State of Capital Campaigns: Internet Giving & Micro-Philanthropy

WEBVTT 1 00:00:02.919 --> 00:00:07.190 You were listening to the Higher Ed Marketer, a podcast geared towards marketing professionals 2 00:00:07.230 --> 00:00:11.910 in higher education. This show will tackle all sorts of questions related to student 3 00:00:11.949 --> 00:00:16.230 recruitment, don't have relations, marketing trends, new technologies and so much more. 4 00:00:16.989 --> 00:00:20.230 If you are looking for conversations centered around where the industry is going, 5 00:00:20.750 --> 00:00:29.179 this podcast is for you. Let's get into the show. Welcome to the 6 00:00:29.219 --> 00:00:32.820 High Ed Marketer podcast. I'm troy singer and, as always, I'm here 7 00:00:32.899 --> 00:00:37.570 with my cohost and mini golf caddie, Bart Taylor, where each week we 8 00:00:37.689 --> 00:00:42.450 do our best to interview hired marketers that we admire for the benefit and hopefully, 9 00:00:42.490 --> 00:00:46.929 the betterment of the entire Higher Ed Marketing Community. Bart, today we 10 00:00:47.049 --> 00:00:51.119 get to talk to Steve Rady, who is the vice president of institutional advancement 11 00:00:51.200 --> 00:00:56.000 at the Rose Wholm and Institute of Technology, and we are talking to him 12 00:00:56.039 --> 00:01:00.479 about the future of capital campaigns for small and midsize universities. Yeah, it's 13 00:01:00.759 --> 00:01:06.829 a great conversation and, in all transparency, Steve is a client, former 14 00:01:06.870 --> 00:01:10.189 client, of Kaylor solutions. We worked on the two hundred fifty million dollar 15 00:01:10.629 --> 00:01:14.430 capital campaign with him and he'll talk a little bit more about that during the 16 00:01:14.510 --> 00:01:17.310 show, but I really like a lot of what Steve Talks about kind of 17 00:01:17.349 --> 00:01:19.379 the future of where, you know, where things are shifting, where, 18 00:01:19.379 --> 00:01:23.459 instead of going two hundred fifty million dollars every ten years, there's, you 19 00:01:23.540 --> 00:01:26.180 know, and and don't you know, don't Tun now, right now, 20 00:01:26.219 --> 00:01:30.540 because those are big numbers for your school. You know, just take off 21 00:01:30.579 --> 00:01:33.849 a couple Zeros and think about it from you know, a twenty five million 22 00:01:33.890 --> 00:01:37.090 dollar campaign. But instead of doing that you're kind of doing little, many 23 00:01:37.129 --> 00:01:40.370 chunks that, instead of waiting for ten years, you're doing in three or 24 00:01:40.409 --> 00:01:44.409 four years. So I like his his philosophy on on this and I think 25 00:01:44.489 --> 00:01:47.920 that you pay attention to it, there's a lot of really good nuggets in 26 00:01:47.959 --> 00:01:51.599 there for Higher Ed marketers. He's very articulate and very passionate about what he 27 00:01:51.640 --> 00:01:55.840 does and I think it's a great episode and very interesting to listen to and 28 00:01:56.040 --> 00:02:01.390 to speak with. And here is Steve Brady from rose holeman. Today we 29 00:02:01.510 --> 00:02:07.230 get to talk to Steve Brady of rose holeman in Tara Hoot, Indiana, 30 00:02:07.829 --> 00:02:12.229 and before we get into our conversation about capital campaigns, would love to hear 31 00:02:12.469 --> 00:02:16.780 from Steve a little bit about rose holeman and your role there. Thanks, 32 00:02:16.819 --> 00:02:21.979 joy and Barker, having me on. So I've been I've been at Rose 33 00:02:22.060 --> 00:02:25.300 Holman for just going on six years now and I'm the vice president of institutional 34 00:02:25.340 --> 00:02:30.090 advancement. So my rolling compass is naturally all things alumni relations and fundraising. 35 00:02:30.770 --> 00:02:37.129 And Rose Holeman, for those you who don't know, is a small engineering 36 00:02:37.250 --> 00:02:42.289 focused stem only school that is primarily undergraduate and Tara Hoot Indiana. We are 37 00:02:42.370 --> 00:02:46.360 about two thou give or take, undergraduate students, focusing, like I said, 38 00:02:46.439 --> 00:02:50.400 only on engineering, math and science majors. We've been around since one 39 00:02:50.400 --> 00:02:53.120 thousand eight hundred and seventy four, started as rose polytechnic and then in the 40 00:02:53.319 --> 00:02:59.750 early s transition into rose holman. We have in ranked by US WHO's in 41 00:02:59.830 --> 00:03:05.830 world report as the number one undergraduate engineering under Focus School for the last twenty 42 00:03:05.909 --> 00:03:08.389 three years, something that we're very proud of. And when you start to 43 00:03:08.430 --> 00:03:13.219 look at where our graduates end up, they do incredible things and they're very, 44 00:03:13.259 --> 00:03:16.099 very successful, not only in the midwest but around the country and around 45 00:03:16.099 --> 00:03:20.900 the world. Thank you, Steve. The reason why we reached out to 46 00:03:21.060 --> 00:03:23.580 you to be a guest on the show is Bart was very familiar and I 47 00:03:23.819 --> 00:03:30.689 believe even worked with you around capitical campaigns, and the conversations went back and 48 00:03:30.810 --> 00:03:35.409 forth of the current state and how they're changing, and that's what we would 49 00:03:35.409 --> 00:03:38.409 like to tap back into today. So if you would, if you could 50 00:03:38.409 --> 00:03:44.159 touch a little bit about one of the campaigns that you recently finished her and 51 00:03:44.960 --> 00:03:52.319 also the current state of where capital campaigns are in your view. So rose 52 00:03:52.439 --> 00:03:55.189 just wrapped up back in the end of June, early July, our mission 53 00:03:55.189 --> 00:04:00.389 driven campaign, and this was a two hundred and fifty million dollar comprehensive campaign. 