During the past three weeks, Holly Hall, a features editor at The Chronicle of Philanthropy has been studying at Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota as part of her plan to obtain a master’s degree in philanthropy and development. During her stay, Ms. Hall kept a journal with useful ideas for fund raisers, as well as other observations to share with Prospecting readers. Following is the first installment; we’ll publish more over the next few days.
Day One: Getting Ready to Plunge In
It’s a hot summer day, and I’m stuck from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. in an aggressively air-conditioned classroom with group of 20 professionals, mostly, but not all, fund raisers.
I use the word “stuck” because I’m panicked, wondering what I’ve gotten myself into—even though our faculty members, keep repeating (like a mantra) that this feeling of “buyer’s remorse” is not unusual.
I chose to come here to learn more about the the historical, cultural, and economic underpinnings of philanthropy, and to better understand how the nonprofit world is likely to change in coming years.
But today I face a mountain of reading assignments that nobody with a fulltime job could have completed beforehand—even though we were expected to do so. And several assignments for meaty research papers are keeping me up at night. Not doing them, mind you (because I haven’t finished the reading yet)—just worrying about them.
To get the degree, I must spend two to three weeks here every summer for three years, engaged in intensive classroom study and evening homework, plus there are additional assignments due throughout the year. Classes include legal and ethical topics in philanthropy, cross-cultural philanthropy, organizational development, even philosophy, and more.
A combination of the rigorous program and the things that come up in people’s personal and professional lives is likely to cause one or more people to drop out every year—not unusual, we’re told. I have to wonder if I will be one of them.
Day Three: Why Fund Raisers Need to Get Out of the Office
Fund raisers are often told to spend more time outside their offices, meeting with potential donors, rather than sitting at their desks.
But development officers should spend just as much time—if not more—with the people served by their organizations, Karla A. Williams, a Charlotte, N.C., fund-raising consultant who is teaching a master’s-level course here, reminds us.
Ms. Williams offers an example from her own experience as the former president of a children’s hospital foundation, in St. Paul: Working late during a difficult period on the job, Ms. Williams says that she walked past the hospital’s pediatric intensive-care unit on her way out every night. Noticing a solitary woman hovering in the halls night after night, Ms. Williams says she finally asked the woman why she was there.
The woman explained that her child was in the pediatric intensive-care unit, but because of the fragile condition of the infants, visiting hours were strictly limited, Ms. Williams says. The woman said she was sleeping at the hospital every night, pushing two chairs together in a waiting room to make a bed, because she felt her child could sense her presence and was comforted.
The next day, upset by the mother’s situation, Ms. Williams says she approached a hospital administrator who advised her not to get involved. She approached another hospital leader who advised the same thing and suggested that the mother was “overly attached.”
Undeterred, Ms. Williams says she finally got permission to do some research to determine whether donors would be willing to contribute to a campaign to build hospital accommodations for family members.
She found overwhelming support for the idea of a “family wing,” Ms. Williams says, and such a facility was built within months, all paid for by private donations. Such projects helped the hospital increase its fund raising from $800,000 annually to $6-million per year, she tells us.
Tell us about valuable fund-raising experiences you found by getting outside the office.
