Overview
In his book The Future of Fundraising, Jim Langley, President and Founder of Langley Innovations, addresses how and why our current perceptions are trailing behind philanthropic realities and offers a purpose-driven fundraising model and mindset that will allow institutions to:
- Retain donors through improved acquisition and responsiveness.
- Engage donors with future-oriented initiatives aligned with their passions.
- Identify practices for acquiring new alumni, individual and parent donors, and corporate and foundation support.
- Maximize leadership to build a collaborative, philanthropic culture.
- Practice emotional intelligence across all areas of advancement work.
Join us as an individual or with your advancement team (including academic leaders) to participate in our “Summer FUN-draising Reading Challenge,” a discussion-based book club focused on The Future of Fundraising that is designed to help you to assess your current fundraising tactics and identify opportunities to adapt them to better sustain donor trust.
Who Should Attend
This Reading Challenge is designed for advancement professionals, deans, and other academic leaders who are looking for new approaches to build trust with donors, strengthen the health of their advancement operations, and increase collaboration across units to better use philanthropy to align donor passions with institutional priorities and make a difference in society.
Here’s How The Reading Challenge Works
- Purchase a copy of The Future of Fundraising (or find the copy you already own).
- Read each chapter of the book, broken up across seven weeks. As you are reading, you’ll have the chance to submit discussion questions for the two live discussion sessions.
- Attend two live discussion sessions to address key questions from your reading with your peers and consider strategies to improve your shop culture and donor relationships.
- Submit an action plan reflection by Wednesday, July 31, 2024, detailing how you plan to apply some of what you learned through your reading and attendance at the live discussion sessions.
- The top three institutions with either the highest percentage of their Academic Impressions account users, or with the highest number of participants from a non-member institution who submit an action plan reflection, will receive a $2,500 discount on a Vital Signs Assessment offered by Academic Impressions and Langley Innovations. All individuals who submit an action plan reflection will be entered into a drawing to receive one of three $500 discounts to be used toward a conference seat, an Academic Impressions membership, or a custom workshop.
Suggested Reading Schedule
Week 1:
June 3 - 7, 2024
- Introduction
- Chapter 1: Understanding and Adapting to New Philanthropic Realities
- Chapter 2: Toward More Sustainable Fundraising Practice: If You’re in a Hole, Stop Digging
Week 2:
June 10 - 14, 2024
- Chapter 3: A Better Model of Fundraising
- Chapter 4: Organizing for New Realities
Week 3:
June 17 - 21, 2024
- Chapter 5: The Essentiality of Collaboration
Week 4:
June 24 - 28, 2024
- Chapter 6: Retaining Donors Through Improved Acquisition and Responsiveness
- Chapter 7: Nurturing and Deepening Donor Relations
- LIVE SESSION 1 – Thursday, June 27 from 12:00–1:15 p.m. ET
Catch-Up Week:
July 1 - 5, 2024
- Use this week to catch up (or get ahead) on your reading.
Week 5:
July 8 - 12, 2024
- Chapter 8: Acquiring New Donors
Week 6:
July 15 - 19, 2024
- Chapter 9: Building a More Attuned and Responsive Culture
- Chapter 10: Acquiring Constituents
Week 7:
July 22 - 26, 2024
- Chapter 11: Emotional Intelligence
- Appendix: But What About All Those Other “Secrets of Success?”
- LIVE SESSION 2 – Thursday, July 25 from 12:00–1:15 p.m. ET
Summer FUN-draising Reading Challenge