Taking It to the Next Level
How do you know when it is the right time to plan for taking your advancement operation to the next level? And, how do you know that it is reasonable to expect you can? These are big questions that can be career making or career ending if not addressed or answered correctly. Many organizations are content with the status quo ...
7 & 8 Figure Gifts – Why Some Get Them and Other’s Don’t
It takes more than wishful thinking to get a share of the big gifts. I just read about Harvard receiving another eight-figure gift, substantially adding to its huge endowment coffers. And here you are, an advancement officer for a venerable institution, wondering what it is about Harvard that enables it to habitually attract such large gifts. As a consultant, I ...
“Mapping” Fundraising Strategies
Supermarkets do it. Telecommunications companies do it. Public health departments do it. Police departments do it. They use geographic information systems (GIS) mapping to improve the way they do business. It is about time the advancement profession uses it. We at Copley Raff are finding many applications for this technology to help elevate programs to the next level. GIS mapping ...
Getting Value from Training
There is no substitute for professional development and being a life-long learner. All professionals need to step out of the day to day to be immersed in new thinking, alternative approaches to challenges and stimulation of our creative side. There are a confounding number of training offerings for advancement professionals that offer a wide range of subject matter and teaching ...
Fundraisers…the Great Equalizers
There are so many reasons for fundraisers to feel good about our profession and the work we do. We have the opportunity and the obligation to represent worthy and important organizational missions and to enable philanthropists of all stripes to share their love of humanity in meaningful ways. If this were not enough motivation to get us springing out of ...
Boston Strong…Philanthropy Strong
It has been just two weeks since the Boston Marathon bombing and so much has happened in those 14 days that it seems like a compressed reality. Aside from the tragedy of the bombing and loss of life, limbs and innocence, a side of Boston and the nation has emerged that reflects an important feature of the Marathon itself. There ...
