FUNDRAISING FOR PRESIDENTS: A GUIDE By
James M. Langley President Langley Innovations
AUTHOR JAMES M. LANGLEY President Langley Innovations Before forming his own comprehensive advancement consulting firm, Jim served as vice president for advancement at Georgetown University. At Georgetown, he led the institution’s offices of alumni affairs, strategic communications and marketing, development, medical center development, and advancement services. During his tenure, he produced record numbers in new commitments and dollars despite a difficult economy, and launched a number of innovative programs, including the Student Discovery Initiative, which uses current students to interview alumni who have been only occasionally engaged with the university. Jim arrived at Georgetown after spending eight years as the vice president for advancement at the University of California, San Diego. At UCSD, he led the planning and execution of the institution’s sevenyear $1 billion campaign, then raised almost half the target amount in three years, despite a weak economy. He also expanded and improved outreach to key constituencies, increased and strengthened volunteer participation, acted as university spokesperson, and implemented programs that improved community relations. During Jim’s tenure, significant increases were posted in federal funding, national and international publicity, and alumni participation. Before arriving at UCSD, Jim served as vice president for external affairs at Georgia Institute of Technology. At Georgia Tech, he increased annual gift income from $26 million to $76 million and more than tripled the institution’s endowment to well over $500 million. Jim began his career in higher education at Miami University and served at the University of Cincinnati as well as the University of Massachusetts. Operations under Jim’s management have won awards in virtually every area of university advancement.
TABLE OF CONTENTS FOREWORD
13
BEYOND THE MYTHS AND STEREOTYPES: A TALE OF TWO PRESIDENTS
14
Illustrating the Divide: A Study in Contrasts
15
Stepping Back
29
UNDERSTANDING THE CURRENT FUNDRAISING REALITY
32
Culture is Key
32
Moving from Categories to Objectives
40
Developing Fundraising Objectives into Supportable Projects: A Study in Process at Bentham College
43
The High-Functioning Advancement Attributes Needed to Execute Successful Objectives and Projects
48
BEYOND OBJECTIVES AND PROJECTS
57
The President in the Major Gift Fundraising Process DRILLING DOWN INTO THE PROCESS: ACHIEVING PRESIDENTIAL SUCCESS ACROSS SETTINGS
57 65
Asking
65
The President as Steward
71
Campaigns
74
New Models
76
Institutional Positioning
81
Volunteer Management
86
Events
95
Development of Principles and Policies
96
New Presidents
102
Tying it All Together
105
ADDITIONAL READING
108
Academic Impressions | Fundraising for Presidents: A Guide
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BEYOND OBJECTIVES AND PROJECTS: THE PRESIDENT IN THE MAJOR GIFT FUNDRAISING PROCESS The President in the Major Gift Fundraising Process After helping to create the conditions for sustained fundraising success, a president’s time is best spent working with prospects capable of making the largest gifts an institution might secure in any given year or in the course of a particular campaign. The president best serves that process at the point of initial engagement of the prospect and the point of solicitation. It is important for a president to engage an important prospect early in the fundraising process to:
Demonstrate he or she understands the prospect’s philanthropic significance;
Recognize that those who give a particularly large gift want to have an institutional impact and, therefore, need to believe that the institution is being well-led; and
Lift the sights of the prospect by helping him or her understand what difference a significant investment can make.
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Academic Impressions | Fundraising for Presidents: A Guide
A PRESIDENT SHOULD BE PRESENT AT THE POINT OF SOLICITATION TO:
Underscore the institutional significance of the gift requested;
Ask the donor to take a leadership role by making a strong commitment; and
Articulate his or her personal commitment to stewarding the gift.
To perform these roles well, presidents should understand how the entire major gift process works. Though large gifts can evolve in a variety of ways, the advancement operation seeks to facilitate the process by: 1.
