by Barbara Barron | Posted June 8th, 2022 | Subscribe to this newsletter

It’s early June. If you are reading this even several days after I published it, thank you! I know how insanely packed early June is for anyone in a school. Final projects. Awards ceremonies. The last push for participation in the Annual Fund. Alumni gatherings. And the grandmommy of them all – graduation. (Or “stepping up”, or whatever you call your particular celebration.)

It’s madness. Happy, tearful, utterly #worthit. But still. A lot.

In the coming days or weeks of this fiscal year, there’s so much more to do. But regardless of how busy you are, I hope you will remember the two most important things you really must do.

#1: Say thank you.

To your donors. Make the time to call or send a note to the people who have done so much, given so generously, and have been so responsive to your program this year. To your best volunteers who put in untold hours. (For free!) To the Board member who had your back all year or just at that tough meeting. To your Head – for the opportunities, the support, and the feedback to help you continue to grow in your role and in your value to the organization.

To your colleagues, especially those in your office. If you haven’t given credit and thanks for the good work and all those long hours your team put in, do so now. We talk about “finishing strong.” I love to think and write about that. Here’s another opportunity to do that. As you close the books on this year, both literally and figuratively, take a moment to recognize and thank those people who have helped create whatever success your school achieved, and helped cushion the blow of every disappointment or frustration you endured.

It’s not just a good thing to do. It’s a really smart thing to do. Within weeks, you’re going to be back asking for gifts, help, volunteers, ideas, and support of every kind. We know that donors overwhelmingly tell us that if we do just a couple of things, they are more than 85% likely to give again and give more:

• Thank them, right way, and personally.
  
• Tell them what you did with their gift. Report on the impact it had – before you ask again.

Hopefully, we’re all already doing that with our donors. You are likely to experience a far more receptive donor on the other end of the line in October if you do that now. But the same holds for the people in your office or in other offices in the school on whom we rely for information, access, and help. Genuinely tell them how much you appreciate their collaboration for this year, and specifically how it helped, before you ask them for help next year.

So that’s the first. Gratitude. A big dose.

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#2: Take care of you.

You need to take time away this summer. There’s no benefit to anyone if you don’t do that. You need it. No one runs on empty. You’ll be a better leader, a more creative thought partner, and a more supportive and effective manager if you get away, shift gears, and gain perspective.

As you a plan for that time and to ensure it is as valuable to you as possible, I suggest you ask yourself these questions:

                    What restores you?

                    What or who inspires you?

                    What refreshes your spirit?

                    What relaxes you?

                    What energizes you?

                    What says “fun” to you?

Ideally, you’ll have quick answers to some. Others may take a minute. But knowing what gives you what you need will help you plan a more fulfilling break. Is there an author you’ve been interested in reading more from? Order the book today. Is there a friend or former colleague you’ve been too busy to reconnect with (now that we are so busy out in the world?) Set up a coffee. Are you itching to travel – assuming it is safe to do so? Book it. Don’t wait. Take time to set up for yourself a summer of opportunities. You and everyone you work with will benefit.

Me? I’m taking time off from publishing articles until August. I’m busy with several important client projects and want to enjoy time with our friends, kids, and grandchildren. There’s a stack of books loaded onto my Kindle, a couple of happy hour dates set with former colleagues, lunches scheduled with dear friends, and two trips to meet the children of friends who were born during the pandemic.

Whatever fills your list, I wish you a restful, fun, and energizing summer. And again, as always, thank you for all you are doing.

Be 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.

• 
  How the 2026 Mid-Term Elections May Impact Our Fundraising & What We Can Do About It June 7, 2026
• 
  Success Story #4May 26, 2026
• 
  What Can We Do About Our Changing Parent Donors?May 11, 2026
• 
  Success Story #3April 24, 2026
• 
  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

The post The Two Things You Must Do Before Summer Vacation 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.

• 
  How the 2026 Mid-Term Elections May Impact Our Fundraising & What We Can Do About It June 7, 2026
• 
  Success Story #4May 26, 2026
• 
  What Can We Do About Our Changing Parent Donors?May 11, 2026
• 
  Success Story #3April 24, 2026
• 
  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

The post Ending Our Engagement appeared first on Barbara Barron.

May 26th, 2021 by Barbara Barron and Kelly Tieger

We talk a lot about “fitting in” at schools, don’t we?

Our admission teams are charged with identifying and enrolling students – and families – who we believe will be a “right fit”, or a “good fit”. This is, of course, crucial, because selecting students and families who seek the program we offer and are invested in our communities positively impacts everyone. Without this careful process, we can’t fully deliver on our school’s mission. As I’m sure you’re well aware, myriad frustrations and even heartache ensue from a “bad fit.” It affects student and faculty morale and can cause real damage to the student.

In short: the fit matters.

The same goes for hiring. Schools regularly invest big sums to recruit quality faculty and staff who they believe will add value to the community. These are dollars well spent when the fit is right and the new hire is suited to our school’s mission and culture. Good fit faculty and staff usually stick around – which is good for resource management. A great faculty placement benefits everyone, including the students.

But there are risks inherent in this process of finding someone who “fits.” On the candidate’s side, it’s possible that the school she sees in the admission materials, on the website, and even during interviews is not the lived experience. On the school’s side, the candidate can say all the right things about wanting what our school has to offer but misrepresent themselves entirely. Opportunities abound for possible mismatches, and “bad fits”.

What if we told you that as much as the fit matters, there’s really no such thing as a “good fit” or a “bad fit?” That there’s as much inherent value for those who are in the IN group as those who are not? Would that blow your mind? Because, once we got thinking about it deeply, it blew ours.

