The Development Debrief

Almost a decade ago, I met Karen Osborne at my first ever CASE conference. Today, I have privilege of picking her brain on two very important topics—board diversification and stewardship. Karen and I agree that the overall thread we continue to pull in this episode is about being planful with everything you do.

Karen believes in the power of philanthropy, generosity, and service. She built her career around these passions not only as a major and principal gifts officer, vice president, speaker, teacher, consultant, and coach, but also as a donor, volunteer, and board member.

For eighteen of Karen’s forty-four professional years, she held leadership positions–Director of Major Gifts, Director of Development, and VP for College Advancement–at colleges and universities. For the past 26 years, Karen served first as President and now Senior Strategist at The Osborne Group, an international management, consulting, and training firm.

Karen enjoys a rich volunteer life. The Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) awarded her the Crystal Apple for Outstanding Teaching and Public Speaking, and the Ashmore Award for Outstanding Service to the Profession. In addition to volunteering for professional organizations, she serves on the governing board of Easterseals Florida.

Karen is a suspense and mystery writer. Getting It Right, Akashic Books, published in June 2017. Award-winning and best-selling Tangled Lies, Black Rose Writing, launched July 22, 2021. Reckonings, Black Rose Writing, released June 16, 2022. Her weekly video Vlog, What Are You Reading? What Are You Writing? showcases authors and other creatives.

This week’s episode is steeped in data thanks to Patrick Schmitt, co-CEO of FreeWill. I ask Patrick about bequests, effective stock giving, crypto—he tells us about ethereum, QCD’s, and some data points on inheritance and millennial giving trends. This conversation is face paced, exciting, and informative!

Patrick Schmitt is co-CEO of FreeWill, which he and fellow FreeWill co-CEO Jenny Xia founded at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business in 2016. FreeWill’s charitable giving platform makes it easier for nonprofit fundraising teams to unlock transformational gifts, and to date has generated over $6.6 billion in new gift commitments for thousands of nonprofit organizations. Patrick hosts FreeWill’s popular webinar series, educating thousands of nonprofit fundraising professionals each month about planned and non-cash giving strategies.

If you missed it, we did an "instagram live" with Patrick which you can find on my instagram @devdebrief. Feel free to find that and watch for more tidbits and information.

https://www.freewill.com/

Welcome to Season 9! I am thrilled to open with a conversation focused on Prospect Research, featuring Steve Grimes. In our conversation we talk about the important role both researchers and fundraisers play as they work together towards a common goal. Steve reflects on experiences throughout his career and shares how they have shaped his approach today.

Steve is the Associate Director of Data Insight at the Helen Brown Group. Most recently he was the Assistant Director of the NYC Mayor's Office of Data Analytics (MODA). Here, he provided guidance and supervision to the Office’s data scientists and analytic portfolio. As the City's center for data analytic excellence, he regularly interacted with City leadership, other Mayor’s Offices, City agencies, and NYC’s data science community.

Previously, he was the Director of Development Analytics and Strategy at Jazz at Lincoln Center (JALC) producing reporting and analysis needs for senior leadership. Before JALC, he joined the ACLU as the Prospect Research Analyst working with the Principal Gifts team in the national office at the beginning of the Trump administration.

In a previous life he pursued academia as a doctoral fellow at Rutgers University, focusing his research on labor relations, intimacy, and visual sociology. When the time allowed, he taught various courses on social inequality, social research, and the sociology of emotions.

He received a bachelor’s degree in psychology from SUNY at Old Westbury, a master’s degree in sociology from St. John’s University, and a second master’s degree in media studies from CUNY at Brooklyn College. He currently sits on the board of the New York State Coalition Against Domestic Violence, he is director for NEDRA, served as a director of APRAGNY and on various  APRA committees, and was co-host of a now defunct podcast on prospect research.

He is a fan of video games, nature, and history.

I hope everyone had a great holiday weekend. I am excited for the fall season as we close out the summer and season 8. This week, I chat with Leah Burton, the Deputy Director and Chief Advancement Officer at the Guggenheim. It has been a little while since we have had an arts and culture leader here. We talk about their pandemic response, handling times of crisis, plans for the future, and learn about Leah’s background and personal journey near the end of the conversation. I used a quote from Leah to title the episode—a circle in a world of squares. This is talking about the museum itself, but I also like the idea of being different and thinking out of the proverbial box.

Leah joined the Guggenheim in September 2019. Burton oversees the planning, management, and execution of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and Foundation’s strategic engagement with current and prospective donors regionally, nationally, and internationally. Burton comes to the Guggenheim from CCS Fundraising, a strategic consulting firm where, as Vice President, she advised nonprofit clients in the art and culture, higher education, healthcare, and social services sectors. She has worked as a consultant for the Guggenheim since 2016. for ALSAC/St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in New York, where she oversaw fundraising initiatives for the greater New York and New Jersey area in support of the hospital. She previously was the Director of Development for St. Mary’s Healthcare System for Children, where she managed a prospect portfolio, developed strategies for donor solicitation and cultivation, and prepared the organization for campaign readiness. She serves as an adjunct faculty member at Columbia University in the Master of Nonprofit Management program, where she teaches fundraising fundamentals. She graduated from Knox College and received her Master of Science in Nonprofit Management with a focus in fundraising from Columbia University. A member of the Columbia University School of Professional Studies Alumni Council, Burton is also a board member of the Association of Fundraising Professionals, New York City, and received the National Young Professional of the Year Award from AFP.

This is the final episode of season 8. I will be taking a short break and would love to hear from you in the interim. Check out my linkedin page or the instagram @devdebrief. I would love to hear how you are exploring being a circle in a world of squares, and what thoughts and ideas this episode brought up for you.