54 00:04:00.030 --> 00:04:04.789 So a comprehensive campaign by our definition, includes all things capital, but 55 00:04:04.870 --> 00:04:11.020 all things also endowment and are continuing operational needs. And so we had a 56 00:04:11.020 --> 00:04:15.939 variety of important focuses of a campaign and new academic building, a renovation to 57 00:04:16.300 --> 00:04:20.939 the union, some other just general sort of capital needs around campus, in 58 00:04:20.980 --> 00:04:27.529 addition to growing our scholarships, and doubt scholarship was very important, and then 59 00:04:27.810 --> 00:04:31.889 faculty, Sport and down chairs, new programs, etc. So that's kind 60 00:04:31.889 --> 00:04:34.610 of what we just wrapped up. It took us a while. We had 61 00:04:34.649 --> 00:04:39.319 a fair amount of transition, both at the presidential level but also in the 62 00:04:39.360 --> 00:04:43.319 vice presidential level. And Yeah, you're absolutely right. Bart came in and 63 00:04:43.480 --> 00:04:48.319 was helpful from a marketing perspective, kind of coming in being handed a box 64 00:04:48.399 --> 00:04:51.319 of craziness and said, Hey, could you put some of us together piece 65 00:04:51.360 --> 00:04:56.389 of porter and, by the way, we needed it yesterday. And so 66 00:04:56.550 --> 00:04:59.230 we did some, I think, some good work, both from a marketing 67 00:04:59.269 --> 00:05:03.829 perspective as far as getting our our online presence up and running, and then 68 00:05:03.829 --> 00:05:09.100 we use some of our internal communications to do some of our videos and just 69 00:05:09.300 --> 00:05:12.579 general press releases to sort of keep the message out there. But it was 70 00:05:12.660 --> 00:05:17.060 a unique campaign in large part because it's started and had what I would say 71 00:05:17.100 --> 00:05:21.649 starts and stopped over the years and now that we finished, one of the 72 00:05:21.689 --> 00:05:25.889 things I'm working towards, and it's still a little bit up in the airs 73 00:05:25.970 --> 00:05:29.290 that how it will work. If it will work the I'll be allowed to 74 00:05:29.329 --> 00:05:32.529 do it, who knows? But the idea of focusing less on a comprehensive 75 00:05:32.569 --> 00:05:38.160 campaign and more on what we're sort of terming term, using the term like 76 00:05:38.240 --> 00:05:43.720 mini campaigns and many campaigns probably being again, using our benchmark, a two 77 00:05:43.720 --> 00:05:46.519 hundred and fifty million dollar for a comprehensive campaign. For us, a mini 78 00:05:46.560 --> 00:05:50.629 campaign might be anywhere between twenty, thirty, maybe fifty million dollars for a 79 00:05:50.829 --> 00:05:57.110 very specific project that is ideally going to motivate our alumni and donors. To 80 00:05:57.189 --> 00:06:00.910 say this this projects is really what the most important need is right now and 81 00:06:00.990 --> 00:06:04.339 it's something that we want to focus on where what I would considers a relatively 82 00:06:04.379 --> 00:06:10.500 short amount of time get our comprehensive campaign last in ten years. Most campaigns 83 00:06:10.540 --> 00:06:14.100 are somewhere in the seven eight years, give or take, but it allows 84 00:06:14.139 --> 00:06:18.129 us to hopefully get in do some interesting fundraising, fill in need that's particularly 85 00:06:18.170 --> 00:06:21.250 pressing for the institute at the time and then start to move on to the 86 00:06:21.329 --> 00:06:26.569 next really important project for or rose woman. That's great. And see if 87 00:06:26.569 --> 00:06:29.850 I know. When we were talking earlier, before the before the recording, 88 00:06:29.930 --> 00:06:32.360 we were kind of talking about the campaign that we worked on together. But 89 00:06:32.480 --> 00:06:34.839 one of the things that I think you made a comment was is just how, 90 00:06:35.600 --> 00:06:39.800 sometime, even with with capital campaigns, and I know you and I 91 00:06:39.959 --> 00:06:44.120 are career span from you know, before we had the Internet to do everything. 92 00:06:45.439 --> 00:06:48.069 Now we have the Internet. Sometimes it can be at a blessing and 93 00:06:48.189 --> 00:06:50.470 sometimes it can be a curse. Tell us at bit about what you're thinking 94 00:06:50.509 --> 00:06:56.029 on that. So the the current number, I mean current being maybe within 95 00:06:56.069 --> 00:06:59.509 the last year or two, of five hundred and one C threes out there 96 00:06:59.709 --> 00:07:04.939 is somewhere in the neighborhood of one point six million. And most of those, 97 00:07:04.939 --> 00:07:10.019 I think again, I'm trying to go off of memory and it's anecdotal 98 00:07:10.060 --> 00:07:15.060 to them. Don't quote me on it, but it's something like ninety percent, 99 00:07:15.220 --> 00:07:20.170 or like tremendous amount of these new or nonprofits. Ninety percent of them 100 00:07:20.170 --> 00:07:24.129 are are new as of one thousand nine hundred and fifty. And so when 101 00:07:24.129 --> 00:07:27.930 you think about just about every non profit out there has been an existence relatively 102 00:07:27.970 --> 00:07:31.560 short amount of time compared to your traditional churches, many cultural organizations and higher 103 00:07:31.560 --> 00:07:34.879 education who've been around for hundreds of years. The Internet hit and, my 104 00:07:34.959 --> 00:07:39.720 opinion, has really done a lot to sort of allow this micro philanthropy where 105 00:07:39.759 --> 00:07:44.310 people can get very specific with the causes that they want to impact. They 106 00:07:44.350 --> 00:07:47.470 can direct their dollars in a way that they couldn't pre Internet. If you 107 00:07:47.670 --> 00:07:54.910 are passionate about something as specific as making sure that people in South Sudan, 108 00:07:55.430 --> 00:07:58.779 not just Sudan, but South Sudan, have access to clean water, you 109 00:07:58.899 --> 00:08:01.740 can find a charity and they are working towards that and you can give online 110 00:08:01.740 --> 00:08:05.259 and you can make that happen, and that's something that I