We believe that, for those of us who feel like outcasts in our communities, what is happening is less a mismatch of fit than a mismatch of expectations based on faulty or incomplete information. Instead of bemoaning the circumstances that led us to become strangers in a strange land, what if we accepted that the personality of a school and our own are quite different? What if we, in fact, celebrated that fact?

What can we do as new hires, as new co-workers, as teachers, as leaders in a community – to smooth out some of those possible bumps in style, and ensure that everyone, regardless of role, style, and personality, has a voice and a place to add their gifts and values?

You may not know this, but a few decades ago, I co-authored a best-selling book called DO WHAT YOU ARE. In it, my co-author Paul Tieger and I helped readers discover their Myers-Briggs Personality Type. We then helped them apply that knowledge to make better career decisions. Decisions that would lead to greater satisfaction and fulfillment in their work. The book has sold over one million copies since 1992 and has just been released in its completely revised and updated 6th edition, co-authored by our daughter Kelly Tieger. Pretty beautiful full circle since she was 3 years old when it was first published!

And now, nearly thirty years later, Kelly and I are thinking about how we can apply some of these insights in the world of Independent Schools, a realm we both inhabit professionally. It came down to two questions:

• Do schools have their own personality? Or Personality Type?
• If so, can we use our know-how of how our own personality differs or doesn’t differ from our schools to gain powerful insights about the ways our school operates – its true culture and style?

Really, can we “fit in”? And if we recognize that we don’t, isn’t that actually our superpower?

Let’s use an example. Perhaps you are an extraverted, strongly thinking person, considering a position at a more introverted and feeling school. (Yes, you are a square peg looking to be placed in a round hole!) But instead of saying, “I don’t think I fit in here…”, think differently. Isn’t it just as likely that this institution could utilize your energy, and your take-charge attitude? Of course it could! If you let them, they will absolutely benefit from your candid, logical voice when working to resolve conflicts.

Now, understanding how personalities can clash, you need to be aware that your approach may frequently require some tempering, the use of a gentler tone than is your preferred style to express your opinions. But what a difference that knowledge and contribution could make! For you and for the school, there’s the opportunity to create a more balanced and fair decision-making process. That’s a “bad fit” that is actually a “perfect fit.”

Now let’s use an example from the school’s side. Perhaps you are tasked with hiring a faculty position. (You got this!) Your school is competitive and bustling. A place where traditions are deeply entrenched and highly valued. Rigor and achievement are central to the student experience. Your first-choice humanities hire has a variety of experiences in smaller schools, those with an emphasis on the student-teacher relationship and a focus on diversity and the arts.

Can you see how there is a likelihood for a disconnect here? And how cruel it may seem to hire this person who will no doubt struggle to “fit in”? Imagine the opposite, instead. See a future filled with all the unique gifts this new teacher will bring. Envision how this pitch-perfect hire will deepen the school’s advisory program and add new and valuable insights to the curriculum. Think of the rich conversations. Your school’s emerging DEI program could be infused with newfound sensitivity and depth. It’s win after win after win.

Regardless of whether you’re a new hire, or doing the hiring, or are someone who is looking around at your amazing school and wondering, “How did someone like me end up at a place like this?”, this advice is for you. Most growth occurs when we are faced with what’s unfamiliar. We adapt when we are required to shift our perspective and see things differently than is customary for us. People with differing attitudes and styles may confuse or trigger us, sure, but they can also prompt us to expand our thinking and consider a new way of working, thinking, and interacting. I invite you to see people for who they are and encourage them to bring their most authentic selves to the table, free from judgment, so that they can add layers of nuance and intelligence, helping us create and sustain school environments that are truly more diverse, inclusive, and healthy – for everyone.

If you’re interested in attending a session on this topic, we are presenting at the Carney, Sandoe & Associates’ 2021 Women’s (Re)Institute. Our session is on June 3. Here’s a link to register for the conference:

https://www.womensreinstitute.com/

And to learn more about our book, DO WHAT YOU ARE, visit: https://dowhatyouarebook.com

As always, I’m here if you want to discuss this idea. Just reach out via email.

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.

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.

• 
  How the 2026 Mid-Term Elections May Impact Our Fundraising & What We Can Do About It June 7, 2026
• 
  Success Story #4May 26, 2026
• 
  What Can We Do About Our Changing Parent Donors?May 11, 2026
• 
  Success Story #3April 24, 2026
• 
  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

The post How Can We Fit In at Our School? appeared first on Barbara Barron.

April 21st, 2021 by Barbara Barron

My husband and I recently went through a real estate transaction that reminded me of my least favorite donor experiences. As we were going through the rigamarole, I thought to myself, “This is uncomfortably close to how our donors sometimes feel.”

Sad, but true.

Story summary: we refinanced our home in CA and purchased a second home closer to our kids and grandchildren in CT. (Lucky us!) We used one bank for both transactions. A bank with whom we’ve been banking for many years. In fact, they hold the current mortgage on our home. Should be breezy, right?

Well, no. Instead of one underwriter handling both transactions, we had two, each asking for the same information from us, multiple times. These two underwriters – lovely people, I’m sure – needed to be repeatedly given the exact same documents since their fancy “online mortgage loan tracker” failed to work much of the time. Mismanagement, lack of communication, and everyone busily working in their own silos brought us to the brink of the deal falling through, on the Friday before our weekend flight to CT for the closing. Woof.

Everything was fine, in the end, but that was not due to the care or skill of the bank but rather the skill and the patience of Job on the part of my husband.  Not sure who the customer was here…

Not sharing this to complain. Merely setting out the context for the learning that I had and hope you have.

How is this like the experience of a donor? Let’s step into her shoes. Someone who wishes to do three simple things, all at once. She wants to 1) make an annual fund gift, as well as 2) update her alumni profile, and, finally, 3) buy tickets to the event.

