James M. Langley, President of Langley Innovations, has pioneered a number of practices that have been emulated by hundreds of institutions of higher learning. The knowledge he acquired from conceiving and conducting three path-breaking campaigns at three major institutions and the insight he gleaned from decades of research on donor behavior has been shared in five books, dozens of articles, hundreds of blog posts and scores of seminars, workshops and speeches. As a result, his expertise and insight, particularly on how institutions can adapt best to changing and unchanging philanthropic realities, is highly sought after by Canadian and U.S. institutions and professional advancement organizations.
His most recent book, The Future of Fundraising: Adapting to New Philanthropic Realities, was published by Academic Impressions in 2020. It builds on the vast experience and extensive research imparted in his four previous books, Comprehensive Campaigns: A Guide for Presidents and Boards, Fundraising for Boards: A Guide, Fundraising for Deans: A Guide, and Fundraising for Presidents: A Guide and Fundraising for Presidents: A Guide. He has also written chapters in Advancing Higher Education: New Strategies for Fundraising, Philanthropy and Engagement and How to Recruit and Retain Good Staff and published numerous articles including his most recent, “Cultivating a Culture of Philanthropy” in Trusteeship, the magazine produced by the Association of Governing Boards. After 30 years in higher education, he founded Langley Innovations. In its first eleven years, Langley Innovations has served over 130 clients, providing a wide variety of strategic services.
As Vice President for Advancement at Georgetown University (2005 to 2010), Langley imagined and led a massive “Discovery Initiative,” employing current students to conduct face-to-face interviews of alumni around the world. The purpose of the interviews was to discover what Langley calls the “animating passions” of the alumni, then link those passions with the University’s programmatic initiatives to establish Georgetown as the place that alumni “not only give to but through to realize their larger societal ideals.” Over 6,000 alumni in 42 states and 17 countries were interviewed. Giving by those interviewed rose 43 percent in the year after the visit with 20 percent giving their largest gift ever. In addition, the interviews yielded 1,000 new career mentors, 500 new alumni admission interviewers, 200 regional club and class committee volunteers, and 570 new major gift prospects, 63 percent of whom had a capacity of over $100,000. Langley also launched the quiet phase of a campaign that secured over $558 million, including a record $189 million in 2009 despite the worst economy since the Great Depression.
At the University of California, San Diego (1997-2005), Langley served at Vice Chancellor for External Relations and President of the UCSD Foundation. He forged a public-private coalition and secured support from both sides of the political aisle to establish a model school for economically disadvantaged youngsters. After only four years, the graduates of this model school were being admitted to the nation’s most competitive colleges and universities. Langley also led efforts to secure $100 million from the State to create an advanced information technology center then matched that grant with $140 million in support from business and industry, which he secured within five months. Though advised by fund raising experts that the University did not have sufficient alumni support, Langley led the school into a $1 billion campaign, the largest campaign ever attempted at the time by a school established in the post World War II period. That campaign put forward a series of bold concepts, which attracted one nine-figure gift, and 7 eight-figure gifts, all of which were greater the largest gifts previously raised — and all from non-alumni donors.
When he left that University, Langley was cited by the Chancellor as “a pivotal force behind the campus’ ascension as a world class institution.” The citation, in part, reads, “He engineered a meteoric rise in the philanthropic giving …and his vigorous launch of the landmark “Imagine What’s Next” campaign ensured its extraordinary early success. Jim’s unique vision …energized such key constituent groups as alumni, federal, and state officials, and community leaders. His blueprint for successful strategic communications had dramatically raised UCSD’s public profile, and his dynamic participation in higher education advancement circles won UCSD national renown for innovative stewardship.”
At Georgia Tech, where Langley served as Vice President of External Affairs (1989-1997), he led an initiative to increase that university’s market share of the most qualified students in the face of demographic decline. Using innovative market research and targeted communications, Langley increased the University’s average SAT score from 1187 to 1234 in two years. He also was instrumental in the Georgia Tech being selected as the Olympic Village for the 1996 Summer Games and converting that platform into an international news bonanza for the University. Under Langley’s direction, fund raising receipts tripled and his operations won numerous awards in virtually every area of advancement.
Renowned for his public speaking, Langley’s professional seminars are consistently described as the “best I have ever attended” by his peers and he has been awarded the Crystal Apple by the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education for having received the highest possible evaluations from attendees at ten different conferences.
Langley graduated magna cum laude from the University of Cincinnati where he was also selected to Phi Beta Kappa. He also received a master’s degree in history from the University of Cincinnati where he was awarded the prestigious Taft Fellowship. He is a Vietnam era veteran of the U.S. Army.