would say pre 111 00:08:05.379 --> 00:08:11.300 Internet, you couldn't do. You couldn't blank it through Mars Man Mass Marketing, 112 00:08:11.379 --> 00:08:16.050 you couldn't most, most of these three nonprofits can't afford to do advertisements 113 00:08:16.050 --> 00:08:20.610 in a way to get to a general audience. But between the Internet and 114 00:08:20.810 --> 00:08:24.290 social media there is an ability to get in front of people in a way 115 00:08:24.329 --> 00:08:28.480 that we just couldn't beford. So it's great from a smaller nonprofits perspective because 116 00:08:28.519 --> 00:08:33.919 it's lower the sort of the cost of entry, but at the same time 117 00:08:33.080 --> 00:08:41.429 it's increased competition because previously, I would say most higher educations, we're competing 118 00:08:41.629 --> 00:08:45.230 with the you know, Your Salvation Army and your churches for trying to get 119 00:08:45.389 --> 00:08:50.750 the front of my messaging to our prospects. Now I'm competing with one point 120 00:08:50.789 --> 00:08:56.500 five nine, ninety nine, one hundred, ninety other millions of nonprofits out 121 00:08:56.500 --> 00:09:01.259 there who have propelling cases, they have reasons to be supported and my creativity 122 00:09:01.259 --> 00:09:05.620 has to be better than there's in a way that engages and attracts prospects. 123 00:09:05.740 --> 00:09:07.940 Yeah, that, I think pre Internet we didn't really have to deal with. 124 00:09:09.019 --> 00:09:11.090 Yeah, I think you're right on that. I think sometimes to it 125 00:09:11.169 --> 00:09:13.929 did. It's a danger of donor fatigue. You know, they're going to 126 00:09:13.970 --> 00:09:18.210 just be seeing so much the same thing come across. But also the fact 127 00:09:18.210 --> 00:09:22.809 that I think that sometimes it's just really important as as as, like you 128 00:09:22.889 --> 00:09:24.840 said, the hiread and and some of the other folks, we really begin 129 00:09:24.960 --> 00:09:31.120 need to almost craft our messaging and distinctiveness very clearly, and it forces us 130 00:09:31.200 --> 00:09:33.360 even more so on that well, because, I mean you can use all 131 00:09:33.399 --> 00:09:37.039 kinds of tools to do the research to find out who are going to be 132 00:09:37.120 --> 00:09:41.309 the donors and who has the capacity to give and those types of things. 133 00:09:41.350 --> 00:09:43.549 And I I'm talking about the donors, that not the not the five hundred 134 00:09:43.549 --> 00:09:46.909 dollar type. You know, yearly give some talking about moving into the major 135 00:09:48.029 --> 00:09:50.549 donors. They're getting accorded a lot more than than they have or have been. 136 00:09:52.940 --> 00:09:56.820 Yeah, the the amount of online research to find out who has capacity 137 00:09:56.940 --> 00:10:01.820 out there is I remember when I first started in higher it fundraising, which 138 00:10:01.899 --> 00:10:07.370 was twenty five plus years ago. You use ZIP codes primarily to gage where 139 00:10:07.450 --> 00:10:11.769 people had well and I remember as working on my Alma Mater and they're very 140 00:10:11.769 --> 00:10:15.649 excited because they came to me and said, Steve, one of your classmates, 141 00:10:16.129 --> 00:10:18.769 lives in this zip code and we think he's worth millions of dollars. 142 00:10:18.289 --> 00:10:22.039 And I said I know Jason. We went out for a beer called of 143 00:10:22.159 --> 00:10:26.879 weeks ago. He's living in his uncle's garage. He doesn't have you know, 144 00:10:26.120 --> 00:10:28.679 and I had to buy his beer. So the you know, the 145 00:10:28.840 --> 00:10:33.480 ability to really get down and find out through public, publicly available information, 146 00:10:33.519 --> 00:10:39.350 who has capacity and then reach out to them has changed so much in the 147 00:10:39.389 --> 00:10:43.470 last ten years that you're right. Finding five hundred donors is one thing, 148 00:10:43.509 --> 00:10:46.269 but trying to find those major gifts at the twenty, five thousand and fifty, 149 00:10:46.269 --> 00:10:50.500 a million dollars or more is getting more and more competitive. One of 150 00:10:50.539 --> 00:10:52.980 the things that we're trying to do at Rosehomon is, you know, you 151 00:10:54.059 --> 00:10:56.860 think about the the old adage that it's easier and more cost effected to keep 152 00:10:56.860 --> 00:11:00.899 a customer than it is to find a new customer. That's the the business 153 00:11:00.940 --> 00:11:05.169 saying, and we're sort of trying to recognize that, particularly from a stewardship 154 00:11:05.169 --> 00:11:09.009 perspective. Our ask, you know, where we can be as creative as 155 00:11:09.009 --> 00:11:11.929 we want on the ass but we're really competing with many other organizations on the 156 00:11:13.049 --> 00:11:16.210 ask. But if we can get even a gift of obligation from an alum, 157 00:11:16.649 --> 00:11:22.799 can we steward that gift and we think that donor more creatively and more 158 00:11:22.000 --> 00:11:26.559 personally, that makes them a repeat donor. And so this again, it's 159 00:11:26.559 --> 00:11:30.519 sort of why we keep leading ourselves back to these sort of micro or many 160 00:11:30.559 --> 00:11:35.710 campaigns where, if we are going to do something very specific for one area 161 00:11:35.190 --> 00:11:39.950 and we get a thousand donors to participate in it, can we focus on 162 00:11:39.110 --> 00:11:45.350 j stewarding with regular communication, those thousand donors what's going on with the new 163 00:11:45.470 --> 00:11:48.539 building or what's going on with this new program in a way that we hadn't 164 00:11:48.580 --> 00:11:52.500 historically done? Yeah, that's great because, I mean I think you walk 165 00:11:52.620 --> 00:11:56.580 that fine line, I use the word earlier, donor fatigue. You walk 166 00:11:56.700 --> 00:11:58.580 that Fine Line of how many times you're going