Three things, that if you were about to pick up the phone and call the school’s development office, should be all be handled within a fifteen minute call.

So now I ask myself: should this imaginary donor need to deal with three different people in the development office? Of course not. The person who picks up the phone in the development office should be capable of handling all three simple tasks. Because these are simple tasks.

I can sense as many of you shaking your head in disbelief as I can in acknowledgment. This happens, folks. And – like at that extremely well-to-do bank – this happens often.

You heard me use the word “silos” earlier. I was very intentional with my word choice. That’s what it feels like, sometimes. We sit busily handling the tasks we feel best at, or are sometimes told to do, and make the donors do the hopping between us. It works for us but seen from the donor’s perspective, it can feel like a relay race. the donor doing the running.

Instead, let us consider the idea of diversifying our training, and making sure that each and every gift officer is responsible —  no, empowered – to manage everything that donor may need. Need to RSVP to an event? Happy to help! Change of address? Got it! Wish to make a pledge payment or get a duplicate gift receipt? You bet. Consider the radical idea of having one gift officer managing all the points of contact, creating a seamless and positive interaction, with her donors. Sounds so reasonable, doesn’t it? Not one gift officer for all of your donors. But the donors to whom she is assigned to cultivate and to steward. Think portfolio.

Now we return to our story: Next, we visited the local bank to set up a savings and checking account. The very kind teller explains that, sure, they have online banking. But (and she really did look chagrined to say this next bit), their bank requires that we establish a 6-month “relationship” before we can make deposits remotely. I’m sorry? (I confess I actually laughed out loud in her office.) Relationship? What they really mean is that they require a 6-month “probation” on the part of the customer before the customer is permitted to deposit her money into her account, remotely. Wow. And they are called “Savings and Trust”.

This also felt uncomfortably familiar. In schools, we tend to start a relationship with a family by asking (but actually insisting) that their first gift be made to some amorphous “annual fund”, which we are often at great pains to describe or explain. Not until we know them better do we provide the opportunity for them to make a more designated or – gasp – restricted gift.  Honestly, if we flipped that scenario, and gave donors the chance to first make a gift to something tangible and restricted – and then stewarded the heck out of them by showing them the impact that gift made before we asked them to trust US with a gift to the Annual Fund, just imagine what our schools and other non-profit organizations could look like! 

Any one of us, and every single donor, can purchase almost anything online and have it on our porch the next day. We’re accustomed to having our coffee made precisely the fussy way we want. That’s the world we live in now. Is your development office working in that same world? Or are we claiming – because it’s easier to stick to the way of working we already know, or whatever excuse we come up with – that “this is the only way we have right now?”

I know we can do better. Let’s all be inspired to look at the work we do differently. Better. (Your future donors thank you for making life easier for them!)

As always, I’m here if you want to discuss this idea. Just reach out via email.

Stay well,

Barbara Barron

barbara@barbarabarron.com // @BBAdvancement

Related posts:

• 
  How the 2026 Mid-Term Elections May Impact Our Fundraising & What We Can Do About It June 7, 2026
• 
  Success Story #4May 26, 2026
• 
  What Can We Do About Our Changing Parent Donors?May 11, 2026
• 
  Success Story #3April 24, 2026
• 
  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

The post What We Can Learn From Banks – and Then Do Very Differently appeared first on Barbara Barron.

January 27th, 2021 by Barbara Barron

What if you had the chance to secure a significant, maybe even transformational gift from a donor at an amount far beyond what they give annually? One that rivals their largest gift ever or even…their cumulative giving? 

Interested?

But what if you knew from the outset that the pledge would not be fulfilled for several or even many years? Would you still be interested? How about if this gift came within a contractual agreement? Now would you accept it?

I believe you would. I know I sure would.

What is this type of gift? It was new to me, too, until recently. I became familiar with using permanent life insurance as a method to make such a stretch gift possible for me – as a donor! I fell in love with it as an idea.

And now, having done this, I want to share the technique so you can use it to benefit some of your donors and your long-term development program.

Quick backstory: I serve on the Board of an international art organization. (Cambodian Living Arts, so great!) As we were in the early planning stage of our capital campaign, I knew I wanted to make a pledge that was meaningful to me and the organization, and would help move us towards our campaign goal. But, of course, I am not in a position to make an outright six-figure pledge right now. But with the help of my financial advisor and career life insurance professional husband – thank you, Mark! – I learned how I could make that level of commitment by using a permanent life insurance policy.

Don’t panic! When discussing insurance as an idea, it’s easy to get lost in the details. For the purposes of sharing this technique with you, I am going to do my best to keep the description of this gift tool at the 10,000-foot level.

However, if you are interested in the deeper dive, I am including some links at the end of this article to give you more granular detail and some helpful info. But I don’t want to scare anyone off. So let’s stay at cruising altitude and focus on the benefits of this approach.

I’ll use my gift to illustrate.

My wish was to pledge $100,000 to the campaign. That is far and away the largest gift I have ever considered giving. Ever. And I’ve worked for some outstanding organizations that I care deeply about! I never knew what I might be able to do. Until now.

How to do it? In short: I purchased a permanent life insurance policy for $100,000. The owner of the policy and sole beneficiary is my chosen organization. That’s key. They own it. Every year, they will pay the premium, but I will add that amount to my annual gift so they are not out of pocket. That means no impact to their lean operating budget. And when I die, whether it be in 3 months or 30 years, the $100,000 gift will come to my organization. The beneficiary here is a non-profit, so there are no tax consequences. 

