Many college and university advancement shops are facing increased constraints on their resources (not only budgetary resources, but staff and time) while also facing increased demand from stakeholders across the institution, who often clamor for central advancement resources, then object when they don’t receive them or receive fewer than they deem necessary for their efforts. The resulting disappointment can slow progress on key priorities or even lead to donor “hoarding.” In this climate, it is critical that advancement leaders establish specific protocols for allocating central advancement resources and articulate those protocols clearly to internal stakeholders.
For advice on how to approach the issue, we reached out to Jim Langley, founder and president of Langley Innovations, and past vice president of advancement at Georgetown University. Here’s what he shared with us.