The Donor Investor Imperative On-Demand Webinar Series
Today’s principal gift donors think differently about the organizations they choose to support, and universities need to act now to continue to receive their support. They expect to change the world, and will work with institutions of higher education as a means to do so.
These “donor investors” seek creative ideas that will have global impact and are rooted in strong relationships with the institution. Merely promoting traditional priorities or a strategic plan is no longer enough to attract and retain these donors. The first step to building relationships with donor investors is to understand what motivates them and what they seek from their philanthropy.
1. The Rise of the Donor Investor
2. Sustainably Sourcing Big Ideas
Today’s donor investors make philanthropic decisions based on compelling ideas, transformative impact, and credible connections to the institution doing the work. Yet, surfacing the most compelling big ideas can only come through successful collaboration with academic leaders across campus.
Using a transparent process to identify and prioritize big ideas can unite leaders across campus and encourage faculty members to engage in the “blue sky” thinking that is most compelling to top donors. However, finding the best ideas is not always easy, and there are many potential pitfalls to avoid.
This webconference will equip participants with tools and tips to design and implement a big ideas process, determine fundraising priorities, and build bridges between advancement and the academic enterprise.
3. Communicating the Impact of Big Ideas
Donor investors want their philanthropy to have a global impact, and advancement is often responsible for predicting and communicating that impact over time. However, much of this information resides with academic leaders, who often struggle to communicate in a way that donors will understand. Luckily, donors do not expect impact to be reported in peer-reviewed journal articles and advancement is uniquely-positioned to bridge the gap between faculty with high-impact projects and philanthropists with transformational intentions.
This webconference will equip participants to engage faculty in translating their ideas into terms for non-experts and to model gift impact for data-driven donors.
4. Perfecting the Pitch to Appeal to Today’s Donors
As today’s donor investors are increasingly interested in big ideas with global impact, they consistently want to engage with the people who have the big ideas: faculty and academic leaders. However, faculty members are reluctant to engage with advancement and are often ill-prepared to describe projects to a donor audience. By clarifying the faculty role in donor cultivation and providing practice opportunities, advancement can build relationships with faculty and increase their confidence when presenting to a non-expert audience.
In this webconference, we outline how to prepare faculty members to pitch their big ideas to a donor audience, from practicing in front of peers, to pitching to a select group of donors, to successfully participating in donor visits.
This resource requires EAB partnership access to view.
Access the video
Learn how you can get access to this resource as well as hands-on support from our experts through Advancement Advisory Services.
Learn More