This week’s entry completes another round of the five aspects of Advancement, focusing on Development.
It’s an easy one: share ideas.
Don’t keep trying to reinvent the wheel.
If you’re involved simply with Development, there’s an acronym I use to describe the activities associated with the position:
ARCHANGEL
And now you know why this site has been rebranded from SchoolAdvancement to ArchangelAdvancement!
The N stands for networking, and sharing ideas is a great way to connect with others.
Also remember that most people join to “get” ideas, just as schools like to “get” contributions from donors. However, the best way to accomplish that goal is to “give” value first!
Give your ideas.
Become a thought-leader.
Through sharing, you’ll then find the other ideas that you’re searching for.
One of the ways you can share ideas with development and advancement directors across the country is to join LinkedIn (http://www.linkedin.com) and sign up for a free account. Once you’re a member (or, if you already are a member), there are some great groups you can join that focus on Marketing, Development, Fund Raising, Philanthropy, and all those things related to what Advancement professionals do.
When SchoolAdvancement.com began over 20 years ago, it was only a discussion group on Yahoo.com. Through the evolution of technology, it morphed into a forum, which, became a LinkedIn group on this Web site, which then changed to a Facebook group since more people were using Facebook than LinkedIn.
However, in the past few years, Facebook has become an incredibly divisive platform, and discussions don’t take place there – arguments do.
The issue with LinkedIn was that it had a large number of school advancement directors engaged, but over the course of a few years, more than half the members were in different advancement positions in different market verticals – healthcare, the arts, or other public service organizations. It was really no longer “School” Advancement issues.
That’s going to change soon.
A new LinkedIn group is being created for ArchangelAdvancement.com, and will be for those who have a Premium Subscription to Archangel Advancement. There will be 3 levels of membership – Free, Standard ($17 per month) and Premium ($27 per month). More information will be posted to this site about this, as well as a yearly discounted rate (Standard at $199 per year, and Premium at $299 per year).
As for ideas, if you’re still planning for the 2026-2027 school year, and are in need a new event that doesn’t take a whole lot of planning, drop an email to archangeladvancement@gmail.com for an idea that first surfaced years before the Pandemic, but would have made a great event to have during it. Use the words “The UnEvent” in the subject line.
Recalling the first part of this article, “N” in ARCHANGEL stands for “Networking.” So what do the other letters in ARCHANGEL stand for?
It’s all about all the things a Development Director needs to do – Associations, Rest, Communications, Happenings, Appeals, Networking, Gifts and Grants, Energize, and List Management.
The key words in that sentence are “all” and “needs.”
If “all” the components are not being attended to, it’s just like a gasoline-powered car engine without a serpentine belt. It’s only a small and relatively inexpensive thing, but without it, eventually, the car’s engine will overheat, the battery will die, and the car may crash because the brakes or steering have no power assist.
And no one wants your school to crash.