggestions. My thanks to Mandy Pearce at Funding For Good, for her eye-opening and informative webinar, Succession Planning: Strategies That Work.

1. Raise the subject. Even if you have no current plans to move, you’re doing a real solid if you discuss this subject with your Head of School. The best time to plant a tree was yesterday, right? Have the first of a series of constructive conversations while there is still plenty of time, and no one is in a panic.

2. Ask smart questions. Here are some to start with:

– What can we do over the coming six months to prepare for an efficient leadership transition, even if it occurs at a later time? 

– What do we know to be true about your role and responsibilities that are unique to your position?

– What do we feel are the biggest challenges we should expect related to your transition?

– How might your transition impact the other staff, the Board, programs, families, and the school’s ability to fulfill donor obligations?

– What are some key strategies we can implement now to reduce confusion during a potential transition?

3. Consider who might be able to fulfill some of our responsibilities in the near term. Is there anyone who can cross-train or shadow you to better understand some of what only you do?

4. Make the invisible visible.

– Where are essential documents and records stored, beyond the database? (My colleague and I wrote an “exit document” for our successors, and in it was the storage location of the donor sign that was not to be installed until their student graduated. She never would have even known to look for that.)

– What are protocols you use that only you know?

– Which trusted vendors are in your contact list? 

5. Name the process.

– What will be the protocol for announcing your departure?

– Who will stand in for you in the interim?

– How will the position be posted?

If you can help engineer even a few of these steps, you’ll be leaving things in far better shape than if you can’t or don’t.

Think this is not strictly “your job”?  Maybe. But I will argue that real leadership is making it easier for those who follow you to succeed. You’ll truly be leading your organization towards better planning for others beyond yourself.  Think admission, business manager, IT, college counseling.

The excellent advancement professionals I know live their lives and run their programs with high integrity. They also put up with nonsense longer than they should because they are loyal and conscientious and refuse to leave things a mess. Taking these steps will make it possible to leave when you need to. And it will create a smoother and healthier way out the door.

And check out Funding For Good. Lots of excellent resources on a range of topics.

www.fundingforgood.org

Cheers!

Barbara Barron

barbara@barbarabarron.com

About the Author

BARBARA BARRON is one of the most respected and highly sought-after independent advancement professionals in the country, having worked with dozens of schools in every corner of the United States.

She has raised over $20 million for schools where she served as the Director of Development. Barbara is a New York Times bestselling author, speaker, and presenter who currently advises dozens of schools in various capacities. She is considered a thought leader in the world of advancement, with her writing widely shared by professionals in development offices worldwide.

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The post Should We Plan for Our Own Succession? appeared first on Barbara Barron.

November 16th, 2021 by Barbara Barron

As I progress as an advancement consultant, I am becoming more familiar with engagements that end. Or need to.

Most are because the project for which I’ve been retained has happily and successfully concluded. The goals were met and the organization is better for the work. The school has expanded its capacity to do what it does really well and is better able to fully deliver on the promise of its mission. The staff and volunteers have also expanded their capacity. Those are my favorite endings. But even they have a smidge of bittersweetness. But as I say goodbye, that sip of celebratory champagne is delicious!

Other engagements end because there is an internal change of staff and occasionally, of leadership. These are harder because the change creates a level of chaos that slows or even derails the project for a time. But it happens. Nobody stays in a job forever. And it’s rare to do so simply because a fundraising project is in the works.

But the ending of engagements that are the hardest for me are the ones that I choose to end.

This has only happened a few times. But in each case, it was painful. And since what I have learned as the consultant may be of use to my readers – who, for the most part, are not consultants, but are the Heads of School, Board members, and professional staff – I share it here so that you might be better equipped to select, retain, and, when needed, release a consultant in the future.

For starters, we ask ourselves, “What makes a great engagement?”

Here are the factors that I find lead to success:

1. A realistic goal, timeframe, and budget for the work

2. Staff dedicated to working directly, even daily, with the consultant

3. Clear expectations for both the client and consultant

4. Honest, regular communication

5. A willingness to follow counsel’s advice

When those five (minimally) factors are not consistently in place, trouble inevitably follows.

In each engagement, everyone starts out on their best behavior. After all, a need is being met with my hire. Support is at hand. Success feels more likely. Woot! Then real life happens. Meetings get postponed. Not everyone shows up ready to work or has completed the tasks they agreed to. A critical break occurs in the communication chain. There is “project creep”, so the initial goal and timeline get pressed. None of these is good.

But the failing that most often sinks the ship is this: not following my counsel. And I mean precisely.

 A few examples.

The trustee who went through the training I provided for how to make an effective, even inspired solicitation decides, on his own and in the 11^th hour, not to ask for the agreed-upon gift amount. Guess what: the gift is half what it could have been.

The Head of School allows her calendar to become so full she has no time to sit with the promising new families to get to know them and engage them early. Guess what: those new parents go ahead and self-select a nominal gift amount or never give that first critical year because they don’t fully appreciate the ways they could be transformational to the school. 

