The Questions That Turn Academic Visions into Fundable Opportunities
We’re spending a lot of time on college campuses this year to facilitate meaningful discussions between advancement and deans. Universities don’t typically have a shortage of ideas, but they oftentimes have an opportunity to better develop those ideas.
Let’s talk about that step between “the dean has a vision” —and— “the institution has a well-considered, specific philanthropic opportunity that we are prepared to put in front of a principal gift prospect.” When a disciplined process is implemented, it’s framed around questions that reveal the most information and inform the best next steps.
5 questions GPG is asking (with academia + advancement) upon learning of a great idea:
What truly changes if we get this right? I want to know how this will change the university, the field, and potentially the world beyond it. We go from activity to consequence.
What does the most ambitious version of this idea look like? Let’s remove an artificial ceiling and imagine there are no constraints. Now, who are you hiring and what are you investing in to truly scale this? I want to understand what’s different about this as a $50M investment from a $2M investment. How do those responses impact the answer to our first question?
Why us and why now? Donors love specificity, and nothing is more compelling than the case for our university to be the one uniquely positioned to tackle this initiative. Where is there urgency or momentum we can point to? Let’s understand and articulate what happens if we don’t do this now. Bonus points if you can articulate the reasons why the world wants or needs this to happen, too.
What will it actually take to make this happen? Give me real numbers: people, facilities, budgets, research, endowment considerations, and a timeline. None of the ideas matter without a plan that can be executed and tracked along the way. Academia has to trust advancement with relationships — they are the trained pros in moving conversations along to align what a donor truly wants to impact with what advances the institution. When they work together, everyone has ownership over a piece of the plan.
What would we ask someone to make this possible? Where does philanthropy materially accelerate this? It’s interesting to identify where $1M can accomplish something identifiable, how $5M unlocks something significant, and what becomes possible at $25M. We often talk about the benefit of “transformational gift thinking,” even if that level of gift doesn’t seem immediately possible because we don’t need a $50M donor in order to really benefit from a $50M vision — philanthropists see themselves within the vision at different levels and the consequences of a uniquely specific ask within a larger framework.
An idea becomes a plan, and that becomes a reality when it’s funded.
Are you spending time with your deans and other academic leaders this fall? It’s thought provoking work that we feel fulfilled by helping to facilitate. I know that academic professionals can be reeling from budget cuts and a way of thinking that must historically fit within a box. It takes ideating, honesty, evidence, and trust to get to the point of posing the above 5 questions. When we get there, though, we form partnerships that reveal a 3-way win for schools, development, and donors.