February 24th, 2021 by Barbara Barron I get why “The Gap” was created. Back in the day, it made a certain amount of sense for independent schools who were charging tuition but still needed additional non-tuition revenue to mount annual giving campaigns to make their operating budgets work. No doubt they were finding it incredibly challenging to explain to parents …
Giving Circles Taken to the Next Level
February 11th, 2021 by Barbara Barron Nearly every school I know has the tradition of setting “giving levels” for their Annual Fund and other fundraising projects. Most are pretty pro-forma, in my view. Generally, the top level is called something like Platinum or Gold — and the tiers work their way down from Silver and Bronze to the merely participatory. …
How to Use Permanent Life Insurance to Help A Donor Make Their Largest Gift –Ever
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 …
How to Quickly Create a Legacy Program at Your Independent School
by Barbara Barron | Posted October 28th, 2020 What if I could show you how to quickly create a legacy program? Or, if you already have an existing legacy society, how to sharply increase the number of members? What if I could demonstrate that – in growing your planned giving group using this technique – you will also secure additional …
How Do the Recent Tax Changes Impact Giving?
by Barbara Barron | Posted September 30th, 2020 In the world of advancement, there are plenty of truisms and myths. Some are accurate — “People give because they are asked.” Or, said in the converse, “If you don’t ask, you won’t receive a gift.” Some are wrong — “People give because they are looking for a tax deduction.” Nope. Not …
How One School Reimagined its Gala and Raised Over a Million Dollars
by Barbara Barron | Posted June 1st, 2020 The other day, I spoke with a favorite client of mine about their recent virtual gala. This is a person I deeply respect who runs a top-notch advancement program at a very well-resourced school. She wanted to share with me the ways that they “pivoted” (our new favorite word) to create an …
How Can You Know if Your School is Prepared for a Capital Campaign?
by Barbara Barron | Posted January 7th, 2020 There is a very good reason that schools and other organizations only endeavor to launch a capital campaign every five to ten years. Capital campaigns are big and hard and scary. While they have the power and potential to transform an organization and its program, helping to better deliver on the promise …
How Do We Get a 100% Return On Our Annual Fund Appeal Letters?
by Barbara Barron | Posted August 14th, 2019 True success story: a client reported back to me on a pretty far out-there strategy we had developed last summer for their Annual Fund approach to returning parents. Would you believe me if I told you that she is seeing almost 100% return? That nearly every family is increasing its giving substantially, …
How Can We Make Our School’s Annual Auction More Successful?
by Barbara Barron | Posted December 12th, 2018 I am going to start by admitting to a bias that won’t shock you, if you’ve read my post about phon-a-thons. I, Barbara Barron, am not a huge fan of annual school galas and auctions. There. I said it! I imagine you’re reading this because you feel similarly. Perhaps you’re the sole …
How Do I Get Rid of My School’s Phonathon and Raise More Money?
by Barbara Barron | Posted November 7th, 2018 I’m not sure what’s in the water, but twice in the past month, I’ve found myself in conversations with clients about a fundraising practice I thought had ended decades ago: phonathons. Phonathons? Really?! For those who missed this classic 1980’s practice, a phonathon is a fundraising event in which a handful of volunteers …