The fact is that there are fewer new donors out there giving to fewer institutions, but these donors are giving bigger gifts to the institutions they are supporting. It is more important than ever that the School Head play an active role in qualifying, cultivating, soliciting, stewarding, and recognizing your donors.
As School Head, you have a least one person on your team whose primary job is raising the dollars your school needs to deliver its mission now and in the future. But you are the face of the school, the person who embodies the mission for donors. You are the keeper of the mission and the keeper of the stories that illustrate the mission at work. Donors like to be in front of the person in charge. As Head, you are the professional CEO of the school, while the Board President is the volunteer CEO. As Head, you inspire through your storytelling, and provide the executive leadership in front of your prospects.
You play a critical role on the three-pronged solicitation team—an educator, a cultivator, and a solicitor. Typically, the Head plays the role of the educator, who tells the school’s story and showcases the mission in action. The cultivator has the relationship with the prospects, and needs to have made a personal gift to the campaign. The cultivator can get the appointments; sometimes the cultivator and the educator can be the same person.
The solicitor is the person who makes the ask. This can be the Head or volunteers, but the Development Director can step in, if the Head is not comfortable in this role.
You may not need three people on the solicitation team, but you do need two to assume the three roles. The Director of Development must know your strengths to make sure you are set up for success in the roles you play.
When you host a Head’s breakfast or luncheon during a fund-raising campaign, you are playing a critical role in cultivation and stewardship of your donors and prospects. These intimate events (about 10 people) take place at the school, to allow your prospects to see the school, and it in action. If possible, hold them once or twice a month, and carefully select attendees based on their relationship with the school.
Over the course of an hour and a half, you should spend 30 minutes delivering a “state of the school,” and the next 30 minutes discussing with attendees what they love to do. Go around the room, find out what excites each individual, how they use their time. Given the information that is garnered at this type of event, the Advancement Team will ultimately be able to “connect the dots”—tie the prospects' avocations with your school’s different programs, types of campaigns, etc., and bolster greater gifts.
Finally, spend 30 minutes taking questions. This will remind constituents why they make their gifts and how they make a difference. Your participation helps build a community and a culture of philanthropy with your constituent groups—parents, grandparents, alumni, neighbors, business persons, and others.