But since we hope – at least, I hope we hope – there are actually 30+ years more to my life, here’s an additional cool part of this type of gift: because it is a permanent policy, cash starts to accrue in the policy as I am paying the premium. That cash also belongs to my charity — since they own the policy! And it sits on their balance sheet as the asset it is. So cool. And lastly, they get to choose if they want to use the cash or borrow from it for some large investment, like the purchase of property or another important initiative. It’s theirs to do with as they please.

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We tracking so far? “What about the risks?” you ask. A good question!

The risks, as I understand them, are minimal for the owner and beneficiary. Let’s say that I – or your imaginary future benefactor – were to bail out, drop off the map, and stop paying the premium. What happens then is that the charity can decide to continue to pay the premium itself, in order to keep the policy in force (and ensure they get the $100k at my death). But they could also decide to reduce the amount of the policy to something more manageable to maintain. Or, lastly, they could cancel the policy altogether and move the cash value into the general account and operating budget.

Meanwhile, how about the benefits? For starters, my charity can contractually count on $100,000 at some distant moment — and actually see the plan’s equity grow on their balance sheet as a long-term asset. They can tell other donors that they have secured another $100,000 donor. (Huge.) And this gift, unlike a legacy gift promise, cannot be changed by the donor once it’s put in place. (If you’ve ever had this happen you, you know how reassuring that is.)

For organizations that embed this strategy into their Major Gifts and Endowment campaigns, it is possible, using long-range predictive modeling, to estimate future gift maturities and incoming insurance cash flows for planned program expansions and facility improvements. Think about how wonderful is to be able to plan, long-term.

Okay, so finishing up, here. How about the benefits to me as the donor? Are there any? Of course! For one, I feel enormous pride in having made this commitment. And as a result, I feel even more invested in the work of this organization and its bright future. They can (and will) treat me as the major donor I now am. Not my main driver but nice, anyway.

In closing, there are some important things to bear in mind with this technique. Not everyone will be eligible to provide this gift, depending on their health status. This little caveat makes me think of the old adage:

“We purchase life insurance with our money, but we buy it with our health.”

In other words, for healthy and – typically – younger people, this is an inexpensive way to leverage-up and make a really large commitment, at a discount. Far too many young parents don’t have life insurance but should. Perhaps, as they are introduced to this opportunity, we can help them see how they can protect their families and also make a long- term gift to your school. An important win-win.

And let’s not count out the older generation. Many more “seasoned” donors, if healthy, can possibly leverage their legacy gift by using a life insurance gifting plan.

I’m sure you can see by now how this kind of gift takes your advancement program to the next level. Experienced donors will appreciate the sophistication when you bring it up. (I’d bet you they never considered such a thing was possible.) Finance committees will deeply appreciate the long-range revenue planning this creates. You, the advancement professional will have another substantive conversation to engage key donors. So I urge you to share the concept with your CFO and finance committee so they can come to fully understand it. And while personally I am no expert in life insurance, I am fortunate to have access to someone who is world class. There is likely someone in your community with these skills and experience, too. She or he can help you see and share now this technique can elevate a donor’s giving to new heights.

I am also happy to talk about it with you. (I really do have an open door policy!) Meanwhile, thank you for all you’re doing.

For those interested in the deeper dive, here are some resources to read and share:

• Mass Mutual – “How to Use Life Insurance for Charity”
• Forbes – “2 Ways to Combine Charitable Giving and Life Insurance”
• CCIM – “Charitable Donations of Life Insurance”

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.

She can be reached via email at barbara@barbarabarron.com

Related posts:

• 
  How the 2026 Mid-Term Elections May Impact Our Fundraising & What We Can Do About It June 7, 2026
• 
  Success Story #4May 26, 2026
• 
  What Can We Do About Our Changing Parent Donors?May 11, 2026
• 
  Success Story #3April 24, 2026
• 
  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

The post How to Use Permanent Life Insurance to Help A Donor Make Their Largest Gift –Ever appeared first on Barbara Barron.

by Barbara Barron | Revised May 14th, 2025

Ever wish you could get a clear-eyed, objective look at your advancement program?  An honest assessment of what’s really working, what’s not, and what to do about it? 

You’re not alone. In fact, most schools would benefit from an outside eye. And it’s what I offer in the form of an Advancement Appraisal. 

An appraisal is “the evaluation of something of value.” That’s what your advancement program is. Or should be!

In short, an Advancement Appraisal is a thorough evaluation of your development program. And what kinds of insights can you expect to gain as the Head of School or the Director of Advancement or a Board Chair from an Advancement Appraisal? Many.

I’ll break it down for you. 

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A few insights

Spotlight on what’s working. Let’s start with which processes are working and ought to be amplified? Which practices are not? Where are the wobbly bits? Which things are you doing year after year but are either outdated or simply not getting the desired result?  It could be focusing too heavily on participation and not enough of growing your leadership donors. Maybe it’s relying on generic appeals rather than customizing your asks to be more thoughtful and more compelling.

Tracking long-term growth. Let’s find out if you are raising more money each year? From whom?

The right people in the right place. We’ll also discover if the right people are in the right seats in the department. We’ll explore how well the development, admission, and communication departments and professionals collaborate. How coordinated are your messages and communication strategy? Is the budget being allocated in the areas that bring the greatest return?

The Board. Then there’s the Board. How well is it functioning in its role of securing the resources the school needs? What’s the vetting and onboarding process like for new trustees? Do they fully understand what their role entails? Are they trained, confident, and prepared to be helpful?

Engagement with families. Let’s also investigate how prospective and new families are educated about what it’s like to be engaged with and supportive of the school. Are you telling families stories about the many benefits the school derives from having a supportive community? 

Stewardship. So vitally important: how robust or anemic is the school’s stewardship program?  Are you reporting to donors how you used their gifts? What do donor families feel about giving to your school? Have you ever asked them? 