back to talk to them and 167 00:11:58.700 --> 00:12:01.409 how many times are you asking them versus, how many times are you thanking 168 00:12:01.450 --> 00:12:07.009 them participating, getting them, inviting them to participate just because of who they 169 00:12:07.009 --> 00:12:09.289 are, not necessarily because and because of the relationship that you have with them? 170 00:12:09.730 --> 00:12:16.279 I mean sometimes I think is as marketers and we sometimes forget that it's 171 00:12:16.320 --> 00:12:20.200 as much about the relationship building as it is about, you know, a 172 00:12:20.279 --> 00:12:24.879 specific ask yeah, I mean, you got to any fundraising conference that across 173 00:12:24.919 --> 00:12:28.440 the country and they will, at least they used to always do this. 174 00:12:28.519 --> 00:12:30.549 Everybody you know, raise your hand. Why do you think people give? 175 00:12:30.629 --> 00:12:35.429 And the number one's answers always because I was asked, and so you're absolutely 176 00:12:35.429 --> 00:12:39.070 right. I think there's a lot of donors out there who have supported projects 177 00:12:39.110 --> 00:12:43.190 that they may not be passionate about, simply because they were asked and there 178 00:12:43.230 --> 00:12:46.259 was a relationship there. And then there's a whole other set of donors who 179 00:12:46.259 --> 00:12:48.340 are giving regardless of the relationship, because of the passion of the project. 180 00:12:48.460 --> 00:12:52.980 Right. And you know, you can talk about gifts of obligation and gifts 181 00:12:52.019 --> 00:12:54.779 of passion. You know, we got to figure out a way to my 182 00:12:54.860 --> 00:13:00.490 opinion, transition was gifts of obligation that we can get because of the relationship 183 00:13:00.529 --> 00:13:05.009 that we have existing through parents, community members, alumni, etc. And 184 00:13:05.129 --> 00:13:07.809 then find out what their passion is and then really try and leverage that to 185 00:13:09.049 --> 00:13:13.799 a larger gift. Okay, that sounds great, Steve. Earlier you talked 186 00:13:13.799 --> 00:13:20.320 about transitioning from the longer more comprehensive campaign means to maybe, as you said, 187 00:13:20.399 --> 00:13:24.279 mini campaigns. Would love to hear a little bit more about that. 188 00:13:24.600 --> 00:13:26.789 Could you kind of define that a little bit more and give us a few 189 00:13:26.830 --> 00:13:30.590 examples of what you have in mind? Sure. So. You know, 190 00:13:30.629 --> 00:13:33.309 one of the things, as I was stating earlier about the the mission driven 191 00:13:33.350 --> 00:13:37.190 campaign at Rose and we had a lot of transition at the presidential level. 192 00:13:37.710 --> 00:13:41.820 You know, the the average tenure of a college president is shrinky and I 193 00:13:41.940 --> 00:13:46.419 think it's somewhere at six point, six and a half years now, but 194 00:13:46.460 --> 00:13:48.500 I think even as recently as four or five years ago it was closer to 195 00:13:48.740 --> 00:13:54.179 eight years. Presidents are transitioning quicker and so if you think of your average 196 00:13:54.179 --> 00:13:58.889 silent phase being somewhere between three and four years by the time the president has 197 00:13:58.970 --> 00:14:03.129 figured out what their priorities are, they're launching that maybe the silent phase, 198 00:14:03.649 --> 00:14:07.090 but then they're also transitioning on to the next school. And you know, 199 00:14:07.090 --> 00:14:11.519 I've worked with a number of wonderful presidents through my career and I've seen a 200 00:14:11.559 --> 00:14:15.919 number of these wonderful presidents kind of come in and say, well, I 201 00:14:16.000 --> 00:14:18.480 certainly understand why so and south up this was the priority, but now I'm 202 00:14:18.480 --> 00:14:22.639 kind of married to this and I need to finish this and oftentimes it's been 203 00:14:22.799 --> 00:14:26.429 right after the launch of a campaign and we're having to continue to finish that 204 00:14:26.669 --> 00:14:33.149 campaign with a more mini campaign that is a shorter duration, like I said, 205 00:14:33.269 --> 00:14:37.350 maybe just two years. I believe we can get in, accomplish a 206 00:14:37.470 --> 00:14:41.460 goal and then kind of get out and then transition that donor to the the 207 00:14:41.580 --> 00:14:48.019 next project. I'm also you know, as Bart was talking about our conversation 208 00:14:48.019 --> 00:14:52.259 about donor fatigue. I think as we look at our donors, we can 209 00:14:52.299 --> 00:14:54.769 look at them in a way and say this donor or this group of donors 210 00:14:54.809 --> 00:14:58.169 are passionate about this project, maybe it's athletics, and this group of donors 211 00:14:58.210 --> 00:15:03.169 is passionate about this project, which might be scholarships. We don't need to 212 00:15:03.409 --> 00:15:07.679 necessarily wait until one mini campaign is over before we launch the next. I 213 00:15:07.720 --> 00:15:11.080 think we have an opportunity to layer these on and then, because the messages 214 00:15:11.120 --> 00:15:16.279 are slightly different, because the goals of the programs are different, I'm hopeful 215 00:15:16.279 --> 00:15:22.950 that the donor fatigue lessons in that, instead of philanthropists coming to us and 216 00:15:22.029 --> 00:15:24.750 sort of saying, okay, what do you need this money for and doing 217 00:15:24.789 --> 00:15:28.990 it, like I said, out of obligation. They're kind of waiting to 218 00:15:28.029 --> 00:15:33.429 see what's on the horizon. I think our donors are more particularly a certain 219 00:15:33.669 --> 00:15:37.899 set of donors are more sophisticated now than they were thirty, forty years ago. 220 00:15:37.539 --> 00:15:43.860 And I've had conversations. I'm sure many major gift donor major gift officers 221 00:15:43.940 --> 00:15:48.340 have had this conversation where the donors