Philanthropy Report Takeaways
Yesterday afternoon, I had the pleasure of sitting in on a UNICEF webinar that focused on the findings in the recently released CASE-More UK University Philanthropy Report. 𝐀𝐥𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐑𝐞𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐜𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐞𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐔𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐊𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐝𝐨𝐦, 𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐧𝐨𝐧𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐢𝐭 𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐳𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬.
A consistent theme in the report is the importance of organizations investing in their fund development (advancement)-related processes, whether it be staff or technology. In addition, it takes an organization working across departments--not just the fund development area--to secure gifts through planned giving avenues.
Some of the factors (quoted directly from page 11) found to be inherent in influencing overall fund development success included the following:
Consistent commitment to staffing and resourcing the advancement function.
A case for support, both capturing the ambitions of the institution and expressed as compelling propositions for donors.
An understanding of who your donors are and what motivates them.
A lively culture of philanthropy within the institution and in wider society stimulates and reinforces all the other key ingredients.
𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐮𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐟𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐝𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐩𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐳𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐞𝐱𝐡𝐢𝐛𝐢𝐭?