No, We Are Not Okay

If you are a leader in an organization committed to diversity, equity and inclusion, now is not the time to remain silent. Now is the time to show your colleagues of color that you value them and support them, and that you are committed to playing a leadership role in your organization’s anti-racist work.

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Managing_Talent

Managing Talent Through Tough Times

After rapidly and successfully adjusting to remote operations, talent managers are now looking ahead to what the advancement team of the future looks like. The following offers insights from talent managers at a variety of organizations for how they are weathering the storm. It offers key considerations for planning, recommendations for best practices, and innovative examples from colleges and universities that respond to our teams’ physical, mental, and emotional needs as we transition to new models. The inspiration of this article was the result of a national advancement talent management leaders convening that was co-facilitated by Yvette Marsh, Executive Director of Talent Management, Louisiana State University Foundation and Angelique Grant, Senior Consultant and Vice President at Aspen Leadership Group.

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InsidePhilanthropy_AllStars_SteveBarry

Inside Philanthropy: Coming Into Fundraising From Another Profession

Nnontraditional candidates often think their experience and skills are obvious, and as a result, fail to adequately explain how their professional experience makes them qualified to raise money. “A lot of people say, ‘I did sales, so I can do this,’ but you have to connect the dots” more explicitly for organizations hiring fundraisers, Michael Vann, Vice President for Search Management says. “They want their own language repeated back to them,” he says. They want to hear about specific responsibilities a would-be fundraiser held in previous jobs and how that will make the candidate successful in building relationships and securing gifts.

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InsidePhilanthropy_AllStars

Inside Philanthropy – Help Wanted: How to Remove Barriers to Hiring Fundraisers From Other Fields

“Unwillingness on the part of the fundraising profession to pay attention to transferable skills has not only diminished the pipeline of talent, but also diminished success in objectives for the profession to become more diverse,” says Ron Schiller of Aspen Leadership Group. “We’re missing out on plenty of people with strong skills and relevant passion who could put those skills to work for something that matters deeply to them.”

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Managing Remote Advancement Employees

If you were working remotely before Covid-19, your transition to remote work was probably much easier than your colleagues who had been working at your organization’s home base. Responsibility for communication pre-Covid-19 generally fell to the remote worker. Now that burden has shifted to managers. If you are managing staff then there are new guidelines for managing up, down, and laterally. Your ability to be successful will revolve around how well you communicate, set clear goals and expectations, advocate for and provide the necessary tools for successfully meeting those goals and expectations, and maintain your organization’s culture and your team’s alignment to its mission.

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Roundtable of advancement professionals at AADO Floyd Akins

6 Shifts in Fundraising Practice You Will Not Want to Ignore

Today’s speed of change will require leaders to find new ways to navigate this pace. My recent conversations with 12 VPs uncovered a shift in how they’re thinking about our work and its rapid evolution. As you enter planning season with your advancement team, keep the following six shifts in mind.

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