As we begin to see the light at the end of the tunnel this spring – and assuming that light is not an oncoming train! – it’s understandable that we might need to take a break.

This work is intense. The pressure are endless. And in this uncertain, even confusing, and sometimes downright scary world, it can occasionally feel a bit pointless to do too much long-range planning.

Maybe that’s wise. Too often we see five-year plans sit forgotten on a shelf because things changed so quickly that even six months in, they were obsolete.

But even with all that, if you could do something this week that would improve, even guarantee that next fall’s fundraising goes well, would you do it?

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The first step

I would. And that’s what I recently coached a client school to do.

The school is well-resourced, highly regarded, and fully enrolled with waiting lists. But my advice applies equally to schools without all that going for them. If your school has donors who love your program and believe in your mission, this is for you.

We know from the brilliant mind and work of Penelope Burke (Cygnus Research) that when donors are asked what might inspire them to give again and maybe give more, they report three things:

1. Thank them right away
2. Thank them accurately and even personally (goodness!)
3. Tell them what you did with their gift before you ask them again

We’re going to assume here that you’ve got numbers 1 and 2 nailed. (If not, run, don’t walk to fix that problem and your process).

It’s number 3 where the juice lives. 

The project I’m suggesting here is to engage in a full-on stewardship “campaign”. What do I mean? I mean creating and sending personal thank you messages to your donors, reporting on the good their gift brought to your school and its program. Might be a handwritten note. Or an email or text, depending upon the recipient’s preference.

Daunting? Not if you’ve taken the time to get to know these good people and what they care about at your school.

When you do, you can easily find evidence of how their gift (regardless of size) made a difference. Look for stories of impact, movement towards set goals, examples of your mission in action. Share those in personal notes or emails or conversations.

It needn’t be complex and should not be too heavily produced. Authentic short-form (homemade!) videos are an effective way to do this. Record a simple message of gratitude and tell a brief story. Or ask a teacher to talk for a minute about a great professional development experience they had. Find a coach or advisor to explain how their program was enhanced by extra resources or opportunities like a class trip or special guest. Take that and wrap your intro and outro around it.

That’s it. But don’t add “hope we can count on you again next year” or anything similar. That turns it into an ask. This is not an ask.

Take it to the next level

Varsity level approach? Make it a team effort.

Whether your team is an office of five or it’s you and two volunteers, it’s still a worthwhile project. You will need to decide if you do this for just your top 20 donors or your top 100 donors.

Some messages may be about the way their volunteerism saved the day. Or how their generous hosting of an event was a leap forward for your program. For others, it will be about the impact of their financial generosity. It’s supposed to be highly personalized, so you’ll need to decide.

However you define it, set aside the time. Keep copies of what you send to store in their donor record. But do it! I can assure you it will be a joyful exercise. Let that and your genuine appreciation shine through.

Your future self will thank you

Need more incentive? Imagine how you’ll feel next fall.

It’ll be time to reach out to Mary or Pat or Jessie. Rather than having a moment of hesitation or hearing a whisper in your head that the only time you contact them is to ask for a gift, you’ll know you’re good!  Your future self will know that you closed this year’s loop with a big bow of gratitude. You’ll feel on firmer, more confident ground to ask again. And maybe (yes!) ask for more.

And once you’re finished, share the experience with one another. How did it feel? Maybe this becomes part of your spring process going forward. More stewardship is routinely what I hear schools lamenting they need and want to do more of but find it always on the back burner. No more!

So what you do you think? Can you take the first step today? First thing tomorrow?

As always, grateful for all you’re doing. 

Barbara Barron
barbara@barbarabarron.com

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.

More Advancement Articles

• 
  How Can You Set Yourself Up So That Next Fall is a Huge Success?April 14, 2026
• 
  Metrics That Matter vs. Metrics That Don’tMarch 16, 2026
• 
  What is Your Brand?March 2, 2026
• 
  Success Story #2February 16, 2026
• 
  The Steps We SkipFebruary 1, 2026
• 
  What if Fundraising Was Really about Creating Donor Joy?January 21, 2026

The post How Can You Set Yourself Up So That Next Fall is a Huge Success? appeared first on Barbara Barron.

As I wrote earlier, I was a presenter at two conferences this winter: Southern Independent Schools Association or SAIS (https://sais.org) in Chattanooga and for the second year, The Small School Leaders Conference, hosted by the great people at Easy School Marketing (https://www.easyschoolmarketing.com).

That second one was remote. It featured a panel of Heads and another of advancement pros (friends and colleagues!) and a packed line up of offerings from marketing to enrollment management, development to governance issues. I encourage you to check them out and plan to attend next February. (https://www.easyschoolmarketing.com/conference).

My session was about readiness for a capital campaign. This is a much sought-after topic, and I’ve been honored to present my experience at several conferences. Here’s a popular article on the subject (https://www.barbarabarron.com/how-can-you-know-if-your-school-is-prepared-for-a-capital-campaign).

