the team Archives - Barbara Barron https://www.barbarabarron.com/tag/the-team/ Advancement Consultant for Independent Schools Thu, 30 Mar 2023 17:53:10 +0000 en hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 https://www.barbarabarron.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/cropped-BB-favicon-2021-32x32.png the team Archives - Barbara Barron https://www.barbarabarron.com/tag/the-team/ 32 32 137423154 The Power of the Feasibility Study https://www.barbarabarron.com/the-power-of-the-feasibility-study/ Sun, 10 Apr 2022 11:33:46 +0000 https://www.barbarabarron.com/?p=5518 Feasibility studies, if you haven’t experienced one, are designed to help the organization's decision-makers better understand the strengths, weaknesses, and viability of their project. It is a test of the project’s appeal and whether it’s a good gamble to mount a campaign to fund it.

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by Barbara Barron | Posted April 13th, 2022 | Subscribe to this newsletter

I am currently hip-deep in a feasibility study for a client. This means I’ve been having 45–60-minute conversations for the last several weeks with the organization’s donors, board members, and other stakeholders. And while the questions are fairly standard for a project like this, I’m seeing how much more there is just under the surface and am reminded of how powerful this process can be. In fact, could it be a mode for building a better cultivation and stewardship program?

First, the basics. What do we ask in a feasibility study? The main headline questions we ask are:

  • What are your opinions of the organization and its leadership?
  • What impresses you (or doesn’t) about the proposed project?
  • How realistic do you think our working goal is?

And the one that helps us assess the viability of the campaign:

  • If the project were to come to fruition, do you see yourself making a gift to the campaign, and in what amount or range?

Feasibility studies, if you haven’t experienced one, are designed to help the organization’s decision-makers better understand the strengths, weaknesses, and viability of their project. It is a test of the project’s appeal and whether it’s a good gamble to mount a campaign to fund it.

After all, as I have said to clients considering this, if you can just finance the project with reserves or go to the bank, consider that first. Capital campaigns are risky. And unpredictable. They are costly in terms of time and human and other resources. They require commitment and discipline from everyone for anywhere from twelve to thirty-six months. Or longer. If the project requires construction, there are the issues around the supply chain, rising costs, and the joys of living and working in a construction site.

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So, a feasibility study, conducted during the important pre-planning stage, long before anything is decided, is smart money spent. The investment gives you the best gauge you can get of whether your project has the appeal it will need to leverage significant gifts – often the largest any donor has made to your organization. Pro tip here: the study must include the very people who have the capacity and the propensity (that dynamic duo of factors) to ensure the campaign’s success. It’s not a moment to sell the project, although that is a natural inclination. It is truly about learning. It’s a “reality test.”

So what’s the “much more beneath the surface” I referenced above? It’s that stuff between the lines of those questions and many others. If we are really tuned in, therein lie gems of intelligence and understanding to help us know what these donors really think and truly care about. This is gold.

The conversation is a safe space. I promise confidentiality. I, as the consultant, am a neutral party. Like the stranger on a train phenomenon, donors often share thoughts and feelings, slights, and annoyances they have yet to share with the organization and its leaders. I don’t think this is necessarily a healthy dynamic. In a perfect world, they would feel comfortable being candid with the people who have the power to make change. As a response to this common condition, a new and different model of feasibility study is emerging, from the genius of Andrea Kihlstedt of the Capital Campaign ToolKit. They call it a Guided Feasibility Study. In that model, the organization’s key leaders conduct the interviews and have the tough conversations themselves. They are the one hearing the truth. Interesting, right? 

For our purposes here, the reality is this: the consultant is hearing these truths. I don’t always love what I hear. But it’s powerful stuff anyway. It is all excellent intelligence for improving cultivation efforts, regardless of whether there’s a campaign waiting in the wings.

It’s humbling to be trusted in this way. It has led me to wonder why we don’t do this more often. Why don’t we center our cultivation and stewardship programs around opportunities to listen deeply to our donors.

Imagine designing intentional, scheduled conversations like these with donors every couple of years. We’d invite them to share their frank thoughts and opinions as we listen. Everyone loves to be asked for advice, right? There’s an old adage that goes: “If you want advice, ask someone for money. If you want money, ask them for advice.”  So true. Let’s ask our loyal donors what they think of our program and how we are delivering it. Let’s ask what they believe we should be doing more of, or less of. Let’s ask how it feels for them to support our organization and its mission. Let’s ask for honest feedback about how well we report back to them about how we put their gift to use. Or not. In short: let’s just lay it out there and let them tell us what they think.

Wow. Are we ready for that? Imagine it from the donor’s perspective. If we have ever said that we care what they think, we probably owe it to them to actually ask and listen.

Maybe it’s not an hour-long interview. Maybe it is a couple of open-ended, vulnerable questions that we ask over coffee. It could be a part of our cultivation and stewardship plan to remain closely connected to these individuals and families. Think of the level of trust we could build. Imagine what we could learn that would help us do what we do better.

There’s power in good questions and in open-minded, open-hearted listening. If you are interested in some truth telling, I’d love to help you think it through. Reach out to me about your school via email.