These are the kinds of areas I examine and from which my recommendations flow. 

Gathering intel

So how do I get all this information for the appraisal? Via a series of interviews with key administrators and volunteers, and a careful review of communication, giving data, and departmental processes. AfterwardsI synthesize the information and insights into a report that details the strengths and weaknesses of the program. This confidential report goes to the Head of School, along with a set of recommendations intended to be shared widely. These recs list specific changes needed to help the school raise more money, and grow more leaders. Because in the end, the fastest and surest way I know to raise more money is to build leadership, in all areas. In our schools we work to build leadership, skill, and confidence in our students in and out of the classroom. Why not approach the raising of money the same way?

There are many occasions when this kind of analysis is particularly helpful. Take, for instance, a client school of mine that was considering embarking on a future capital campaign. As part of the vitally important pre-planning process, my advancement appraisal illuminated where the necessary preparation work lay, well before they stepped into that very public and high stakes effort.

Other examples: when the Head was new to the school and needed to quickly get an understanding of the challenges ahead. And when there was about to be turnover at the top of the advancement program. That Head of School needed my sense of the best way forward, before embarking on an extensive (and expensive) search and hiring effort. 

Often, I am approached for an appraisal because there is a vague sense that the school could and should be raising more money, but no one is certain how. Or sometimes there is a question about the Board and its role in development. Is this vital body ready to engage in the work?  Do they have the confidence or skills to be helpful?

Regardless of the reason I am retained to conduct the appraisal, the result is both strategic and practical. The report tells it like it really is — something a person on the inside is rarely able to do. And the recommendations I develop create a clear plan for moving forward with new energy and focus. We stop doing what isn’t working. And we start, working together, implementing tactics that are proven to raise more money and build a stronger giving community. 

Every school, every organization, has limited resources. Especially now. It is so important to celebrate what’s working and give those efforts more fuel. But we also need to be honest about what’s not getting results so we can begin to make the changes that are going to have a real and lasting impact.

And if you are thinking that we need to do this work in the dark of night, because people might feel threatened, let me assure you that in every one of these appraisals I’ve done, teachers, parents, administrators, and trustees enjoy the conversations and welcome the clarity and direction the process brings. 

The appraisal is ultimately a guide to greater success. For everyone.

Don’t Take My Word For It

Here’s how one client described it: 

“We couldn’t be happier – and most importantly, more strategic, productive, and confident – resulting from the work of Barbara Barron. The Advancement Appraisal that Barbara completed was specific to the Trinity community, provided relevant and readily applicable recommendations, was comprehensive and thorough. Trinity’s philanthropic work is greatly enhanced thanks to Barbara’s expertise and care.”

Matt Allio
Head of School, Trinity School
Menlo Park, CA

Or from Alexandra Lockett, Head of the Cate School:

“As a new school head, I am working to learn all I can about the evolving world of advancement. Working with Barbara opened my eyes to long-standing best practices as well as innovative approaches to donor engagement. Barbara is a warm and attentive listener and discerning in her insights. I’ve already highly recommended Barbara to my network!”

Alexandra Lockett
Head of School, Cate School
Santa Barbara, CA

Or from Andrew David, Head of the Mount Tamalpais School:

“Barbara provided an invaluable, third-party assessment of our advancement program. Her interviews and data analysis provided the clear next steps to take our advancement efforts to the next level.”

Andrew David
Head of School, Mount Tamalpais School
Mill Valley, CA

Thanks to them for these kind words. And to you, for all you’re doing for your fine schools.

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.

Related posts:

• 
  How the 2026 Mid-Term Elections May Impact Our Fundraising & What We Can Do About It June 7, 2026
• 
  Success Story #4May 26, 2026
• 
  What Can We Do About Our Changing Parent Donors?May 11, 2026
• 
  Success Story #3April 24, 2026
• 
  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

The post Finding the Good: How the Advancement Appraisal Works appeared first on Barbara Barron.

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 these core values; how we can view our work through the same critical lens.

Specifically: what assumptions are we making in our work? How can we raise the vital funds we need for our school programs and not be “elite?” How might our profession find ways to lead in this area while still meeting our ambitious goals?

I have been struggling with this complex topic and how best to advise my clients. So, as I often do when I feel out of my depth, I sought advice. Fortunately, I had access to someone who is truly leading in this work. Her name is Tesha McCord Poe, and she’s a seasoned advancement officer. She’s also an independent school graduate and now, a current parent. Currently she serves as Director of Advancement at Girls’ Middle School in Palo Alto CA and, for our purposes here, CEO of her new firm called Joy-Raising. (More on that cool name in a moment.)

I shared with Tesha my confusion: how, in over twenty years of raising significant money for myriad schools – many with richly diverse student bodies made possible through significant budgetary commitments to financial aid – was I so flummoxed by this mandate?

How was I to think about what feels like an impossible balance between raising money and being inclusive?

I confessed that I can count on the fingers of one hand the times I have had the opportunity to sit with a family of color and ask for a leadership gift.

Her answer: stop thinking about this as two sides of a seesaw that needs to be balanced. Open the lens. Reframe the conversation.

I needed some stories to help me see this. Here are a few from our conversation.

Let’s take the ubiquitous coffee that schools host for new families early in the school year. Typically it’s served in the school’s library at 8:30 am, just after drop-off.  Why? Well, it’s very convenient for us, right? (Are you cringing already?)

Tesha reported that, naturally, this year, that meeting at her school needed to be held remotely. As they went around the zoom squares, and each parent spoke of their child’s early experience at the school, one mom reported out – all in Spanish. And it was obvious that she was moving around quite a bit within her box on the screen. When Tesha asked her, in Spanish, what she was doing, she reported she was setting up her food truck.

