The Concerns Keeping Community College Leaders Up At Night
Declining enrollment, high dropout rates, and decreased state funding are creating a perfect storm of economic challenges that are alarming to community college leaders across the country. Since 2021 community college enrollment has fallen by more than 1 million students and 40% of all community college students drop out after their first year. Many community […]
Is Your School Ready for a Capital Campaign?
Walking before you run, reading over your notes before the big exam, pouring the foundation before the main structure–these all seem like obvious steps in achieving a goal. Yet, in my career as Head of School at several institutions over the past 30 years, I have seen numerous schools fall short of their capital campaign […]
Recession Fears Shouldn’t Stop Fundraising
It’s hard not to let concerns of an impending recession creep into one’s thoughts. You avoid looking at your 401 (k) because it’s depressing. You consider taking out a loan just to fill up your SUV’s gas tank. You find yourself talking about the good old days when mortgage rates were 3 percent. More times […]
Turning Data into Dollars
A data-driven approach to major gift fundraising and capital campaigns can help you set the bar high, but at an appropriate level, and assure that your funding effort will have the best possible chance for success. I’ll share two examples I’ve recently encountered: Organization A received an abnormally large investment from a first-time donor via […]
Moving Beyond Membership: Funding Your Chamber of Commerce’s Future
This article was originally published in the ACCE’s Chamber Executive magazine. One of the most pressing demands on chamber professionals is ensuring they have the funding needed to support their organization’s efforts and plan for the future. We recently welcomed Casey Steinbacher as a guest on our podcast. A former CEO of three chambers and an expert […]
Navigating Public-Private Partnerships
The HBO series The Gilded Age is an interesting study contrasting old New York City with the new money arrivals in the late 1880s. Wealth abounds, there are philanthropic causes to support, yet envy and social standing prohibit the combination of these wealth sources for the common good. Like this dynamic, one of the challenges around economic […]