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.

The post The Power of the Feasibility Study appeared first on Barbara Barron.

]]> 5518 What is the Real Cost of Turnover in Our School’s Development Office? https://www.barbarabarron.com/what-is-the-real-cost-of-turnover-in-our-schools-development-office/ Wed, 16 Feb 2022 05:38:00 +0000 https://www.barbarabarron.com/?p=5356 by Barbara Barron | Posted February 16th, 2022 | Subscribe to this newsletter Ever find yourself hearing three or four interconnected thoughts in the same few minutes? Or days? For me, that’s when I know something is afoot. It signals that I need to slow down, think deeply, and then write about that confluence. Here it is. Thing one is ...

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by Barbara Barron | Posted February 16th, 2022 | Subscribe to this newsletter

Ever find yourself hearing three or four interconnected thoughts in the same few minutes? Or days?

For me, that’s when I know something is afoot. It signals that I need to slow down, think deeply, and then write about that confluence. Here it is.

Thing one is that I have recently learned of two very seasoned and successful directors of development who are considering leaving their current organizations. Both have raised boatloads of money and are trusted and respected in their communities. One is looking for a new challenge after many years.  But looking elsewhere rather than within. (More on that in a minute.) The other is facing a wall of insurmountable resistance. From above. The writing is very clearly all over that particular wall. Sadly, it’s time to move on. The organizations that these two fine professionals serve are about to face something that is decidedly… not good.

Thing two is that I was just reading Donna Orem, NAIS President’s recent “Looking Ahead” column. She forecasts trends in giving and also references the real issue of burnout in the advancement realm. One of the links is to yet another Chronicle of Philanthropy study about the high cost of losing experienced fundraisers. Again? Still? Augh.

I’ve presented on this topic at CASE-NAIS and have written about it here. When we lose someone our donors know and trust, someone with deep and contextual institutional memory and great standing in our community, we not only lose them as trusted advisors. According to the Chronicle piece, we are letting (potentially) hundreds of thousands of dollars in future major gifts walk out the door. This should make Heads and Board members weak in the knees, as it will likely take months or years for someone new to amass the kind of social power and philanthropic influence to secure those significant gifts.

If they ever do.

Meanwhile, some of your best donor family prospects will have moved on in the interim. Perhaps reading that might also empower some of the under-paid and under-appreciated development pros reading this to speak up and advocate for yourselves. Check out this calculator so you can apply the math.

Your salary, my friends, is a mere fraction of your potential worth to your school. Don’t forget that! 

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What is missing from the discussion is how to solve this very real problem. Let’s go back to my first example above, where our development professional has decided that it’s time to seek other challenges (read: opportunities) elsewhere. One of the chief reasons that pros give for moving on is the desire to stretch professionally. To gain proficiency in a new area. Professional growth, folks. Everyone worth their salt needs it to continue to thrive.

So in this situation, what if, instead, they first had a frank discussion with their Head about ways to leverage their years of experience and relationships to forge a new, robust major gifts program? If my friend were to have that opportunity at their current school, perhaps a year or two from now, they might have built a rocking major gifts program, helping the school see transformative gifts as a result of those cultivated relationships. If they move on, they may still affect that kind of abundance at a new place. But statistically, it won’t be for several years, as they won’t immediately enjoy those relationships with the new people. See my point?

In the second situation, classic and systemic problems are at work. Leadership thinks it knows everything. People are reduced to working in silos. Diverse perspectives are not brought to bear on problem-solving so they keep trying the same solutions to evolving problems. As educational organizations, we love to talk about advocacy, letting students try and fail, and the power of iteration. But those values often stop at the classroom door.

An old professional friend once told me that we can only ever go as far as our leaders can see for us. Sad and true. That’s exactly what’s happening here. A complicating factor for schools is that the market is extremely tight. So both schools will likely have to pay far more for far less to hire my friends’ successors. Even if they find someone excellent – and I hope they do! – they are months or years away from yielding the possible results they could have achieved if they’d allowed my friends to do the extraordinary work they have shown they can do. Senseless.

In closing, I do have to say that, despite everything I’ve said here, moving on is sometimes still the best possible decision. For everyone. I have long believed that the right thing for the individual is ultimately the right thing for the organization. Even if it doesn’t initially feel like that. But to my Heads and volunteer readers: isn’t it worth trying to create an atmosphere where you keep great people a bit longer? To recognize and reward worth and contribution? To allow for growth and experimentation, especially if it results in increased revenue and more connected, loyal donors?

And for those of you who are too burned out or itchy to even try to create a better situation where you are, I leave you with this advice.

We all know the expression “To live well is the best revenge.” I would add this little corollary: “If true, then the second-best revenge is to leave a high watermark.” Do extraordinary work. Be impeccable. Leave behind a legacy of work and quality that sets an impressive bar. It serves your organization to know what great looks like. Let’s see them try to replicate it.

Be well,

Barbara Barron

barbara@barbarabarron.com

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.

The post What is the Real Cost of Turnover in Our School’s Development Office? appeared first on Barbara Barron.

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