by Barbara Barron | Posted January 7th, 2026 | Subscribe to this newsletter In 2018, I was approached by a little preschool, well-loved by families and deeply respected as a leader in early childhood education. Their problem was that they had outgrown their space and had a dream of expanding to allow more children to experience their outstanding program. After …
How Can Schools Assess Our Risk Appetite?
by Barbara Barron | Posted December 3rd, 2025 | Subscribe to this newsletter Any school looking at a big project, like a capital campaign, needs to understand their risk tolerance or, said another way, their appetite for risk. I’ve long wondered about how best to assess this tricky and nuanced concept. I see it when a Board needs to decide …
Major Gifting with Elizabeth Carter
December 1st, 2021 by Barbara Barron Barbara here. A smidge of context for this unconventional “interview style” article. Elizabeth Carter is a former colleague of mine from our time together at a school several years ago. She currently works as a major gift officer at a hospital in the Northeast. We’ve stayed in touch and she recently let me know …
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion: An Interview with Tesha McCord Poe
by Barbara Barron | Posted November 11th, 2020 Independent schools around the country are finally embracing the important work of diversity, equity, and inclusion. And they’re doing it in all aspects of school life: from governance, to hiring, to disciplinary procedures, to curriculum choices. Those of us in Advancement are also called to consider how our development programs can reflect …