One of the readiness factors is indeed about metrics. What are we measuring and is that information leading you to have confidence that your school is prepared to launch a campaign? Is your annual giving growing, flat, or decreasing? Do you know? Do you know why?

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Getting Started

One of the back-of-the-envelope calculations that generally bears out in real life is taking your total annual giving raised and multiplying it by 5 times and 10 times. That is often the range that a school might consider for a campaign working goal. It’s also a helpful starting place when thinking about an ask amount or a range for a prospective donor.

But that’s just a start. The project itself is vital. Does it have the potential to bring a transformative impact to your school and its people and programs?

What about leadership? Is your Board prepared to do this important work? Do they have the training they’ll need to be successful and confident? Is your Head prepared to dedicate 40% of their time during periods of the campaign? Do you have the staff power for this? Do you have donors in your community who are engaged, connected, and have the financial means to be leaders?

Lots to consider. Often a good first step is to get an objective assessment (or as I call it, an appraisal) of the advancement program so you know the areas that are strong and can be amplified and the areas that are a bit wobbly or outdated. I can help you there.

So that’s a bit about my session. The session I wish to highlight here was from Jill Goodman (https://www.jillgoodmanconsulting.com). She spoke about metrics that are helpful vs. those that aren’t but keep hanging around. Chief among them is participation in the annual fund. I’ve been chirping about this for years and so wasn’t surprised to hear at both conferences how unhelpful a focus on this metric is. But it can be hard to get trustees and others to stop obsessing over it.

The truth is that the days of 100% participation from parents (or any other constituency except Board members) are over. Everyone I talk to and hear from reports the same thing: percentages are down and dollars are up. 80/20 is now 90/10 or even 95/5. That may be scary but it’s happening. It’s true for campaigns as well. A colleague reported that they have raised $9.5 M towards a $11M goal with just 73 gifts. Do the math.

So, what should we be tracking instead? Like Jill, I encourage my client schools to focus on new leadership gifts. New donors stepping in right away to those top giving levels. Also, those families increasing their gifts into those top levels. Are you asking them to do that? What is their motivation?

Also worth evaluating are your events. We know that events have the lowest ROI of all fundraising activities (personal solicitations in capital campaigns have the highest). Are you digging in to understand what you’re spending in dollars AND staff time to net what you do at your spring event? What about other events? You may find that what really moves the needle are small, inexpensive gatherings. If you don’t do the evaluation, you can’t know.

Finally, but primarily, what about stewardship? Do you have a sense of how many touches you are giving donors each year? Do you have a good system to track it? Not just the big splashy moments but the small and meaningful times we surprise and delight our supporters by showing them how their generosity is making a difference, having an impact. We may bemoan the slip in participation but one upside is it is getting ever clearer who we need to be spending time with.

What we focus on persists and increases. Gratitude is the center of the work. I’m here to help you refocus on what matters.

As always, I am grateful for all you’re doing. 

Barbara Barron
barbara@barbarabarron.com

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.

More Advancement Articles

• 
  How Can You Set Yourself Up So That Next Fall is a Huge Success?April 14, 2026
• 
  Metrics That Matter vs. Metrics That Don’tMarch 16, 2026
• 
  What is Your Brand?March 2, 2026
• 
  Success Story #2February 16, 2026
• 
  The Steps We SkipFebruary 1, 2026
• 
  What if Fundraising Was Really about Creating Donor Joy?January 21, 2026

The post Metrics That Matter vs. Metrics That Don’t appeared first on Barbara Barron.

We’re coming off of conference season!

Did you participate, attend, or present at one or more?

I had the honor of being part of two conferences this year: The Small Schools Leaders Conference and the Southern Association of Independent Schools (first) Brand Conference in Chattanooga.

Whenever I return from a conference, I’m eager to share some of my takeaways. I’m always pumped to try something new. Also, I want to remember what I learned, and put some of these innovative ideas into practice.

In Chattanooga – at SAIS – I spoke about how we can help our schools build a true culture of philanthropy. I’ve written previously about that topic here: “How Do We Create a Culture of Philanthropy at Our Schools?”

Since that conference was all about branding, I made the point that a school’s philanthropic culture is part of its brand. And every school has a culture of philanthropy. You may not like what it is or how it feels. But it’s there.

What do I mean? Well, let’s start with:

• “Is it ok to talk about money at your school?
  
• Is development work done in what I call “the light of day,” so it is not perceived as shameful or mysterious?
  
• Is innovation part of your charge or are you stuck doing it like “we’ve always done it”?
  
• How would a parent or alum or Board member or teacher describe your school’s philanthropic culture? I suggest you ask a dozen people. Take what you hear and then begin to evolve towards a culture that is alive, open, and joyful. 

As I pointed out in my Tips & Take Aways, this is challenging work. Changing culture always is. To help, here is some advice to get you started, and to help you keep going:

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Some bits of advice:

1. Find a believer – even just one—to begin the work. Ideally, this is your Head. But maybe it’s a Board member who can help deliver the message to the rest of the Board.
   