asking, I understand you're not in a 222 00:15:48.419 --> 00:15:52.409 campaign right now, but when will you be and will this gift count towards 223 00:15:52.450 --> 00:15:58.169 that campaign? And it's simply because they recognize there's one. We're always about 224 00:15:58.169 --> 00:16:00.929 to go into a campaign and they don't want to give their hundred thousand dollar 225 00:16:02.009 --> 00:16:04.600 get now and then be asked two years from that when the campaign starts, 226 00:16:04.720 --> 00:16:07.679 sorry, that other hundred undred thousand didn't count. We're looking for your next 227 00:16:08.039 --> 00:16:12.519 gift to be counted on our new game. Yeah, and so short durations, 228 00:16:12.879 --> 00:16:18.710 more focus and then a more evolving cycle that I think could allow us 229 00:16:18.190 --> 00:16:21.950 the opportunity to keep donors engage in the way that we have it before. 230 00:16:22.429 --> 00:16:25.029 I think even today, to to Steve just thinking about that. I mean 231 00:16:25.590 --> 00:16:29.269 what we did a few years ago with the with the rows driven. You 232 00:16:29.350 --> 00:16:32.629 know, we it's a comprehensive campaign. We're presenting the case statement that has 233 00:16:32.629 --> 00:16:34.940 a lot of different things in it. With these many campaigns, I would 234 00:16:34.940 --> 00:16:40.100 even think now, and especially with the way digital technology has kind of evolved 235 00:16:40.220 --> 00:16:42.980 and grown, you could probably do a lot more, you know, custom 236 00:16:44.139 --> 00:16:48.730 personalized case statements to particular donors. That are excited, because I mean a 237 00:16:48.850 --> 00:16:52.570 very personalized case statement that says here's you know, we recognize who you are, 238 00:16:52.889 --> 00:16:56.490 we recognize your passions, you can you know all the communications can be 239 00:16:56.649 --> 00:17:00.289 and and just being able to set up systems like that. It seems like 240 00:17:00.370 --> 00:17:04.480 that's an opportunity to with these many campaigns. Yeah, I think, you 241 00:17:04.599 --> 00:17:07.400 know, I would say that the term Mani campaigns not new, right, 242 00:17:08.079 --> 00:17:11.559 I don't think. I don't think we're looking at doing anything that's overly unique. 243 00:17:11.599 --> 00:17:15.789 I think we're looking at it as an alternative to the comprehensive campaign and 244 00:17:15.829 --> 00:17:19.750 I felt like the comprehensive campaign, you look at the annual fund, you're 245 00:17:19.990 --> 00:17:23.509 as you're writing those annual fund materials. Often Times I found when I did 246 00:17:23.549 --> 00:17:26.430 it, I was trying to throw in as many little hot button items for 247 00:17:26.509 --> 00:17:30.619 everyone to get excited about. So I might touch out an athlete story just 248 00:17:30.740 --> 00:17:34.019 because I know some people are passionate about athletics. I might also touch about 249 00:17:34.019 --> 00:17:37.819 a faculty doing some interesting research, because that's something else. But at the 250 00:17:37.859 --> 00:17:41.460 end of the day I'm trying to get all these people at a very consistent 251 00:17:41.539 --> 00:17:45.529 level, to get excited about one fun and that, in my mind, 252 00:17:45.569 --> 00:17:48.569 is a little bit with a comprehensive campaign. Is, I think, absolutely 253 00:17:48.569 --> 00:17:55.009 right about the opportunity with a minier campaign to get really focused on what the 254 00:17:55.089 --> 00:17:59.480 donors interested in and then really what, hopefully groups of donors are interested so 255 00:18:00.000 --> 00:18:03.359 I think troyd asked what some of the possible mini campaigns that we're looking at. 256 00:18:03.400 --> 00:18:06.359 One of them is certainly going to be we're going to need to do 257 00:18:06.440 --> 00:18:08.759 something for our athletics at rose home and sometime in the near future. We 258 00:18:08.839 --> 00:18:14.190 just got a new, wonderful athletic director, letting her get her feed on 259 00:18:14.230 --> 00:18:17.910 the ground to figure out what her areas of opportunity are. I think it's 260 00:18:17.910 --> 00:18:21.990 going to be great. But scholarships a continuing need. We just launched recently, 261 00:18:22.029 --> 00:18:26.069 a couple years ago, this novel scholars program which is a very boutique 262 00:18:26.470 --> 00:18:30.500 scholarship program for special students who just do tremendous things, but growing out our 263 00:18:30.500 --> 00:18:34.099 scholarship opportunities something we're always going to need to be focused on. We have 264 00:18:34.460 --> 00:18:41.650 a really growing area of entrepreneurism and rose has the Sawmill Society, which is 265 00:18:41.690 --> 00:18:47.130 a group of alumni who are entrepreneurial and sort of support each other through online 266 00:18:48.650 --> 00:18:52.690 group chats to sort of say, do you need access to patent attorney or 267 00:18:52.730 --> 00:18:55.089 are you looking to do some fundraising and how can we do that? And 268 00:18:55.089 --> 00:18:57.000 they're supporting each other. So we see that as another opportunity. So we're 269 00:18:57.000 --> 00:19:00.759 looking both at you know, even the idea of we might do a capital 270 00:19:02.160 --> 00:19:07.400 campaign. That would be a small campaign, but maybe layer on some programmatic 271 00:19:07.519 --> 00:19:11.630 elements that would be instead of a fifteen million dollar capital campaign, might be 272 00:19:11.670 --> 00:19:15.710 a twenty million dollar themed mini campaign around Entreprenur prism or something like that. 273 00:19:15.789 --> 00:19:18.710 That's really cool. I like that. But I have to also wonder, 274 00:19:18.789 --> 00:19:22.109 and I'm ask you about this because I know a lot of schools are struggling. 