Against pressure from parent volunteers, the advancement staff acquiesces to reverting to the outdated but familiar event that saps the energy of the staff, upstages the far more important major donor gathering, and leaves everyone exhausted and disgruntled.

No professional staff is included in a donor meeting so there is no one present and tasked with handling the follow up. No notes are available for the database, no plan is in place to contact the donor about the next steps. 

“Barbara, you can’t expect everyone to do exactly as you say, though.”

Yes, I know. There are always going to compromises. But there is a reason we call certain actions “best practices”. It is because others before us showed us the way, isn’t it? And just like any new skill, it takes time and practice to get it right. Soccer players run drills. Pianists practice scales. Why? To build muscle memory, to get the skills deeply embedded in our brains. Malcolm Gladwell writes of the 10,000 hours to proficiency. So when we skip over important steps in the process, when we freelance our way through something as important as a major gift solicitation, we are playing fast and loose with something potentially transformational, for the school and – sadly – for the donor.

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As your consultant, I freely admit that I don’t know everything. But what I do know, from lots of experience, is that my way usually works. If you don’t actually try it that way, how will you ever know? 

After you get your 10,000 hours behind you, then go off-script. But I suspect you won’t because by then you will know that the best way is the way you were trained. 

Great engagements lead to success for the school. That’s the whole point, right? To build something better. To improve the organization so the vital work that goes on in the classroom can flourish. As I am known to say: “our advancement programs should endeavor to be as good as our very best educational programs.”

A good consultant can help get you there. But only if you follow their advice.

So when I see a school start to drift away from that early best behavior and the above five factors are not firmly in place to guide the work, it’s time for a re-set. And that’s on me – as the consultant – to call. And often, it works. I remind everyone (or just the offending ones) of the reason we’re working together, what’s at stake, and where I see a needed course correction. But after a reset or two, if these bad habits persist, that’s the moment of reckoning for me. Remember I just wrote that the whole point is to have the school build something better. If I can’t be effective in ensuring that my consultancy will enable that, I need to bow out. I can no longer accept payment for my services when they are not making a difference and when my advice is ignored.

My smart husband has a favorite cautionary expression: “yellow lights always turn red”. Ignoring it and hoping it will change is not a winning strategy.

When a school hires an advancement consultant, it is making an investment of precious tuition and gift dollars. A significant one when the project is a high-stakes capital campaign. It must be worthwhile. As a consultant, I need to be able to point to concrete successes. It does me no good to continue to consult with a school that is not advancing – even if I love and appreciate everyone at that school.

If I stick around with clients that don’t heed my advice, how can I ever prove my worth to future clients?

Plus, how would I sleep at night?

The saying goes that “we get what we pay for.” To use a line from Thelma and Louise: “You get what you settle for.” Let’s do better. Let’s engage in the work we are blessed to do. Let’s be “all in.”

Or, let’s wish each other all the best and move on!

Stay well,

Barbara Barron

barbara@barbarabarron.com // @BBAdvancement

My name is Barbara Barron, and I’m writing this blog to share advice on a profession that I adore.

I’ve been working in the field of Independent School Advancement for over 20 years. In that time, I’ve had the pleasure of creating and implementing successful fundraising plans and programs for so many incredible schools. I’ve had the privilege of seeing real growth at The Carey School, Marin Primary & Middle School, Woodside Priory, Crystal Springs, Presidio Knolls, Sage Ridge, and San Diego French American, and others. (Maybe we’ve met!)

Nothing makes me happier than seeing a struggling school start to thrive. My hope is that you’re here to make a positive change as well. I hope my advice can be a part of that change.

Shoot me an e-mail if you want to swap tips, or share your voice here.

Let’s do this, together.

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The post Ending Our Engagement appeared first on Barbara Barron.

by Barbara Barron | Posted February 7th, 2018

This may come as a bit of a shock, but I’m not looking to be your school’s fundraising consultant forever.

Obviously if you and I were to start work on a long-term project, like a feasibility study for an upcoming capital campaign, or creating of major gifts program from the ground up — I would be whistling a different tune.

But otherwise, no. I’m not looking for a permanent gig. In fact, I’m trying to do the opposite.

Why, Barbara? Why!?

It’s simple, really. If I’m still haunting the halls of your school after a couple of years, I’ll feel like I’ve failed in delivering on my central promise.

And what is that central promise, you ask? It’s this:

As a Fundraising Consultant, I consider it part of my duty to help you and your school become self-sufficient. In other words, I want you to be successful without me.

“But Barbara,” I hear you saying, “we’ve been working with [Person X] for fifteen years. And [Consultant Firm Y] has had our backs for decades now. Why would your approach be so drastically different?”

My answer lies within a paradigm I simply don’t buy: many consultants and consulting firms, as good as they are, are set up to create a need that can never be truly filled.