   
2. Partner with someone. Maybe its a colleague at another school who is trying to do the same thing at their school. Or an outside consultant who can be your thought partner.
   
   
3. Begin to tell heartwarming stories about the good things that philanthropy brings to your school. Listen at school meeting. Visit a classroom. Watch a play rehearsal or a basketball practice. It’s all there.
   
   
4. Ask donors of all stripes to give you testimonials about why they support the school. The gift amount isn’t relevant. It’s the feeling of giving and supporting programs and people they love that does.
   
   
5. Stop focusing so much on the metrics that don’t matter and address those that do (more on this in Part 2). But chief among these is keeping your eye on new, increased, and renewed gifts, not participation.
   
   
6. Center joy. In your appeals, your thank you notes, your emails, your reports to the development committee, your standing meeting with your Head.

This last one gets me to the other “ah-ha” from the SAIS conference. I had it when I was in a session on “creating better development board reports”, offered by Mattingly Messina of Throughline (https://www.findthroughline.com/#hero) and Kaitlin Windel of APTe (https://www.apte.com/).

They too connected the dots between their topic and the brand theme. They talked about ensuring that the Board is focused on the right metrics and trends. They said that the metrics that help us measure how accurately we can project outcomes are central to the job of the advancement professional. When we bring that kind of clear data and smart analysis, we teach trustees what to look for and then how to ask smarter questions.

That, dear professional, is part of your brand!

This smart session showed great examples of far better dashboards we can use to give trustees the information they need to make the decisions that fall to them. (I encourage you to reach out to learn more.)

Next time, some good learning from the Small School Leaders Conference hosted by the very good people at  Easy School Marketing (https://www.easyschoolmarketing.com). 

What useful tips or takeaways did you gain from a conference this season? I’d love to hear.

 As always, thank you for everything you’re doing.

Barbara Barron
barbara@barbarabarron.com

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.

More Advancement Articles

• 
  How Can You Set Yourself Up So That Next Fall is a Huge Success?April 14, 2026
• 
  Metrics That Matter vs. Metrics That Don’tMarch 16, 2026
• 
  What is Your Brand?March 2, 2026
• 
  Success Story #2February 16, 2026
• 
  The Steps We SkipFebruary 1, 2026
• 
  What if Fundraising Was Really about Creating Donor Joy?January 21, 2026

The post What is Your Brand? appeared first on Barbara Barron.

Here were the initial challenges:

The Head of an outstanding K-8 school came to me with a nagging sense that there was a sizeable opportunity among many families enrolled to raise far more money — IF they could land on the right project. The Board was eager to test the viability of their desire to build an additional outdoor learning space on campus. They retained my services to conduct a feasibility study for a possible capital campaign that combined the physical plant concept along with an expansion of their endowment.

Along came the next challenge:

The feasibility study resulted in mixed reviews. While most families thought the learning space would be a “nice to have,” it did not land as an imperative with them. As we know, capital campaigns need to have the potential to have transformational impact to be worth the time, expense, and risk involved. The reaction to the endowment piece was similarly tepid. Families understood the value of a larger endowment for the school but, as we often see with donors these days, the longer term (read: delayed) impact didn’t excite them enough to see themselves making significant gifts to the effort.

Okay, at the break, I want to know what you would do in a situation like the above.

Do you have an idea? Good. Now I’ll tell you how I tackled it.

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Here’s what I did, in order:

I am about to use a word I’ve avoided since it was overused during COVID times: we pivoted.

As I presented the study results to the Board of Trustees, I could say with authority that I’d heard deep love for the school among the families I interviewed along with a willingness to give to make something important happen. But the project we tested just didn’t hold sway.

What did I discover DID have the needed energy and excitement? The desire to do something significant for their beloved teachers. Raising money to ensure that the school had the financial resources to hire and retain the best educators became the priority. And to do that, I recommended that they build a major gifts program for that fundraising.

As we know, major gifts is not a campaign but a program. An ongoing program that each year might have fundraising potential among a small group — or even just two or three families. I shared with this client school the winning strategy I’d created at another school for HOW we approached identified families to discuss their participation in the program.

But before we dove in, I delivered an educational session for the Board in which we defined the program and agreed to its policies and centering values. We determined how this new program was different and yet would be aligned with the rest of their advancement program. I brought them a set of prompts to work with that helped them gain confidence to have far more meaningful conversations with members of their community and build deeper and more lasting relationships.

Today, their major gifts program is in full swing. They carefully cultivate select families for those meetings and have had good success. The program has benefitted the school and its cherished teachers. An added benefit, the school has expanded the advancement department slightly to enable their director to focus on major gifts, deepening their reach and impact. Lots of wins there. 

Have a challenge? Need some smart solutions? Give me a call!

And thanks for all you’re doing.

Barbara Barron
barbara@barbarabarron.com

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.