275 00:19:22.150 --> 00:19:26.500 I mean the the demographic cliff is coming up for undergraduate students. There's 276 00:19:26.500 --> 00:19:32.339 a lot of enrollment challenge is going on, competition is getting stronger. So 277 00:19:32.740 --> 00:19:36.140 not only are you in the middle of doing fundraising for for these, you 278 00:19:36.220 --> 00:19:41.210 know, comprehensive campaigns, these thematic these you know, these capital campaigns, 279 00:19:41.450 --> 00:19:45.769 but you've also got this operational fundraising kind of going on in the background and 280 00:19:45.089 --> 00:19:48.289 probably getting more pressure on that, as you said, on the cabinet. 281 00:19:48.329 --> 00:19:53.079 Tell us little bit about that. Yeah, so smaller schools, and I 282 00:19:53.119 --> 00:19:57.279 should say every school I've ever worked at, has had a focus on its 283 00:19:57.319 --> 00:20:03.680 operational need, whether it's unrestricted dollars or determined or called operations. Every school 284 00:20:03.680 --> 00:20:07.190 needs to keep the lights on. Everybody wants to keep faculty and staff paid. 285 00:20:07.509 --> 00:20:11.990 That's pretty important. And you know, rows, like many many schools, 286 00:20:11.990 --> 00:20:17.829 is a tuition driven institution. So when we saw looking at the comprehensive 287 00:20:17.829 --> 00:20:21.980 campaign, if anybody asked me what's the most pressing need, it was always 288 00:20:21.980 --> 00:20:27.259 operations. Right, but that oftentimes is not the the most attractive opportunity to 289 00:20:27.339 --> 00:20:30.220 get particularly large guests, right. You, you, you don't see the 290 00:20:30.339 --> 00:20:34.809 needle move often by a gift to the the fun furrows home in or the 291 00:20:34.849 --> 00:20:40.289 president's fun it's it's kind of that. It's important and we can't stop doing 292 00:20:40.410 --> 00:20:42.730 it, but that's really what the annual fund is for finding donors who want 293 00:20:42.730 --> 00:20:45.490 to be a part of that's a challenge. At the other end of the 294 00:20:45.890 --> 00:20:51.680 equation for for rows, many of our endowment gifts is particularly our larger ones. 295 00:20:51.960 --> 00:20:56.519 We're coming in through both planned gifts and estate commitments, and and a 296 00:20:56.559 --> 00:21:00.759 lot of plan estate commitments, and so you have all these deferred gifts that 297 00:21:00.839 --> 00:21:04.630 are counting towards our comprehensive campaign goal. But at the end of the day, 298 00:21:04.630 --> 00:21:08.150 the number of times I would tell faculty, Eleven nine friends, I 299 00:21:08.309 --> 00:21:11.990 know that I said we accomplish two hundred and fifty million dollars, and we 300 00:21:12.109 --> 00:21:15.269 did either. I have the receipts to show for it. But there's not 301 00:21:15.390 --> 00:21:19.180 a pool on campus that's just filled with with two hundred and fifty million dollars 302 00:21:19.779 --> 00:21:22.740 exactly. Know there's a good chunk of this. It's going to come in 303 00:21:22.819 --> 00:21:26.700 in the next ten, twenty years and that's important to track. But when 304 00:21:26.740 --> 00:21:32.019 you get down to the needs of the institution and the needs of the campaign 305 00:21:32.059 --> 00:21:37.329 elevating you, you really need those very project and dollar specific goals to be 306 00:21:37.410 --> 00:21:38.609 front and center. In my opinion. Yeah, at the end of the 307 00:21:38.650 --> 00:21:42.089 day you can't. I shouldn't say you can't. I've never been able to 308 00:21:42.130 --> 00:21:47.009 build a building on an estate comment right, and especially something that's going to 309 00:21:47.089 --> 00:21:51.240 be multiple decades out, and so looking a little bit closer to home, 310 00:21:51.279 --> 00:21:55.359 I think is a good opportunity and I think that that gets back to how 311 00:21:55.480 --> 00:22:00.079 marketing communications can help with that in the sense that, you know, sometimes 312 00:22:00.119 --> 00:22:03.710 it seeds of an internal communications. You know, I've been I've seen that 313 00:22:03.869 --> 00:22:08.349 before where big campaign complaints, big things happen, but really can't quite deliver 314 00:22:08.470 --> 00:22:12.230 on some of the capital campaign promises because, you know, defer give money's 315 00:22:12.230 --> 00:22:15.059 not there. If the money is not there, and it's hard to understand. 316 00:22:15.579 --> 00:22:18.700 Well, didn't we just raise this big money and didn't we just do 317 00:22:18.859 --> 00:22:22.220 that? And I think that's where, you know, marketing communications can come 318 00:22:22.299 --> 00:22:26.819 in help craft those messages, help assure everyone of the success of everything. 319 00:22:27.380 --> 00:22:33.849 But yeah, it's I think that the the average person on campus and even 320 00:22:33.970 --> 00:22:37.730 out in public, the alumni, don't always understand the nuances of how fundraising 321 00:22:37.809 --> 00:22:42.089 works exactly. It's a it's an education that, I think, you're right, 322 00:22:42.170 --> 00:22:45.960 has to happen and it's something that we've been focusing on educating our donors 323 00:22:47.160 --> 00:22:51.400 as best we can, even to the cycle of how does awarding a scholarship 324 00:22:51.519 --> 00:22:55.599 work? How does that prospective students get their financial aid and where does their 325 00:22:55.599 --> 00:23:00.789 scholarship end? Because this is something that in my experience, we start endowing 326 00:23:00.950 --> 00:23:08.069 scholar scholarship gifts at Fiftyzero. Fiftyzeros only spins off twozero and change right each 327 00:23:08.109 --> 00:23:15.900 year, and average tuition check twozero. Is it making or breaking that student's 328 00:23:15.900 --> 00:23:19.420 decision to attend rose home in right? I also recognize that for many people 329 00:23:19.420 --> 00:23:23.380 write in the check of fiftyzero is probably the largest first gift that many of 330 00:23:23.460 --> 00:23:26.490 them will ever make. For some people it'll be made over a number of 331 00:23:26.529 --> 00:23:30.170 years, etc. So it's Fiftyzo to still a large sum of money. 