It’s not their fault. Their business model is to become indispensable. And from their perspective, that makes good sense. In fact, a lot of the time, it’s mutually beneficial. It’s certainly not a burden for a well-financed school.

But what if we’re not a well-financed school? What if we can no longer bear the expense of retaining consultants without it eating into our programming? What if we’re essentially using our donors gifts to pay our highly paid consultants?

These are crucial questions. And if you find yourself asking them, I know how you feel, because I’ve been there before.

Not long ago, I was a Director of Development working with an outside consultant.

I was never busier. I had an endless list of “to dos” being fed to me. Truthfully, some of these “to dos” were helpful. And I did genuinely learn from the experience. But most of these activities didn’t actually move our project forward.

Instead, they kept me busy at my desk, collating lists or coding donor’s records. I wasn’t doing the crucial work of meeting with donors, hearing their stories, and thanking them for their support.

Did the outside consultant take advantage of me? No.

Did the relationship have set expectations and end when it should have? Probably not.

After that happened, I resolved that I would never put myself in that situation again. I also resolved that, should I go out alone and be a fundraising consultant for hire, I would do everything I could to make sure I wasn’t doing the same thing that consultant did to me.

Okay. Let’s say, for the art of argument, that you do hire a fundraising consultant, and for some reason you don’t hire me. (Hmm…)

Here’s the burning question: what can you do from the very beginning to make sure that you and your school don’t fall into the dreaded whirlpool of endless consulting?

A few things, actually. And you can do them earlier than you think…

Here’s how it works.

Sometimes we find consultants. Other times, consultants are thrust upon us.

Regardless of which of those situations you end up in, it’s crucial for you to understand  that you do have power. Remember that. You may not have total control over everything – does anyone? – but you can guide this new, sometimes scary process simply by being forward thinking about it. Right here. Right now.

Here’s how: the minute a consultant is brought up, either by you, or your co-worker, or you well-meaning Head of School, consider this consultant as you would a contractor. After all, that’s pretty much was a consultant is, right? Right!

You wouldn’t hire someone to gut and replace the plumbing of your faculty restroom without setting a timeline and a budget, would you? Of course you wouldn’t.

Do the same thing here.

Define the dimensions of the project from the very get-go. Establish a timeline. Set a budget.

I’m going to break that down, just because it’s so simple, yet something that so many people overlook. So here it is again, in a numbered list:

1. Define the dimensions.
2. Establish a timeline.
3. Set a budget.

All three are essential, but I think number two is the most important, by far.

Why? Because number two is what keeps a consultant a consultant, not an employee. The job must have an end date. We in schools are very comfortable working in terms of calendars – it’s so easy to do. You simply have to make it a priority to do it!

So what does this end date signify? A good question. Think of it as the day by which the dimensions agreed upon – in criteria #1, above – must be realized. Either the consultant knocks it out of the park and exceeds your expectations (yay!) or misses the deadline and walks away.

Or, in the rare instance in which something goes wrong that is totally out of anyone’s control, you agree to regroup and make a new deal. This is also acceptable, but only when the goalposts truly moved. Please don’t make a habit of it.

How is this sounding for you? Practical, right? Practical. You have no idea how freeing it is, on the both sides, to do all this.

Okay. So now we have our new, super healthy framework for outside consulting. Feels good, doesn’t it?

I’m going to add one last tip here, since I think it’s such a yummy idea…

When the “consultant idea” is first being discussed, why not put your best foot forward and float this big question to a trusted stakeholder:

“Dear Trusted Stakeholder, are you willing to make a gift specifically to underwrite the consultant’s fee for a specific purpose and time frame?”

If they say yes, it’s a win-win-win, isn’t it? Take a look:

Win #1: Your donor gets to support a very specific project that he or she adores.

Win #2: You and your team get to benefit from some sharp professional advice.

Win #3: Your budget doesn’t take a hit.

Wow! Who says you can’t have it all, right? Certainly not me.

All it takes, as always, is a little bit of insider knowledge and a healthy dose of forward-thinking. So good on you for taking the time today to get a fresh perspective on our work! Don’t forget to share the knowledge. It’s the only way we can all get better together.

barbara@barbarabarron.com

860-604-9081

My name is Barbara Barron, and I’m writing this blog to share advice on a profession that I adore.

I’ve been working in the field of Independent School Advancement for nearly 20 years. In that time, I’ve had the pleasure of creating and implementing successful Strategic Fundraising Plans for so many incredible schools. I’ve had the privilege of seeing real growth at The Carey School, Marin Primary & Middle School, Woodside Priory, Crystal Springs, Presidio Knolls and others. (Maybe we’ve met!)

Nothing makes me happier than seeing a struggling school start to thrive. My hope is that you’re here to make a positive change as well. I hope my advice can be a part of that change.

Shoot me an e-mail if you want to swap tips, or share your voice here.

Let’s do this, together.

The post How Can We Know When We’re Done? appeared first on Barbara Barron.