For those of you interested in tech, grants, or entrepreneurship, I hope you enjoy this week’s conversation with Gauri Manglik. Gauri has dedicated her career to building intuitive and delightful user experiences. Seeing the opportunity to force multiply the nonprofit sector's ability to create impact through software led her to her work at Instrumentl. As CEO and a co-founder, she has led Instrumentl to serve over 2,000 nonprofits today, making it a favorite tool among grant seekers for bringing grant prospecting, tracking, and management to one place.

Before Instrumentl, Gauri was CEO and co-founder of Fondu, an online community for sharing bite-sized restaurant reviews. After Fondu was acquired by Airbnb, Gauri led their mobile and special projects teams.

DEBRIEFPOD50 will let you save $50 off your first month or year of Instrumentl. You can sign up for your 14-day free Instrumentl account here: https://www.instrumentl.com/r/DevelopmentDebrief

I want to start this episode by thanking Jim Livengood for making this episode happen. Jim, who is the Assistant Director of Development at the Wilmer Eye Institute at Johns Hopkins Medicine, reached out to me and said that our community must hear from Michael and Megan. Michael Hibler is Executive Director of Development for the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins and Megan Ward is Director of Development for the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins.

Jim said, “Some of my colleagues recommended seeing if it might be possible to have both Michael and Megan come speak with you as “co-guests.” They work very closely together, and you might get a better feel for how their partnership captures the higher-level big picture stuff and maybe some of the more in-the-trenches aspects of this type of work.” Thank you, Jim- because this episode is dynamic and authentic in a way that can’t be planned or staged.

We talk about the true meaning of being mission driven, Understanding the complex nature of the healthcare center, goal setting, retention, hiring tips, team building, and so much more!

Debbie has focused her career on fundraising from corporations and foundations. This week, she tells us how she has made career decisions through relationship building and networking, which confirms my hunch that work in CFR is not so different from working with individuals. 

Debbie Rosenberg Bush is director of corporate and foundation relations at Columbia University School of General Studies, which she joined in March 2022 as the first person to hold this newly created position at the School. She previously served in a similar role for nine years at Columbia’s Mailman School of Public Health.  Prior to Columbia, Debbie was senior director of development for the Cancer Support Community, director of corporate and foundation relations at Gilda’s Club Worldwide, director of foundation support at the American Museum of Natural History, and director of development at the New York Academy of Sciences.  Before her career in development, she worked at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center as director of publications and was an editor at Random House, The Sciences, and Consumer Reports.  Debbie has a Bachelor of Science from Yale University and is active in the governance of the Yale Club of New York City. She was also on the board of Women in Development New York.

Mega Gifts, Crypto, ESG oh my! Today CJ and Steve Orr—a father/son duo talk with us about some meaty topics. They run a full service fundraising consulting firm but come to the work with roots in finance. We talk about how important it is to be conversant on a baseline level with donors when it comes to the market, currency, and financial planning. Trust me when I say, if I can do it, so can you.

Thank you for tuning in! If you would like to hear more from the Orr group, check out the knowledge center. Have a great week!

Do you wonder what really needs to be done in preparation for an ask? I talk with Amanda about the work she has done in the last year plus in her role created and designed to work with all parts of the advancement team. Amanda has had success keeping constituents engaged at all levels. She compares her work to setting the table before a meal. 

Amanda Pulawski is Director of Constituent Engagement at The Taft School, an independent boarding school in Watertown, Connecticut. Prior to her current role at Taft, she was a member of the Annual Fund team and served as Director of Special Events. A passionate and creative professional, she works with each part of their Advancement team to connect the schools constituents to the institution through events, communication, engagement, and stewardship. Amanda works closely with volunteers of the school to ensure that their practices are relatable and engaging across generations and relationships. She is a volunteer herself, working as an advisor to The Red Rhino Fund a 9-student board tasked with raising funds to grant awards to local organizations in support of education, literacy, and the arts, is a member of the Connecticut Community Foundation Women's Giving Circle, and serves as Board President at her children's school. She graduated from Albertus Magnus with a degree in Humanities and attended Boston University's Center for Professional Education for Fundraising. She and her husband, Artie, have two boys Jack (5) and Owen (3).

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This week, Herb Soles and I talk about independent school fundraising. We cover working with trustees, the value of a feasibility study, and what is means when we say "culture beats our strategy every time". Herb Soles is a consultant for ISM.

Independent School Management is dedicated to advancing school leadership to enrich the student experience. Rely on 45+ years of research and insights to strengthen your school and deliver your mission with excellence. From numerous virtual and in-person workshops to weekly webinars and newsletters, our resources ensure you’re doing what’s best for your faculty, staff, and students. Join a community of 900+ private schools to develop new skills, explore research-based approaches, and feel confident in your role as a private school leader. Learn more at isminc.com.

Herb provides consulting services in the areas of development and fundraising, with expertise including extensive knowledge of endowment and planned giving as ways to increase donors’ capacity to give at leadership levels.

Herb has coached advancement teams that have been recognized twice by the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education in the Achievement in Mobilizing Support Award competition. He has received seven other national awards for alumni participation, publication improvement, and fundraising management.

Herb has also been a member of the CASE Alumni Relations Commission, the Development Advisory Committee for the National Association of Independent Schools, and the Development Steering Committee of the Association of Independent Schools of Greater Washington. He is a former Program Chair and President of the Planned Giving Study Group of Greater Washington. In Helen Colson’s book, Philanthropy in Independent Schools, Herb authored the chapter on planned giving.

He holds a bachelor’s degree in education from the University of Virginia and has done graduate work at Virginia Polytechnic Institute.