Private-independent schools of any enrollment size, grade configuration, or operating budget are most likely to succeed with campaigns when the following (not all-inclusive) characteristics are in place well before the public phase is launched. You, as Board Chair, Development Committee Chair, School Head, or Development Director, should consider the following as you look forward to your next (or first) campaign.

Your Development Team has taken the first step in the Donor Cycle—identifying prospects. The next step is to engage them, bringing them into a closer relationship with the school.

Fundraising would be easy if you only had to “follow the money”—acquire an online list of wealthy area residents and assign volunteers to call them. However, the heart of successful fundraising lies in building relationships. Your responsibility is not to “sell” prospects on contributing to a specific school program or project. Understand your donors’ values and interests, and then show them how their commitments connect with your school and its mission.

Capital campaigns are simultaneously exciting and anxiety-producing, especially for those in leadership positions. You, as Board President, Chair of the Committee on Trustees, or Chair of the Development Committee, must keep certain essentials in mind, before and during the capital campaign. This article focuses on two critical “early actions,” followed by a list of four essentials that every Trustee needs to embrace for ideal campaign outcomes when the campaign commences.

Many schools run capital campaigns and annual fund campaigns simultaneously. Capital campaigns are usually implemented over several years and are designed to increase capital assets such as new or improved facilities and/or growing endowment. Annual fund campaigns are repeated yearly and are most often created for enhancements for the current year. Balancing these two efforts requires clear goals, appropriate volunteer training, targeted donor solicitation, and a strategic sense of timing. A capital campaign, because of the size of the goal and the drive’s length, is more likely to falter than an annual campaign that in many schools has become habitual. Being prepared with “jump-starting” strategies can mean the difference between success and failure.

ISM has consistently applauded schools’ efforts to continue to connect with students once they have graduated or left the school. While ISM has been skeptical about the willingness of alumni to give to their pre-collegiate institutions, that situation seems to be changing. Indeed, day schools are joining boarding schools in carefully cultivating and engaging their alumni.The result is willingness for alumni to volunteer, assist current students with networking opportunities and a marked increase in giving from this important constituent group.

As Admission Director, you are an expert at building relationships and cultivating enthusiasm about the educational opportunities your school offers for each child and family. While some admission professionals use the initial prospective family conversation to promote enthusiasm for the school’s philanthropic endeavors—some do not. Some actively resist any notion of addressing the school’s philanthropic pursuits during the admission cultivation experience, fearing the prospective family will lose interest in pursuing enrollment. In fact, the opposite is true. Families appreciate being fully informed about the mission trajectory of the school—and actively seek an accurate expression of costs, expectations, and community responsibilities.

In ISM’s Advancement Model, we advocate strategically integrating admission, marketing communications, and development at the service of your school’s mission. This model facilitates a united function that inspires and manages the flow of resources into the school—recruiting and re-recruiting students and their families and inviting philanthropic investment.

The competition for philanthropic gifts, and a donor’s reason for giving, require a more complex and multifaceted balance. Advancement professionals need deeper insights into what motivates donors and prospects to give. Develop effective strategies to engage and bring them closer to your institution. Donors are vital for securing your school’s stability and success, and your relationships with them must be conducted with care and understanding. The Donor Cycle is a strategic approach to moving the donor into a closer relationship to the school. It is a sequence of processes and practices involved in establishing and renewing the connection of donors and their values with the school and its mission.

In the previous three issues of I&P, we introduced the three spheres of influence, then focused on the Market Position and School Culture spheres. This article focuses on the sphere dedicated to Constituent Relations. “Constituent relations” refers to the manner in which you, as Admission Director, Development Director, or Marketing Communications Director, take care of your key constituents: parents, students, alumni, alumni parents, faculty, volunteers, members of the operational and academic leadership teams, and others. This sphere of influence focuses largely on developing a client-centered orientation. A robust and concerted culture of client service is an expectation of, and a real difference-maker for, private-independent school families.