More Advancement Articles

• 
  How Can You Set Yourself Up So That Next Fall is a Huge Success?April 14, 2026
• 
  Metrics That Matter vs. Metrics That Don’tMarch 16, 2026
• 
  What is Your Brand?March 2, 2026
• 
  Success Story #2February 16, 2026
• 
  The Steps We SkipFebruary 1, 2026
• 
  What if Fundraising Was Really about Creating Donor Joy?January 21, 2026

The post Success Story #2 appeared first on Barbara Barron.

I’d like to start by reposting a piece by the great Seth Godin:

It’s difficult to write directions.

A user interface, a map or a recipe all require empathy.

That’s because the person writing it knows something the reader doesn’t. In fact, that’s the only reason to do it.

But because instructions exist to bridge this gap, we benefit by understanding and focusing on the gap. The instructions aren’t there to remind you of how to do something. They serve to help someone who doesn’t know, learn.

Here’s a useful way to begin:

Assume less.

Yes, the person reading your recipe knows what a knife is, but do they know you keep your mustard in the food cabinet, not the fridge?

List every step you could imagine, and then list some more.

Once the overdone, step-by-step instructions exist, begin removing them. The interface for your induction cooktop probably doesn’t benefit from having icons so obscure they’re meaningless, but it also doesn’t need every step for boiling water enunciated in capital letters.

In my experience in reading instructions, it’s easier for the user to skip over steps that are too complete than it is to try to guess what the person writing the directions had in mind.

You can – and should – give him a follow at his blog.

I read this article by Seth, and a little light went off.

I have been writing this blog for over nine years. Many of my articles are big think pieces designed to debunk myths or invite us to work in new and better ways. Others are what my web manager calls “hand-holdy” ones. These are the pieces that take a reader step by step through a new process or offer specific ways to refine one. My piece “How to Write A Good Welcome Letter for Parents” was first published in August 2018 and continues to be the most read and shared article yet.

Similarly, but even earlier, in September 2017 in the first month of my business, “How to Get Rid of the Terrible Thank You Letter” was published. That one is also very popular.

Both are good examples of the “hand-holdy” piece. They help guide someone new to this work or someone looking to revamp their work. Step. By. Step. They get a lot of eyes because advancement pros share them with new trustees or new members of the team. Love it.

Have you subscribed to this newsletter yet? It only takes a minute.

Invisible steps

When I read Seth’s piece, it made me think about all the steps that are invisible to me – and likely to you if you’ve done this work for a while. It’s the invisible stuff that trips us up every time, whether we are writing an appeal or welcoming new families or offering orientation to new trustees.

We naturally and innocently make assumptions about what others already know. Seth’s point is that it is better to be more specific and allow the reader or learner to skip over the steps they know — rather than leave them guessing, because we’ve assumed.

 So, I’m thinking about how to help someone new and maybe a bit tentative to ask for a gift.

I can show you how to do that. We can practice until you get comfortable with my method and can then customize it to fit your style. But writing out the steps? Not so easy. And that’s precisely because there’s so much that is unique to each circumstance. I can tell you, for instance, that it’s helpful to start the conversation by asking how their early experience has been at the school.

But the step I may have missed for you is how to ask for the meeting itself.

Or – after they’ve shared about their child’s early days and how things are going for their family – you might need to know how to steer the conversation to the school’s giving program and what you hope they will consider. 

Or even trickier for many, how to ask for that gift. Or how to ask and then wait. Or ask, wait, and then ask how you can follow up if they want more time to think about your request. (That happens a lot.) 

It is after that meeting that you get the chance to do great cultivation work. That’s where it all begins. 

The day I purchased my first personal computer, the sales guy loaded the giant boxes (yep, it was back then) into my car and said, “This is where the sale actually begins.”

So maybe Seth’s recipe analogy falls apart for us here. Maybe step-by-step instructions, as good as they can be, and as complete and even obvious as Seth urges, aren’t enough. Instead, we ought to talk this out, practice the different parts until we are so comfortable with the goal of the conversation (which is not only to secure the gift), that we can be fully and totally in the moment with these good people who’ve come to meet with us and hear our request of them. 

I do agree about the empathy. When we put ourselves in the shoes of the people we are asking to support our schools, we have a far better chance of seeing it from their perspective. We can slow it down. Ask better, more thoughtful questions about them and what is important to them. We can be clearer about our hopes for them as engaged members of our community.

This kind of coaching is something I love to do and have done with big success for many clients. We all need to keep our donor skills sharp. It’s the only thing that we as human beings can truly do far better than AI. If you could use a walk-through session, do reach out. 

Thanks for everything you’re doing. 

Barbara Barron
barbara@barbarabarron.com

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.

More Advancement Articles

• 
  How Can You Set Yourself Up So That Next Fall is a Huge Success?April 14, 2026
• 
  Metrics That Matter vs. Metrics That Don’tMarch 16, 2026
• 
  What is Your Brand?March 2, 2026
• 
  Success Story #2February 16, 2026
• 
  The Steps We SkipFebruary 1, 2026
• 
  What if Fundraising Was Really about Creating Donor Joy?January 21, 2026

The post The Steps We Skip appeared first on Barbara Barron.