332 00:23:30.450 --> 00:23:34.609 But understanding how their scholarships going to be a part of a package of other 333 00:23:34.650 --> 00:23:38.289 scholarships to allow these students to attend rose home in or whatever school they're going 334 00:23:38.289 --> 00:23:41.200 to be at, is really important, I think, to the owners because 335 00:23:41.200 --> 00:23:45.680 it sets them up for success in a way that when we're not educating our 336 00:23:45.720 --> 00:23:49.759 donors, we risk their their stewards should be sort of off kilter simply because 337 00:23:49.799 --> 00:23:52.640 they're frustrated that something didn't work. Yeah, and I think that. I 338 00:23:52.759 --> 00:23:56.789 think not only is the important to make sure that the communications, the marketing 339 00:23:56.869 --> 00:24:00.670 to the donors is online, but I was working with US school last week 340 00:24:00.710 --> 00:24:04.670 about the importance of making sure that that financial aid award letter is also communicating 341 00:24:04.670 --> 00:24:08.470 those types of things to say, look, there's people behind this, there 342 00:24:08.509 --> 00:24:14.859 are alumni, people who are passionate about this place. They've actually sacrificed so 343 00:24:14.940 --> 00:24:18.900 that you can do this. And sometimes, I think those kind of personalization 344 00:24:18.099 --> 00:24:23.329 and leveraging those messaging and crafting that rather than just typed up letter that says, 345 00:24:23.329 --> 00:24:26.849 Hey, here's your here's your award, take it or leave it, 346 00:24:26.289 --> 00:24:30.690 when you start putting in emotion, start putting in what we typically think of 347 00:24:30.809 --> 00:24:34.250 marketing might be, you know, in advertising or on the website, recognizing 348 00:24:34.289 --> 00:24:37.759 that every piece of communications that we have either with perspective students or with donors, 349 00:24:38.119 --> 00:24:41.599 is an opportunity to strengthen that relationship. I think that's what that's a 350 00:24:41.599 --> 00:24:45.920 key point for some higher red marketers. Steve, we wrap up every episode 351 00:24:47.000 --> 00:24:51.799 by asking our guests to share either a quick takeaway or maybe an idea that's 352 00:24:51.880 --> 00:24:56.390 top of mind that other advancement officers could possibly benefit from immediately. As I 353 00:24:56.509 --> 00:25:00.150 ask you that question, is there anyything that you would like to share? 354 00:25:00.150 --> 00:25:03.589 So you know, one of the things that's really top of mine right now 355 00:25:03.710 --> 00:25:08.859 for me is, as everyone has been dealing with the the pandemic and fundraising. 356 00:25:08.859 --> 00:25:14.380 The pandemic is an unusual and not anything that we could ever obviously plan 357 00:25:14.579 --> 00:25:18.460 for, but recognizing that at least. You know, many of my gift 358 00:25:18.500 --> 00:25:22.730 officers are working some combination of remotely, but they're also separated by and large 359 00:25:22.769 --> 00:25:27.650 from trailing to meet with their prospects facetoface, and as I talk to my 360 00:25:27.730 --> 00:25:32.250 gift officers, I guess my encouragement is to spend a little bit of extra 361 00:25:32.369 --> 00:25:37.160 time listening to your gift officers and people who are working with your prospects and 362 00:25:37.440 --> 00:25:41.039 donors, to hear how they're doing. Many of us, myself included, 363 00:25:41.400 --> 00:25:45.000 going for long periods of time without sitting across the table and hearing stories about 364 00:25:45.039 --> 00:25:49.589 their time at their alma mater or why they give. That process energizes me 365 00:25:49.829 --> 00:25:55.349 and that's where I drive drive my joy from my position is having those stories 366 00:25:55.390 --> 00:25:59.670 and those opportunities to engage with people. Not that these zoom calls aren't great, 367 00:26:00.109 --> 00:26:03.390 but they're not they're not the same, and I think we're going to 368 00:26:03.509 --> 00:26:06.619 we're going to see a lot of people who are having a different type of 369 00:26:06.779 --> 00:26:11.299 fundraising burnout, because I'm concerned that some of our gift officers for fundraising are 370 00:26:12.059 --> 00:26:15.099 losing some of the the zeal that they had for their mission, and I 371 00:26:15.140 --> 00:26:18.930 think that's it's important to do that. And then the the other thing I 372 00:26:19.009 --> 00:26:23.410 think most most people know this intuitively, but it's one of those moments that 373 00:26:23.490 --> 00:26:29.410 I kind of remind myself all the time of never skip a small opportunity to 374 00:26:29.450 --> 00:26:34.440 think a donor, and one of the things I found was even taking a 375 00:26:34.519 --> 00:26:38.279 picture with myself on and sending a text message of Hey, I just saw 376 00:26:38.559 --> 00:26:42.039 the the artwork that you did in our new academic building as I drove in. 377 00:26:42.559 --> 00:26:45.640 Thanks again. That was awesome. It's really great. Those little things 378 00:26:45.720 --> 00:26:51.109 that are out of nowhere, I think can mean more than the the recognition 379 00:26:51.150 --> 00:26:53.990 events that we often do, the large gifts we sometimes give donors, the 380 00:26:55.069 --> 00:26:59.789 the portraits that we paint. I think the genuine unexpected thank you goes a 381 00:26:59.910 --> 00:27:04.740 lot further sometimes in alleviating some donor fatigue and inspiring them in a way that 382 00:27:04.779 --> 00:27:08.460 we can always comprehend. That's great. That's great, Stephen. Thank you 383 00:27:08.500 --> 00:27:14.099 very much for being such a engaging guest. If some of our listeners would 384 00:27:14.099 --> 00:27:18.529 like to reach out to you for further communication, how would they do that? 385 00:27:18.049 --> 00:27:22.089 So you can certainly find me online and Linkedin. My name is Steve 386 00:27:22.170 --> 00:27:26.650 Brady. You can also find me on Rose Holman's which is Roset eed you 387 00:27:26.849 --> 00:27:30.920 and just do a search for Steve Brady on the vice president as toutional advancement. 