Lightbulb.

In ordinary times, there’s no way this mom would have been able to attend the meeting and share her daughter’s story. They would have missed her voice. We’d do well for our communities to ask ourselves: who is missing from our events because we hold them in the morning? Or at the end of the school day? Or at a fancy home?

The work gets a little tougher as we think of the emphasis on being “donor centered”. How might we be unintentionally playing to the biases, known or unknown, of our donors. Gets tricky here.

Tesha’s comment reminded me of a conversation I had this summer with a client. She had successfully set up a very important meeting, the first with a key donor and her new Head of School. Her inclination was to stay only for the first part of the meeting and then leave, so these two men could talk. What was she doing, even with the best of intentions? She was taking herself out of the conversation and I urged her not to. (I admit I have done that myself over the years – thinking I was striving to make the donor  — always a man – feel most comfortable!)

Tesha concurs: We all need to not do that – as women (which most of us are in this particular profession) and certainly not as a Black woman, as Tesha is. But if we decide that we are going to take ourselves out, we need to do so consciously. We need to name it for what it is. Courageously unpack it. Therein lies a challenge. In this work, there’s always something we may need to be prepared to give up. And someone else’s comfort is sometimes that thing.

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Finally, as a sector, Tesha urges us to look at our systems. Where might we be permitting donors to influence our programs in ways that run counter to our mission and to the wellbeing of the community?

Very specifically, are our gift acceptance policies explicit that we will not accept gifts that are not in accordance with our values? Some cases, Tesha points out, are clear, like a school refusing to hold a casino night because gambling runs counter to their values. But the places where the policy and our practices are less aligned are often more subtle. Action item: suggest that your development committee review this guiding document through this lens? And then, important for transparency, report the needed revisions to the community.

We’re still going to need to raise money from the families that have the resources to share with our organizations. But the language we use matters. If we can talk about making gifts that are “meaningful” to each family, we’re moving in the right direction. Tesha speaks of her work to secure each family’s “best gift”. I think that’s a beautiful notion.

And beauty is what Tesha is seeking. The beauty that comes from real growth, achieved through vulnerability. (We ask nothing less of our students: vulnerability and growth. Why not of ourselves?)

And now, about that great company name: Joy-Raising.

First, Joy is Tesha’s middle name. But that’s just a nice synchronicity. Her goal is nothing less than the start of a movement  — one that makes us all better. Our organizations. Our individual selves. Joy, then, is the feeling she — and we? –we are striving for.

Don’t know about you, but I never needed that more than I do right now.

Eager to hear your ideas about this important topic. I don’t believe our work will ever be “done”. We must always be improving.

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. She can be reached via email at barbara@barbarabarron.com

About Joy-Raising

Joy-Raising is led by founder and CEO Tesha McCord Poe, an attorney, turned law teacher, turned nonprofit leader who has led fundraising efforts totalling more than $50 million. Joy-Raising partners with organizations to address their most critical fundraising and diversity/equity and inclusion (DEI) needs. Whether it’s helping to launch a capital campaign or confronting unexamined bias in hiring practices, Joy-Raising  knows how to work with leaders to move forward and bring change. “We are unafraid to engage in the most challenging discussions about philanthropy, money, race, class, and community in order to help your organization accomplish its best.” Tesha can be reached via email at tesha@joy-raising.com

Related posts:

• 
  How the 2026 Mid-Term Elections May Impact Our Fundraising & What We Can Do About It June 7, 2026
• 
  Success Story #4May 26, 2026
• 
  What Can We Do About Our Changing Parent Donors?May 11, 2026
• 
  Success Story #3April 24, 2026
• 
  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

The post Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion: An Interview with Tesha McCord Poe appeared first on Barbara Barron.

by Barbara Barron | Posted August 19th, 2020

A client asked me that question the other day. And it’s a good one. It’s a question that is far more complex and potentially far-reaching than it might appear at first glance.

The question is actually this: How do we thank the people who help steer our organizations? Who give so generously of their time, talent, and treasure? (And yes, it’s all three, my friends. Never let your trustee prospects think otherwise.)  How, especially now, do we acknowledge their work as the decisions they help our Heads make for our schools weigh so heavily. And have a potentially huge impact?

How can we surprise and delight them (as I advocate in other articles) when they are often in on the planning and execution of our best stewardship plans?

I bet you have your own answers to those questions already bubbling up in that brilliant mind of yours. I’ll offer my take here.

First, to the extent you can, keep some of your cool ideas for stewardship under wraps. Try not to “spill your candy on the lobby floor” so you can let your trustees experience your acts of stewardship for themselves. But if you can’t do that, try using your best ideas first on these good people. Send the adorable photo or that powerful report on the impact of their giving to them early in the cycle. Then when you roll it out with others, you can report on your progress and your trustees will know exactly what you’re talking about. They will have felt all the feels! 

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After all, shouldn’t we always try to bring our best selves, our best work, to those who make the biggest difference in our work and to our schools? 

But beyond that, what are some other ways we can demonstrate our gratitude to our volunteer leaders?  Remember, the very best way to say thank you is to be immediate and specific. Being late always feels disingenuous. Being vague never feels good. 

And it needn’t take you a ton of time.

I have found that one of the best ways is through a short, heartfelt, and (again) specific messages. Email if that’s best. A handwritten note is also nice.  I offer you some examples: 

Hi Dave,

Thanks so much for that helpful comment at the committee meeting yesterday. Your voice helped redirect the conversation back to the strategy.  I think that moved us ahead in our thinking. I’m grateful.

Hi Allison,

I so appreciated the way you followed up immediately with the Jones family. When I spoke with Mrs. Jones this morning, she commented on what a lovely surprise it was to hear from you. Letting me know you’d made contact was super helpful so I was better prepared. I’m so fortunate to have your partnership in this work. 