Regular readers know that I am a huge proponent of the value of good stewardship.

It goes way, way beyond thanking donors in prompt and accurate ways. It is the storytelling of how a donor’s gift was put to good and actionable use. What difference their generosity made. Did we show (not tell) the impact it had? The impact it had on the things our donor cares most about?

Wait. Do we even know what that donor cares most about?

Probably not.

The problem with traditional and generic fundraising is it uses a broad brush. Appeal letters list 25 ways an annual fund gift is used. When we do that, any discerning reader wonders: “My $1,000 did all that? I doubt it.”  Add a zero or even two to the gift amount and it’s still not credible.

The dreaded generic thank you note is more the same. It lists ways that our gifts advanced the mission. If we’re lucky, one of the things we mention actually matters to the donor.

What if instead we knew? We knew because we had taken the time to get to know our donor and, more importantly, learn what they deeply care about in our program?

How to get from where we are to that sweet spot? By centering donor joy. By deciding that we are not just fundraisers but are something much more. We shift our perspective and therefore our strategy from doing things that benefit the school to doing work that helps create a meaningful, joyful experience for the donor.

Some time ago, a former colleague told me that her goal is to be a trusted advisor to her donors. I loved that. I want that, too! To be a trusted advisor to you and my clients. And don’t you want that? Most of us get into the work of school development and advancement because we thrive on rewarding relationships. Shifting our attention to looking for ways to create joy for our supporters is like an infusion of energy towards that intention.

OK. Are you feeling curious about this — but not sure how to actually do it?

Have you subscribed to this newsletter yet? It only takes a minute.

Starting questions

First, we start with good questions. These questions will help us get to know what really matters to those we serve (the donor). I’ve written about using a set of prompts to have deeper and more meaningful conversations. I have presented this work at several conferences and have conducted training for school Boards to show them how to use them in their important cultivation work.

Here are some fresh ones that get to what a donor cares about at our schools.

• You have been such a generous supporter of our school. Can you tell me what about our mission is most important to you?

• Are there things we’re doing that you’d love to see amplified?

• Are there programs that you believe could have a bigger impact if they were more resourced?

• Who in your life was influential in how you think about giving? Please tell me about that person.

• What would you love your legacy to be? 

Once we know more about donor motivations and the things that light them up, we can tailor our stewardship to reflect that. Tracking our updates and reports over time, we will show them how their sustained generosity has not only made a difference to the school and its people but to them in their goal of experiencing deep meaning. We will build a “portfolio of impact” for them. And, yep, provide joy.

Our stewardship needs to be designed to reflect who they are, their identity. Not just what we accomplish with their generosity.

Shifting your priority

Years ago, I had the good fortune to collaborate with a trustee who was passionate about building the school’s planned giving program. He convinced me to make this a priority. Together we expanded the number of individuals and couples who included the school in their estate plans.

The result for the school was clear: a future enriched by the generosity of people who will not see their gift realized in their lifetimes. But for this trustee and donor, he was forever changed by how his work reflected his values, his identity.

This kind of stewardship work is next to impossible when we aren’t staffed or organized for it. It’s impossible when the development office is working away in their silo and communication office in theirs. It’s impossible when the defining metric to our success is “participation rates” and telling the tired story about funding the “gap.” There’s no joy there, my friends.

This shift in priority can have another really powerful outcome.

It helps us do what we have long wished our various giving circles would do: create a community of people that share values. Values they see are alive and well in our school. It’s that notion of social norms – the things we collectively believe are important and that guide our behavior.

What if we gathered all the families we know care passionately about supporting teachers’ professional growth? And the families who are huge supporters of our arts programs? The families who want to ensure that the school is sustainable in the future come what may? Once our community has been gathered, our standard recognition events will have no choice but to change. They will be about celebrating and reporting on what donors’ love, not just their gift amount.

In the end, it’s not really about how great our school is. Our families are enrolled because they already know that. Rather than asking them to support us because we’re terrific, let’s seek to find out what they love best about our school and ask them to support that. And then it’s on us to show them in large but mostly small ways, in acts that surprise and delight them, that what they care about most matters to us, too. 

Not easy. But clear. And clearly better.

As always, thanks for everything you’re doing. 

Barbara Barron
barbara@barbarabarron.com

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.

More Advancement Articles

• 
  How Can You Set Yourself Up So That Next Fall is a Huge Success?April 14, 2026
• 
  Metrics That Matter vs. Metrics That Don’tMarch 16, 2026
• 
  What is Your Brand?March 2, 2026
• 
  Success Story #2February 16, 2026
• 
  The Steps We SkipFebruary 1, 2026
• 
  What if Fundraising Was Really about Creating Donor Joy?January 21, 2026

The post What if Fundraising Was Really about Creating Donor Joy? appeared first on Barbara Barron.