388 00:27:30.160 --> 00:27:33.079 I think I'm pretty easy to find. Your biggest competition in finding me 389 00:27:33.319 --> 00:27:40.039 is the sex and the city guy's also apparently. Thanks Steve Brady. But 390 00:27:40.720 --> 00:27:44.670 it you have any questions, I'm happy to continue these conversations. Like I 391 00:27:44.670 --> 00:27:48.670 said, I've been in hiring fundraising my entire career. It's something I'm passionate 392 00:27:48.710 --> 00:27:51.750 about and I'm fortunate that I get to work on a campus that I see 393 00:27:51.750 --> 00:27:55.470 the benefits of people's filanthropy every day in the students, in the buildings that 394 00:27:55.509 --> 00:27:59.220 they've been able to support. Thank you for allowing us to tap into that 395 00:27:59.380 --> 00:28:03.980 expertise. Thank you, thanks Roy, thank part, thank you bar. 396 00:28:03.180 --> 00:28:07.140 Do you have any final comments that you would like to make. Yeah, 397 00:28:07.140 --> 00:28:10.059 I just want to point out a couple all of the the things that Steve 398 00:28:10.140 --> 00:28:11.779 kind of said, just to kind of underscored a little bit. But I 399 00:28:11.819 --> 00:28:15.769 think that you as we, as high end marketers, look at this understanding 400 00:28:15.849 --> 00:28:19.529 that you know we're going to be called on to probably do more of these 401 00:28:19.730 --> 00:28:26.170 many campaign types of ideas. I mean, your institution might start looking at 402 00:28:26.250 --> 00:28:29.079 that and start saying, Hey, we need to do that. Think about 403 00:28:29.119 --> 00:28:33.680 ways that you can actually utilize different methods to kind of build those many campaigns 404 00:28:33.720 --> 00:28:37.480 and make them very distinctive and make even the donors, you know, you 405 00:28:37.519 --> 00:28:40.440 might say, well, it's not quite as big as the last one. 406 00:28:40.720 --> 00:28:42.829 Treat each of them very individually and make sure that you're doing your best work 407 00:28:42.869 --> 00:28:45.630 on those things and I think that will go a long way to give the 408 00:28:47.269 --> 00:28:51.230 gift officers and the Advancement Department what they need to be able to really be 409 00:28:51.430 --> 00:28:55.509 successful in every, every aspect of what they do. And never forget about 410 00:28:55.509 --> 00:28:57.460 storytelling. I mean, you know Steve kind of indicated that, and just 411 00:28:57.579 --> 00:29:03.380 being able to sit across and listen to that, document those stories. Make 412 00:29:03.380 --> 00:29:06.660 sure you've got some organization that you can kind of reference from those, because 413 00:29:07.140 --> 00:29:10.130 those are gold and you can really use those in all kinds of different ways, 414 00:29:10.170 --> 00:29:12.650 whether it's on the website, whether it's in donor communications, whether it's 415 00:29:12.650 --> 00:29:15.650 in your alumni magazine. Just make sure you've got kind of a process in 416 00:29:15.730 --> 00:29:19.609 place for that. And then finally, just just think about ideas. As 417 00:29:19.690 --> 00:29:23.599 a marketer, I think that you could help your your advancement team. What 418 00:29:23.720 --> 00:29:26.559 are those little ways that you can say thank you? I mean Steve kind 419 00:29:26.559 --> 00:29:30.759 of talked about the the idea of a text message and a quick things like 420 00:29:30.799 --> 00:29:33.680 that. Maybe you just kind of come up in your marketing team with, 421 00:29:33.119 --> 00:29:36.440 you know, sit around with your team and come up with five or ten 422 00:29:36.519 --> 00:29:38.549 ideas, take them to the advanced but department and say hey, here's some 423 00:29:38.549 --> 00:29:41.349 thoughts we had on just little ways that you might be able to thank your 424 00:29:41.430 --> 00:29:45.950 donors that are not the big events that we typically do. But you know, 425 00:29:45.990 --> 00:29:48.069 you could use Steve's example of the take a picture and send a text. 426 00:29:48.430 --> 00:29:52.940 Maybe there's a small thank you card that you know print up some cards. 427 00:29:52.059 --> 00:29:55.779 You might want to have them just do personal notes with. Maybe you 428 00:29:55.819 --> 00:30:00.180 do personalized videos, kind of like when we talk to Ethan, Ethan but 429 00:30:00.420 --> 00:30:03.420 from bombomb video. There's all kinds of ways to do it. You, 430 00:30:03.579 --> 00:30:06.980 as marketers, can kind of help facilitate some of that and I kind of 431 00:30:07.019 --> 00:30:11.250 lean into that for you. So, Bart, thank you very much and 432 00:30:11.450 --> 00:30:14.809 to everyone. That brings us to the end of another episode. The High 433 00:30:14.809 --> 00:30:19.410 Ed Marker podcast is sponsored by Kailor solutions and education, marketing and branding agency 434 00:30:19.890 --> 00:30:26.039 and by thinking bad and good, a marketing execution company customizing and personalizing print 435 00:30:26.640 --> 00:30:32.680 mail and digital marketing. On behalf of Bart Taylor, I'm troy singer. 436 00:30:33.039 --> 00:30:37.069 Thank you for joining us. You've been listening to the Higher Ed Marketer. 437 00:30:37.829 --> 00:30:41.390 To ensure that you never miss an episode, subscribe to the show in your 438 00:30:41.430 --> 00:30:47.230 favorite podcast player. If you're listening with apple PODCASTS, we'd love for you 439 00:30:47.349 --> 00:30:49.779 to leave a quick rating of the show. Simply tap the number of stars 440 00:30:49.819 --> 00:30:52.740 you think the podcast deserves. Until next time,