Our clients come to us because they know their current way of operating won't get them where they need to go.
Some arrive with a plan that is not landing. Others have not yet named what is driving the gap. What they share is a leadership team willing to do the work of changing what is below the surface.
Which of these sounds like your team?
WHO WE WORK WITH
These are the six situations we see most often across advancement offices. One of them usually fits.
You're new to the role and inheriting the team.
You're six months into a Vice President or Chief Development Officer appointment. The team has real talent and real gaps. The way they've been working doesn't match what you've been asked to deliver, and you can see it. But you don't yet have a clear path from here to there.
A campaign is getting closer and the team isn't ready.
The board is asking about timeline. A campaign is somewhere between twelve and twenty-four months out. You know a feasibility study alone won't fix what's happening inside the team. The question isn't whether the case is strong. It's whether your people can execute it.
You've already tried this.
A strategic plan was delivered. An assessment was completed. Six months later, the team is still working the same way. The problem was never the plan. It was that nobody stayed to help the team change how they actually work day to day.
A major investment isn't delivering.
Real money went into a CRM, a data platform, or an operations overhaul. In practice, the team works around it instead of with it. The technology is fine. The way the team operates around it never changed.
The team is strong. The load isn't sustainable.
Vacancies sit open. Every priority is urgent. Your AVP and directors are covering the work of two roles, sometimes three. The team isn't failing. They're carrying more than the current system can support, and everyone below the VP can feel it.
You're doing well. You want to do better.
The team is capable and the results are solid. But there's a ceiling you haven't been able to break through. We work with strong teams that want to go from good to consistently excellent.
━ sector-wide pressure ━
Advancement Offices Have Current Vacancies.
The load your team is carrying isn’t unique to your institution. And “we just need two more gift officers” doesn’t fix it.
*Source: EAB, Fall 2024 · 160+ advancement leaders surveyed
The leader sets the direction. The team carries it forward. We work with both.
Our work starts with the person who owns the team's direction: typically a Vice President of Advancement, Chief Development Officer, or senior leader responsible for how the team operates. But it doesn't stay in the corner office. It reaches into the team doing the day-to-day work. That is how the changes last.
What makes that possible on our side is consistency. The team you meet is the team you get. The senior people in the first conversation are the same people in the room every cycle, coaching your leader and your team through to completion. No handoff to junior staff after the contract is signed.
Let's talk about your team.
If one of the scenarios above sounded like the team you lead, a working conversation is the right next step.
* Some of our work happens outside higher education. Learn about our other services →