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 a lengthy search, they found an ideal new location but would need to raise significant funds to complete a renovation that would convert that space into the right environment. They needed to launch a capital campaign, but they had no development staff and a Board of dedicated but inexperienced volunteers.

How would you launch a capital campaign when you have no development staff and a group of eager, yet inexperienced volunteers?

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Here’s what I did, in order:

1. I began by conducting an appraisal of their program. This allowed me to identify what they were doing well (plenty) and what they needed to get in place so they could consider engaging in a capital campaign. (A lot!)
    
2. Once we established some good practices internally, we developed a campaign theme and a strategy for the leadership phase of the campaign.
    
3. I trained many of the members of the Board in the art of the ask and supported them in their early, nervous solicitations.
    
4. I served as wing woman to the Executive Director who did the lion’s share of the solicitations. For most of those early donors, this was the single largest gift they’d ever made. It was exhilarating.
    
5. We created beautiful campaign materials to support the work and strengthen their brand including a series of heartfelt newsletters to keep early supporters aware of our progress, to share sneak peaks into the renovation, and to express ongoing gratitude for their faith and support.

Year two, we moved steadily outward from the center, as one does in campaigns, engaging with more families.

• All the while, I managed the campaign and ran the weekly (yes, weekly) campaign steering committee meetings, trouble-shooting and supporting the highs and inevitable lows until the campaign was successfully completed.

The result: an audacious goal met and a larger, more vibrant school community created, operating in a beautiful, mission-aligned learning space. Only one family did not participate.

Today, they have a development professional on staff. As a result of their efforts, they have expanded their fundraising capacity to engage families and raise more money to support and advance their inspiring mission. 

What do you think? Did we tackle this school’s particular issue the same way?

Curious to hear your thoughts, and how this resonates with you.

Barbara Barron
barbara@barbarabarron.com

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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  Success Story #2February 16, 2026
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  The Steps We SkipFebruary 1, 2026
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  What if Fundraising Was Really about Creating Donor Joy?January 21, 2026

The post Success Story #1 appeared first on Barbara Barron.

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 if and how much debt to assume towards a big capital project. Or invest in top notch advancement people toward realizing big dreams.

Some Boards I worked with are very risk-averse, others less so. Naturally, this impacts their fundraising goals and strategies. But how can schools get into this important and complex subject? I recently talked with a firm that specializes in this work. They are Scarlet Oak Consulting, and the principal is Alanna McKee. She generously shared her process with me in an interview.

Here is an excerpt of that conversation:

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An Interview Excerpt with Alanna McKee

Barbara: Alanna, thanks so much for talking with me today about your work with school (and association) Boards. What is the basis of your work around risk assessment?

Alanna: Thanks for the opportunity to share, Barbara.  We believe schools need to shift the way they view strategy. Instead of focusing solely on having a strategic plan, schools need to build a culture of strategic leadership. Part of that means developing a culture of innovation and risk taking, but that’s easy to say and hard to do. As it stands, many organizations only innovate when their backs are against the wall. 

Barbara: Let me guess: fear? 

Alanna: Yes… Fear of change. 

Barbara: Ah yes! For all of us. I’d say that’s true in both our personal and professional lives.

Alanna: True. And let’s be clear: as we think about innovation (and therefore change) there are “no-go” areas. Areas where the Board or leadership are not comfortable with risk taking. For most schools, I’d argue that any risk to the safety of a student is a no-go. But other areas are less clear. It’s an important part of our process to tease those out. If you’re going to innovate, there will be consequences. We need the Board to understand their limits to risk taking. Are we willing to make parents unhappy? What about inconveniencing teachers?  Are we willing to change established ways of doing school like, say, redoing the schedule or sunsetting a cherished tradition?

Barbara: Tough choices. So, once we know what we’re willing to innovate and what’s off limits, what’s the next move towards understanding our risk appetite?

Alanna: An essential question we pose is: “How much risk are you willing to assume in pursuit of your strategic objectives?” That framing shifts the conversation back to the mission and goals of the school. We need to have a holistic understanding of how risky or risk averse the Board is within the context of the school’s strategy. And I need to add here that this is not a one-and-done exercise. It needs to be an ongoing conversation at the Board level and, ideally, among the administrative team because as our operating environment changes, our risk appetite is likely to change with it.

Barbara: What else?

Alanna: We need the Board to understand how much they are willing to invest in strategic opportunities. We look at the school’s quarterly operating expenses against reserves to identify available funds for investment. Let’s use your example of a school considering a capital campaign that might require assuming some debt. We ask: “What level of strategic investment are we willing to invest towards this potentially high-impact activity in pursuit of our mission?”

Barbara: Essentially, how bold are we willing to be to meet the moment? That includes risk and possible reward.

