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 …
How Can We Make Sure Our School’s Annual Report Isn’t a Scam?
by Barbara Barron | Posted May 9th, 2018 As you can probably tell by the title, I’ve got a tiny issue with the way we do annual reports. In fact, I have several, but they all come back to a central question, which is this: Is our school’s annual report actually achieving the thing that it is intended to achieve? …
How Can We Create a Strategic Fundraising Plan That Actually Works?
by Barbara Barron | Posted January 10th, 2018 How many times has this happened to you? It’s the beginning of the new year. Everyone is fired up and feeling ambitious. Things that didn’t feel possible before are within arms reach. You and your team get together for a series of meetings to look forward. You spend hours talking about your strategic …