Conducting research to identify prospects with means and strong philanthropic propensity (engaging and pursuing wealthy people with little or no philanthropic propensity is a common mistake; if a person reaches the age of 50 without any record of philanthropy, voluntarism or civic engagement, their probability of giving is very low);
2. Developing and analyzing research profiles to gain further insight into the animating passions of particular prospects and how they might align with institutional strengths; 3. Formulating strategies to engage prospects in the life of the institution; 4. Attempting to “qualify� prospects by requesting an interview to gauge their preliminary interest in learning more about the institution or a particular part of it, or failing that, seeing to it that the prospect is invited to important events; 5. Following the initial visit by introducing a campus project or initiative that may correspond with the prospect’s stated interests or by making an introduction to someone on campus engaged in similar work;
Academic Impressions | Fundraising for Presidents: A Guide
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6. Interacting, or orchestrating the interaction of others, with the prospect until a particularly strong interest is identified; 7. Facilitating the introduction of the president to the prospect at the appropriate time; 8. Following up on the presidential visits to gauge the prospect’s reaction and responding to prospect’s need for more information about the initiative through a series of interactions; 9. Reintroducing the president when the probability of successful solicitation seems high; 10. Following a successful solicitation with the framing of a draft gift agreement that is presented to the prospect, then working through the details of that agreement to secure the gift outright or in the form of a multi-year pledge; 11. Securing a written gift agreement that details the initiative to be funded, the terms of the pledge, and the means by which the gift will be recognized and stewarded; and 12. Developing and implementing a stewardship plan that keeps the donor informed of the progress of the funded initiative and impact it is having, thereby increasing the likelihood that the donor will be eminently satisfied and inclined to give again when the pledge is fulfilled and the project completed. Presidents must not only understand this process, but ensure it is done with highest respect for the prospects and, when the gift is received, that private funds are expended economically and in strict accordance with donor intention. No institution can create a true culture of gratitude and accountability without the insistence and vigilance of the president. In addition to understanding that the anatomy of a major gift, from the time that a prospect is first engaged to the signing of a gift agreement, is 18 to 24 months in the making, presidents must also understand that major gift donors, in most instances, evolve from small and modest donors. Institutions that have analyzed the records of alumni who ultimately gave $1 million or more, noticed those gifts were the culmination of 12 to 17 years of previous giving, often at the four-figure and five-figure level.
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Academic Impressions | Fundraising for Presidents: A Guide
Presidents who understand that philanthropic patterns form slowly but certainly, if properly tended, invest in alumni relations and other constituent development programs. They understand their support of, and engagement with, these groups and programs sows the seeds of future major gifts.
GETTING STARTED The pursuit of major gifts begins with careful prospect identification. Too much emphasis is placed on wealth screening, and too little emphasis is placed on the search for indications of true and significant philanthropic intent. Create a simple system for balancing the two. Rate the wealth of your top tier prospects on a 0-5 scale (5 being the highest). Then rate the philanthropic propensity of that same group by assigning:
5 5 points to those who have given significantly of their time, talent and treasure to your organization.
4 4 points to those who have volunteered for, and given of their treasure to, your organization;
3 2 1 0
3 points to those who have volunteered and been active in your organization; 2 points to those who have been involved with, and given of their treasure to, other institutions; 1 point to those who have been involved in their community, church or otherwise exhibited any indication of social obligation; 0 points to those who have no record of previous philanthropy or civic engagement anywhere;
An effective president does so much more than raise funds and shake hands. Your institution’s president is uniquely positioned to scan the horizon and help develop and communicate a vision of the future to prospective donors. In this book, Jim Langley, president and founder of Langley Innovations and past vice president for advancement at Georgetown University, contends that the president’s primary role in fundraising is not to ask for money but to create the conditions that attract significant philanthropic investments. This book will offer a forward-thinking look at:
How the president can take a lead role in defining the case for support and identifying inspiring projects defined by specific objectives rather than categories of institutional need
How the president can define for donors the difference a philanthropic dollar makes in achieving key objectives
The respective roles and responsibilities of the president, the vice president for advancement, and the board chair
The president’s specific role in donor stewardship, campaigns, piloting new models for fundraising, volunteer management, and asking
How to onboard a new president in ways that strengthen rather than stall the work of fundraising
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