Alanna: Exactly. Once the Board can express its risk appetite in qualitative ways, we need them to express it in quantitative measures. We might shift to an exercise where we have the Board rate themselves on a risk appetite scale. 1 is Cautious & Reactive and 5 is Bold & Proactive, with Balanced & Strategic in the middle. But it’s never a static position. A Board might be Bold and Proactive for one project but Cautious & Reactive with another. That rating may change in response to different data or threats like admission dips or changing political winds.

Barbara: Not everything carries the same weight.

Alanna: Right. Let’s also remember that getting your Board to become more comfortable with risk requires a shift in culture. A tool we find useful, is “The Change Curve” by Elizabeth Kubler-Ross. Sound familiar?

Barbara: The author of the five Stages of Grief or Loss?!

Alanna: Yep! Turns out there are parallels to how we deal with grief and change. Fascinating stuff. In the end, all change is hard. And organizational change is ultimately individual change. It needs to be a thoughtful process.

Barbara Sounds like yours is just that: a thoughtful, intentional process. Alanna, thanks for much for sharing this with me. I’m sure my readers will also find it thought-provoking. And generative!

Wishing you all the best!

______________________

Alanna McKee is the Principal and Founder of Scarlet Oak Consulting, a strategy consulting firm serving independent schools and associations with passion and purpose.

As they say: We transform the way independent schools and associations strategize, lead, and operate to build resiliency and impact.

Here’s how to find them.

https://www.scarletoakconsulting.com

The Change Curve:

https://www.ekrfoundation.org/5-stages-of-grief/change-curve/

Barbara Barron
barbara@barbarabarron.com

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.

More Advancement Articles

• 
  How Can You Set Yourself Up So That Next Fall is a Huge Success?April 14, 2026
• 
  Metrics That Matter vs. Metrics That Don’tMarch 16, 2026
• 
  What is Your Brand?March 2, 2026
• 
  Success Story #2February 16, 2026
• 
  The Steps We SkipFebruary 1, 2026
• 
  What if Fundraising Was Really about Creating Donor Joy?January 21, 2026

The post How Can Schools Assess Our Risk Appetite? appeared first on Barbara Barron.

If you are like most advancement pros I know, the new tax laws are a bit of mystery, and a source of concern. I‘ve now participated in a few webinars and have done my reading by experts I trust to try to make sense of what this means for nonprofits, and in particular, independent schools.

Beyond the changes to the itemization and standard deductions, a couple of big take aways for me are these:

Corporate Giving

There is an anticipated $4-5 billion decrease in giving from corporations. While this may leave some breathless, I say let’s not get caught up in that. Very few independent schools receive significant funding from corporations anymore.

But what may be affected are corporation’s matching gift programs. The effect is not fully known, yet. But what we do know is that it makes sense to get ahead of this. Do your research.

·   Call the matching gift companies where your families work. Ask if they have adjusted their giving match amounts (or percentages) and if they have changed the timing of their program in any way. This could mean gifts are better off matched this year than next.

·   Personally notify families who have matched their gifts in the past and share what you’ve learned. Best that they hear it from you, even if they hear it from their employers as well. Not a group email. Personalize it. This will help increase their confidence in your knowledge and your program.

·   Post about this on your social media and add a simple info box on the giving pages of your website.

Non-Cash Gifts

Whether we are talking about the new guidelines around deductions and how donors might “bunch” their gifts to clear the new 0.5% of AGI (adjusted gross income) floor, what has emerged for me is the importance of non-cash gifts.

These are not affected by the tax law changes. Read that again. Still a great gift option for donors with no impact from the tax laws.  

What do we mean by non-cash gifts?

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1. Let’s start with appreciated securities.

I wrote about this gift option in February 2025. Here’s a link: https://www.barbarabarron.com/tax-talk/

Stock gifts remain an excellent way of giving, unaffected by tax changes. Be sure your stock givers are reminded of this. Put transfer instructions in an easy to find spot on your website site.

2.    DAFs (donor advised funds)

I’ve been preaching about these for a few years and wrote about their value and impact last July. 

Donations to DAFs are rising fast. Reminder: once the money is in the fund, it can ONLY be used for charitable purposes. Think about talking with your DAF donors about making multi-year gifts upfront. Huge impact for your school and pain-free for them.

3.     Gifts from IRAs

This is an especially good message to send to donors who are over 70 1⁄2, the age at which minimum distribution requirements kick in. Think grandparents. While many are not yet at that target age yet, they will be. This message can take a minute to be absorbed.

Like with matching gift donors, start with the individual. Look to your board, former board members, and other long-term donors who you know are in that age range. Share what you’ve learned about this option with them personally. Invite a conversation.

Then start to promote this more widely. Experts suggest sharing this message 3-4 times a year, so it gets traction. Something like:

“Are you 70 ½ or older? Did you know you can give directly from your IRA to maximize your impact and minimize your taxes? Let’s talk!”

Varsity tip: When you secure one of these gifts, write a story or make a short video about it and let the donor talk about its benefits and how it made them FEEL to do this for your school.

In fact, do that for all these noncash gifts to make it feel easy for others. Testimonials work.

