The Board must focus its efforts on governing, planning, and financing a school's future, while leaving everyday decisions to competent administrators. To do that successfully, a Board must think, plan, and act strategically.
ISM Consultants share guidance on a productive, appropriate path for sustainability.
See below for examples of sessions our Consultants have presented on related to this topic.
Penny Abrahams, IAP-L
Executive Director of Advisory Services and Senior Consultant
The Strategic Partnership: How Finance and Advancement Allow for Vision Fulfillment
Alignment between your finance and advancement team is essential to fulfilling your school’s vision. Join Phil Higginson and Penny Abrahams for a three-hour session that will provide attendees with a 30,000-foot overview of strategic planning. During the session, attendees will break into groups and work together to develop strategic plan financial solutions.
What to Do When a Crisis Goes Social
In this session, we will explore how to identify and strengthen the weak spots in your school's crisis communication plan, with a special focus on the challenges posed by social media. We will examine the key elements of managing your school's reputation online and understand how to respond to crises unfolding on these platforms effectively. This session will also provide you with practical strategies and real-world examples, equipping you with the skills to handle and mitigate social media crises confidently.
Michael Christopher, IAP-L
ISM Consultant
Fraught or Fruitful: The Complex Relationship Between Business and Development
Boards, School Heads, CFOs, and Development officers all want the same thing: to create long-term financial sustainability for their schools. Despite this common goal, Business and Development offices often work at cross purposes, which results in missed opportunities and problematic staff relationships. This interactive session will explore the benefits of Business and Development working together with the Board and School Head to maximize soft income success for your school.
Phil Higginson, IAP-L
ISM Consultant
The Strategic Partnership: How Finance and Advancement Allow for Vision Fulfillment
Alignment between your finance and advancement team is essential to fulfilling your school’s vision. Join Phil Higginson and Penny Abrahams for a three-hour session that will provide attendees with a 30,000-foot overview of strategic planning. During the session, attendees will break into groups and work together to develop strategic plan financial solutions.
Setting the Board Annual Agenda, Goals, and Evaluation
Establishing a clear annual agenda and goals for your Board which is based on the school's strategic priorities is essential tool for developing strong governance at your school. In this session, we will explore how to create the Board's annual agenda, overall board goals, and committee goals which will align with the school head's goals in support of the strategic plan. Finally, we will examine methods to evaluate both the Board, school head, and Board Committees.
The Connection Between Your School’s Strategic Plan and Philanthropy
Does this sound familiar? Your school’s board has just approved an exciting – yet ambitious – strategic plan. Yet, the operating budget is insufficient to pay for all the desired programs, facilities, and initiatives. How, then, to turn these dreams into reality? The answer lies with philanthropy. This interactive session will explore how to translate your strategic plan into fundraising priorities. We will discuss how to identify the right type of fundraising effort for each element of your plan and how to develop a philanthropic menu of items to share with prospective donors. You’ll gain an understanding of the link between strategic plans, master plans, and endowment master plans. In addition, you’ll have the chance to immediately put what you learn to work as you engage in a strategic conversation with a colleague.
Art of the Ask: Secure Your Future
In this session, Phil will discuss how the first four steps of ISM’s Donor Cycle (identification, engagement, evaluation, and solicitation) provide a strategic approach to building a closer relationship between a donor and your school. Participants will examine the process by which development professionals begin the discovery and identification of potential donors, enhance relationships with donors, qualify their interests, values, and financial resources, and align their leadership donors with their strategic priorities.
Terry Moore, BCP-E
ISM Senior Executive Consultant, Governance & Operations Department Head, Editor-in-Chief of Ideas & Perspectives
Strategies to Build Effective Board and Head of School Relationships
This 60-minute webinar will give you practical strategies to ensure that the Head of School and the Board work together effectively. Terry will empower both Heads and Trustees with proven strategies to safeguard this critical relationship.
Faculty Compensation: Beginning to Manage the Teacher Shortage
In this workshop, you will learn about the developing teacher shortage and how to help your school prepare for a tight labor market. We’ll explore what faculty are looking for in teaching jobs and ISM’s latest recommendations for creating a compensation strategy based on teacher expectations.
Polly Parker, Ph.D.
ISM Consultant and Executive Coach
Empower Your Board with Ongoing Orientation and Practical Training
Discover how an ongoing orientation program helps Board members to navigate their roles more effectively. Although most Boards and School Heads believe that a Board retreat or two-day Board orientation provides enough time for onboarding, these events do not give enough time for Board members to clearly and thoroughly understand their roles and responsibilities. In this presentation, Polly Parker will explore how moving to an ongoing orientation model for all Board members improves Board relationships, community relationships, and creates an environment of predictability and support for the Board Members and the Head of School. Discover simple ways to avoid miscommunication, create ongoing training for all Board members, and develop a strong Board at your school.
Herb Soles, IAP-L, CFRE
ISM Consultant
Do You Really Need a Feasibility Study for a Capital Campaign?
Many capital campaigns struggle because of poor planning in the early stages. Often, leaders create campaign strategies based on intuition and assumption without using verified data. A well-executed feasibility study can provide the factual foundation for moving forward with confidence. In this presentation, you will learn how a feasibility study will ensure campaign success, understand the methodology of a well-executed feasibility study, and examine the pitfalls and successes of a recently conducted study.