The three constraints on fundraising growth—and how advancement leaders can overcome them

College and university leaders have set their fundraising ambitions sky-high. Yet many overlook critical constraints on performance. Their advancement goals often conflict with the realities of what their prospect bases can sustain, what their teams can achieve given staffing and budget levels, and what their visions for philanthropy’s impact on campus can inspire.

EAB discussed how to overcome these obstacles with college and university advancement leaders in a three-part virtual roundtable series, Breaking the 3 Constraints on Fundraising Growth. Access the slides and recordings from the three sessions below.

Constraints on Fundraising Growth

Session 1: Capitalizing on a Growing Prospect Base

Higher ed institutions currently have more high-net-worth prospects to cultivate now than at any other point in the past, and yet major and principal gift activity still lags behind. This is partially because it’s not enough for major gift donors to have the financial capacity to give—they must also have an interest in philanthropy and feel connected to your institution.

The good news is that high-net-worth individuals today are turning towards philanthropy more than they have in the last few decades. However, increasingly negative public perceptions of higher ed could be decreasing institutional affinity and counteracting prospects’ elevated capacity to give.

This session provides an overview of the current higher ed advancement landscape and outlines the three major mistakes advancement teams make that lead to undercultivation of prospects.

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• View recording

Session 2: Aligning Resources with Institutional Ambition

Nothing predicts fundraising as well as the resources that a college or university puts into advancement. On average, every net-new FTE adds over $1 million to an institution’s top-line fundraising totals. Yet amazingly, over 70% of institutions have cut fundraising resources in the last 5 years—even before the pandemic arrived.

Thankfully, we seem to be entering a new era in which presidents’ and chancellors’ campaign ambitions inspire adequate investment in advancement. Still, investment without a smart, data-driven strategy about how to use those resources can lead to low returns and disappointed stakeholders.

This session covers how best-practice institutions invest in support roles (in addition to frontline positions), how they align their compensation and benefits to attract (and retain) the best talent, and how they broaden their recruiting network to bring more high-potential candidates into the industry.

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• View recording

Session 3: Creating Pathways for Transformative Impact

Philanthropy has been revolutionized in recent years by the emergence of impact-driven donor-investors—a new breed of ultra-high-net-worth donor who gives to whichever organization will help them change the world, irrespective of their previous connection to it.

For many institutions, the emergence of the donor-investor has thrown into stark relief the inadequacies of their fundraising vision. Generic priorities and transactional asks dominate campaign materials and solicitation strategies; rare is the campaign pillar that donors can’t find at nearly any other institution.

In this session we discuss the shortcomings of how most advancement divisions connect their donors to transformative impact. We also offer counterexamples of breakthrough institutions recasting philanthropy to meet the needs of today’s donor-investors.

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