We’re headed into the giving season. Let’s be sure we’re getting as smart as we can about the different ways families can support our schools that benefit them the most.  

Thanks for all you’re doing!

Barbara Barron
barbara@barbarabarron.com

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.

More Advancement Articles

• 
  How Can You Set Yourself Up So That Next Fall is a Huge Success?April 14, 2026
• 
  Metrics That Matter vs. Metrics That Don’tMarch 16, 2026
• 
  What is Your Brand?March 2, 2026
• 
  Success Story #2February 16, 2026
• 
  The Steps We SkipFebruary 1, 2026
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  What if Fundraising Was Really about Creating Donor Joy?January 21, 2026

The post Why We Need to Leverage Non-Cash Gifts in Light of the New Tax Laws appeared first on Barbara Barron.

A couple of weeks ago, I had the opportunity to speak to the Palmetto Association of Independent Schools Advancement & Mar-com cohort at their monthly online gathering. PAIS has super big schools and super small schools, and some in between. So, lots of places with one- or two-member advancement teams. Still other schools have one person doing both jobs! Their centering question for me was: how can advancement (and admission) work more collaboratively with mar-com?

Can you relate? I sure can.

I’ve worked at schools where the relationship I had with mar-com was close and trusting and together, we created effective and beautiful work. Other times, it felt more like I was competing with other departments for scant time and attention from mar-com. And still other times, I just went outside the school resources and hired a designer as a thought-partner and creator to help me create what I needed.

In my consulting, I’ve worked with schools that mirror each of my experiences. Other times, Mar-com feels a bit abused by the constantly changing requests or multiple drafts of projects from their advancement colleagues. One Director of Communication said it was like having to repeatedly “open up the patient”. Eek.

So, I’ve felt it; I’ve seen it. I knew I could address their question.

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Some tactical advice

I started by inquiring about the sources of friction. Most often, it’s a result of “competing mandates” and lack of clarity about priorities.  And those come, dear readers, from our leaders.

As Peter Drucker said: “The bottleneck is always at the top of the bottle”. 

So, when that’s the case, we must turn to our Heads and ask for help establishing priorities. We cannot do everything simultaneously, and well. Not possible. Get clear and you can get going.

Another way to build a better environment is to spend time together. Set and keep regular meetings to catch up, and to hear from one another what’s really going on for them. What’s on each of your plates? What’s keeping you awake at night? Get human and watch trust build. This won’t cure every ill but without trust, not much can.  

Here’s some more tactical advice:

1.     Build a shared calendar. Look at it through the lens of your parents’ experiences. When do they receive requests? When are they asked to attend something or give or share? And who is issuing those different requests?

2.     Walk together through the upcoming months and look for the predictable traffic jams. Where can we either layer events or communication so we reduce some of the gnats-in-your-face feel of some of our communication to parents.

3.     Create – and stick with! – agreed-upon throughline messages. These are about why families choose your school and why they support your school. Same messages that can be tweaked and used in admission and advancement.

4.     Build a stockpile of testimonials. Like #3, some may be used for admission or advancement because they feature the answer to the essential question of why. Why give? Why enroll? Why volunteer? Why stay?

5.     Share the wins. When you secure a nice gift, go tell Mar-com and thank them for their contribution. When they fix the nagging issues on the online giving form, be sure to let them know when you see gifts coming in, unimpeded.

The next level version of this is to make sure you brag on them to your Head and compliment their work at a faculty meeting or a Board meeting.

6.     Debrief with care. When the mailing isn’t perfect, the annual report runs late, the pages on the site won’t load well, the video stalls, talk about it. Bring your most generous interpretation to that discussion. Figure out how you can fix it together. Express gratitude and a willingness to move on. And then do it.

7.     Finally, I return to the project that I have personally seen do wonders for both the working relationship between these vital departments and increasing the amount of money the school raises: A Guide to Giving and Getting Involved. I’ve written about this smart project. I’ve watched those who build one deepen the very nature of the way they relate to one another. And I’ve seen it reduce the confusion new families experience when they join our school communities. Parents appreciate the clarity it gives them about what and when to expect the school to approach them for all manner of things. Like a good Swiss army knife, it serves many purposes.

At the end of the day, a good working relationship makes not only our hours at work more pleasant and productive, and less stressful, but it also makes the work itself better. 

As always, thanks for everything you’re doing.

Barbara Barron
barbara@barbarabarron.com

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.

More Advancement Articles

• 
  How Can You Set Yourself Up So That Next Fall is a Huge Success?April 14, 2026
• 
  Metrics That Matter vs. Metrics That Don’tMarch 16, 2026
• 
  What is Your Brand?March 2, 2026
• 
  Success Story #2February 16, 2026
• 
  The Steps We SkipFebruary 1, 2026
• 
  What if Fundraising Was Really about Creating Donor Joy?January 21, 2026

The post How Advancement & Mar-com (with Admission!) Can Work Together with Better Outcomes for All appeared first on Barbara Barron.