Hi Sondra,  

It meant so much to me to be able to run that strategy by you before the Board meeting. Thanks for making the extra time when I know how busy you are. I totally felt you had my back.

Hi Will,

Wow! I was really touched by your comment about the improvements you’ve seen in our program this year. I believe your endorsement will motivate others to participate more like you have, which will help move us closer to our goals. Thanks so much. 

I can’t imagine a volunteer receiving a message like any of these and not feeling deeply appreciated, really seen, truly recognized. Can you?

And besides it being the right thing to do, like most right things, there are other lovely benefits of trying this approach. What these messages underscore are the very actions and attitudes we want and need in our volunteers. It’s the stuff that actually helps us do our jobs better.  We are teaching our trustees how best to work with us.

We are teaching them the importance of:

• Making time before a meeting to get aligned
• Acting on an assignment right away
• Following up promptly
• Reporting back to us so we can keep better notes
• Supporting us publicly
• Being prepared
• Showing up and speaking up in support of the strategy
• Partnering with us

Most volunteers want to be helpful but aren’t always sure how to be. Many of your trustees may be serving in this role for the first time. So it’s a major leg up for them when we can coach them in ways of serving most productively.

Another less public – but very powerful – benefit of this partnership is that we, as the advancement professionals, may feel more satisfied in our work. When that happens, we work better, harder, and smarter. And we tend to stay at our organization a bit longer. The turnover rate in our profession is dishearteningly high. And expensive in many ways. Think about it. When we leave, we take all that institutional and donor knowledge with us. Even if you leave an excellent exit document for your successor, there will be things lost. Donors may feel sad when you leave. It may shake their confidence. And it can take months or even years to build trust and faith in the new person. The inefficiencies posed by a new person in the office are significant. It takes time and money to get even the smartest and most experienced pros up to speed. 

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Of course, our organizations, our Heads, and our Boards would do well to keep us and keep us satisfied. (Are you hearing this, Heads and Board members?!) But because we’re all grownups here, we may need to take the initiative and care for some of our needs. We may need to be our own champions.  

In the end, the better the relationships you have with key volunteers, the smoother things will go all around. This important work will increase your own productivity and your ability to meet those sky-high goals. It will increase the retention of your best volunteers. This is for everyone’s sanity! It’s one of those super-rare win-win-wins.

How did your answers to the question compare with mine? I bet you’ve got some winning ways of your own for thanking your trustees! Please share. We all benefit from learning from one another.

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.

The post How Do We Thank Trustees? appeared first on Barbara Barron.

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, stretching (in some cases) to reach the new, elevated giving level?

That she is receiving thank you notes from families for the extraordinary letter she sent them asking for a gift?!

All true. Promise. So, what did we do?

First, the issue.

Here’s where we started:

The Chief Development Officer at this fine school – let’s call her Anna – called me to help her develop a strategy for making better use of her staff and creating more valuable team meetings.

Over time, our conversations focused on issues and opportunities with the Board, and how to tackle untapped potential she saw in a portion of their parent body.

Anna reported to me about a group of returning families that she sensed could and would give a lot more if she could find the right approach. They’d entered the school and made nice first gifts. “How do we thank them and inspire them to give more?”

Simultaneously, Anna had that nagging knowing that they needed to increase their giving levels to raise sights on what leadership really meant there. She was right.

This is a very well resourced, respected school, with many, many families of means. But the lesson is good one no matter how wealthy – or not – your school community.

We landed on the idea of leading with gratitude.

What is “leading with gratitude”?

It’s pretty simple, actually.

Anna would thank families for their first gift and express how grateful the school was for their early leadership. It’s an act of faith to start supporting a new school, right from the jump, before you see the real impact the program and the teachers will have on your child.

That’s worth calling out. And thanking.

The next part was the more far-out piece. And when we first discussed it, I could see the ambiguity in her eyes. She was going to have to really go for it. So, she did. She went deep. (That’s how she rolls.)

Here’s what she did:

She wrote a completely original section for each and every letter.

Re-read that sentence. No template. No form letter with a little “note” jotted on the bottom that simply screams to the reader that this is a form letter we didn’t have the heart to send without a little personalized scribble. Ick.

She invested an enormous number of hours to offer something real and fresh. She got out of her office and found every one of the students whose parents were in that group. She watched each student in action. She found them on the athletic fields. She watched them perform experiments in the physics lab. She listened in on their advisory groups.

She went there. And she observed.

In the end, she was able to report with complete authenticity what she had witnessed: her donor’s children engaged in life and learning at this school.

The beauty of this idea is that parents, particularly those of high school students, are appropriately less involved in the daily lives of their kids. It’s natural. But that doesn’t mean parents  — all parents — aren’t still eager, even hungry, to know more about what goes on in their child’s day.

So she provided a window to moments these parents would otherwise never have been privy to. It was intimate and real.

And the parents absolutely loved it.

The payoff.

Did this project take a huge commitment of Anna’s time? Yep.

Did she curse the project (and maybe me) midway through, when she still had another 20 letters to write and it was a Tuesday night or a Sunday afternoon? Probably. 

Did she take a leap of faith that all this time and love and energy (and investigation) would be worth it? She did.

And that’s why she’s my heroine.

Then the gifts started coming in. And the cards. And the emails. All thanking Anna for the “beautiful” letter she’d written. She was thrilled. What affirmation!

Turns out, the right thing, the careful, loving, intentional, often time-consuming, and the harder thing is also… the smart thing.

After all, parents send their children to our schools precisely because we promise to really see them, to know them. What better evidence is there of that promise kept than by actually doing it?

