Today’s episode features a brilliant and creative mind. A colleague who is always thinking outside of the box and questioning the status quo. This week, I pick the brain of Brian Chapman (Deputy Vice President for Analytics and Business Strategy in the Office of Alumni and Development at Columbia University). The conversation is not specific to higher ed and can be applied to all roles in the field. Brian and I would meet on a semi regular basis (before we went remote) and I would ask him questions over coffee or lunch like I do today. A few examples we unpack today.... is a larger gift a better gift? How do we assign value to gift impact? How should fundraisers be evaluated? Why have we trained donors to follow certain patterns?