And now, my client has a more legitimate, authentic relationship with these families than she did before. It’s up to her now to make sure those gifts are properly thanked and stewarded, and to work to keep that trust alive and well.

I have no doubt that she will.

And now, it’s up to you.

Let’s be realists: doing this work will require that you reorganize your day. Or several days. Or months.

It’s often said that we in independent schools are excellent at addition, and terrible at subtraction. We love innovation and the next great idea. But we tend to forget that we will need to remove something from our plates to make space (intellectually and emotionally as well as practically) to take on something new.

So here’s the first step.

Find that thing that can wait, or be eliminated, and instead pour yourself into something more worthwhile. Maybe the way to move the needle at your school is simply to do more of what you do so well: connect genuinely with your parents. Maybe what it takes is to be the change you wish to see.

Will it be difficult? Absolutely.

Will the payoff be extraordinary? You better believe it.

I mean, can you imagine the moment you tell your head of school you actually got 100% return on your annual fund letter? Can you even comprehend what that conversation would look like?

You better start.

As always, I’d love to hear what you’re choosing to do differently at your school. Shoot me an email.

Let’s keep learning and improving 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 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 Drew School, Crystal Springs, Marin Primary & Middle School, Julia Morgan School for Girls 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 Do We Get a 100% Return On Our Annual Fund Appeal Letters? appeared first on Barbara Barron.

by Barbara Barron | Posted October 10th, 2018

Once upon a time, I was hired to build a major gifts program to reduce debt and build cash reserves.

Exciting, right?

I remember conferring with some professional friends at a conference shortly after I started. “Good luck, Barbara!” one of them said. “That’s what I’d call unsexy money.”

Funny. And kinda true. Building the cash reserves for a school is not the most tantalizing program out there. It’ll always be far sexier to ask for something concrete, right? Something tangible. Like a new state-of-the-art pool. Heck, even refurbishing the seats in the auditorium gives our donors a way to see their gifts at work.

I admit that, at first, I was a little unsure how to proceed. And everyone’s negative reaction didn’t help! And then, well… something changed.

Our development committee had one of those really generative meetings. The kind you prepare for, and hope for and, well, rarely have.

Together, we realized we had to think about this program and its “pitch” very differently. So we flipped the script.

We began to talk about this program as a way to ensure the school’s financial sustainability not only for this generation but for several generations. And we realized we needed to keep this small, selective. Not a public campaign. This major gifts program, by definition, was going to approach the very few families who were already crazy generous. The ones who had the capacity to dig deep and make a transformative gift.

Guess what? We did it. We raised nearly $5 million.

And now, looking back, I believe it was that meeting of the minds where we set the terms and dictated our own internal strategy that paved the way for our success.

I’m sure my genius collaborators won’t mind if I share what we came up with. It all comes down to three simple strategies that all work in tandem.

Strategy #1: Push for urgency

That’s a good looking pool, isn’t it?

See, if I was raising money for a new pool, that’s exactly the kind of picture I would use to help illustrate how essential it is that our school have a pool just like this one. And I might pair it with a deadline like: “We have the coach lined up! We can have a competitive swim team this year! And your child can be on it!”

But how can you have the same sense of urgency for something like debt?

It’s talking about the things that you won’t have until the debt and the reserves are handled. Tangible things. Real things. Things that the donor wants the school to have, but simply aren’t possible until we get through the current campaign.

The thing that must be done first, before you can even think about the fun stuff down the road.

This creates that vital sense of urgency. You’ve set the terms and now it’s a matter of whether and how they can pitch in.

Strategy #2: Make every contribution feel permanent

Wow! What a snazzy looking auditorium. (We can’t wait to get through this debt relief campaign so we can start talking about that… right?)

You’ll notice I’m pushing very hard on the idea of the tangible. The permanent.

That’s because we all know that the process of giving is so much more rewarding for our donors when they can see, or experience, the results of their gifts. This is just basic human psychology, here. And it plays perfectly into my point.

Putting money towards a cash reserve may seem like dropping coins into a sea of coins. Your job is to show how it’s actually the opposite. Gifts made today expand as time goes by. They make future dreams come true. Even dreams not yet dreamed!

Instead of talking about adding to a “reserve”, we talked about future generations. Real resources like faculty salaries, tuition assistance, programs, facilities. That’s the beautiful thing about a cash reserve: it is future money. It’s for the kids, but it’s also for the grandkids and the great-grandkids.

See how appealing today’s gift now becomes, when it’s put in this new context? Who wouldn’t want to provide a wonderful education for kids who aren’t even born yet?

Strategy #3: Choose your words carefully

You already choose your words carefully every day, don’t you? There’s no reason why you should act any differently here. Here’s the point: we should never not tell people what we’re raising money for. We all know there’s no space in our profession for being duplicitous or manipulative. We’re truth tellers. And stewards of our donors’ gifts.

It takes a bit of thoughtful wordsmithing to find and tell the story that helps the donor see a future that’s stronger and better than the one you are currently facing. And, here’s the key: tell it without creating a toxic sense of doom or despair. (Challenging but not impossible.)

Wrap it in what’s already working, and what wants to be even better. Showcase moments in the classroom or science lab or sound studio where students and their teachers are on fire! “Don’t you want this to continue? Of course, you do! Well, we can only ensure that it will with cash reserves. It’s as permanent as permanent gets.”

At the end of the day, your donors want to give. They want to help! They just need our assistance in making sure that their gift is going towards the real, the important, the valuable.

And when that new tennis court comes in, you better invite them out to a match, right? After all, they helped make it a reality.

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 Watkinson, Cheshire Academy, Drew School, Crystal Springs, Sage Ridge 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 Raise Money for Debt Reduction and Cash Reserves? appeared first on Barbara Barron.