I look back at twenty six years of serving higher education and realize that these are tough economic times, for the country and for our respective states and institutions. State budgets have suffered severe cutbacks over the last several years and the near term outlook does not appear promising. State support for higher education has been greatly reduced in the process as state legislatures struggle to establish funding priorities. Support for higher education has been reduced from 35%-40% a generation ago to around 10%-15% today. Institutions at all levels around the country have been adversely impacted by these onerous cutbacks. The end result is that colleges and universities are having to balance their budgets by reducing programs, faculty and staff while increasing student tuition and fees and reducing scholarship support.

What is to be done to provide relief in this area? There is, at least, a partial solution to this problem in response to the need for funding to provide necessary support for academic programs, students, faculty, and research dollars.  The answer must come through major gifts and support from the private sector, from alumni, friends, corporations and foundations. Foundations and corporations have been forced to reduce their financial support to higher education which further exacerbates the problem. Individuals, even loyal alumni are reluctant to make large commitments under such uncertain economic conditions. The need to formulate specific strategies to address this challenge at your institution and enhance the gifts and grants from the private sector has never been greater. Many institutions and related foundations are also being forced to reduce their staffs and services when the need is the greatest. It is my belief that most institutions today could benefit from outside, independent professional services in critical areas of their fundraising operations.

Shannon Consulting is prepared to assist higher education at all levels to maximize their private support. Shannon Consulting has a highly trained and diversified professional staff available to assist you in all areas of fundraising, associated asset management, governance and administrative services. Our areas of expertise include the following:

• Major gift and annual gift fundraising
• Gift administration
• Investment services
• Accounting services
• Donor and public relations
• Campaign planning and implementation
• Human Resources
• Executive recruitment
• Trustee development
• Management training
• Governance issues
• Strategic Planning
• Institutionally Related Foundation transition plans and operations
• Institution/Institutionally Related Foundation Relationships

Please consider your needs and provide Shannon Consulting the opportunity to assist your institution/foundation at better meeting your fundraising mission by providing the “margin of excellence” for your institution at a time that could never be more critical. It will be a well justified investment in your school’s future.

John Stropp has over 26 years experience as an executive with institutionally-related foundations in higher education. He is a Partner with Shannon Consulting.

Punishment in a POW camp is pretty brutal. We have all watched the Hollywood versions of POW life and the brutal facts of life without the most basic of human rights. Let’s take for example “The Great Escape”… a classic! One of my favorite movies of all time. The cast was amazing and the plot, while predictable, was good. In the movie we get a rather sterilized picture of what life in “camp” was like.

When captured, you were at the mercy of your mortal enemy. They could do with you as they please… you lost your ability to make basic decisions about your life… where to sleep, when to sleep, what to eat, where to walk, what you could say, who you could talk to, you were beaten and broke, at times starved, deprived of food, water and human contact. These tactics (and many more I would not even like to imagine) were devised with specific purposes… to “break” someone’s will, remove all hope, punish them for their behavior, exert dominance…

Are you running or living in a POW camp? Some might think that is a pretty ridiculous question but think about some of the organizations you have worked for.

Recently, I was visiting with an individual about her organization… we were discussing some of her frustrations as well as those within her “circle”. One of the specific frustrations centered on the concept of “voice”. I got the impression that she felt “de-valued” due to the lack of input she had on the team. She felt that some of the leadership within the organization felt as though those at her level had little to offer. Further, she felt that little of what she said or did would effect change in her “work life”. Thus removing her “voice” and relegating her to a life in the “prison camp”… a life of “being controlled” and having no “control” or influence as to her or anyone’s future.  Not surprisingly, I learned today that this bright young person left the organization in search of her “voice”… she escaped her POWcamp and is happier for it.

A servant leader is concerned about those he/she serves; remember that a servant leader serves those he/she leads. Listening is a critical tool in a leader’s tool box, one that rusts quickly if it is not used often and cared for routinely. Listening has very little to do with “YOU” and has everything to do with “THEM”. To be an effective listener you have to convey to those you are communicating with that you are focused on them and you are “hearing” what they say. Bottom line is they must feel they have a “voice” and it is being “heard”… “I’m not just talking to hear myself talk”, as they say.

Lack of voice can lead to motivational issues (if you have time, read on the personal investment theory of motivation and you will see how this occurs). In some cases a chronic lack of listening from leadership contributes to what I call the POW syndrome. When individuals feel as though they have no voice and fail to feel like they have control over their situation, they start to lose hope, much like some POWs. They lose their motivation to be innovative and contribute to the “greater good”… “why should I, no one listens to what I say or values what I do.”

To avoid the POW syndrome, leaders must take care to communicate that everyone in the organization is valued. The number one way to do this is to develop your “leader’s ear”. You can do this by first making sure that you are truly attending to what people say… this can be hard with our lives being as crazy as they are, with all the demands on our attention because a “background noise” that can drown out the person you are listening to at any given moment. So you must make it a point to find different ways to “listen” and then communicate that you hear what people are saying. Here are some suggestions:

1. Stay in the moment… train your mind to focus on the moment, not the past or the future.
2. Remember, IT’S NOT ABOUT YOU… put your ego aside and listen to what they are saying.
3. Ask questions… let them know that you hear them by asking questions about what they have said.
4. Paraphrase… one of my favorite counseling psychology tools is “so what I hear you saying is…”
5. Suggestion box… I know it is corny but if implemented in a way that those that make suggestions feel as though they are being heard and appreciated then it works wonders.
6. Send follow up email… when you respond to an email make sure that you point out something in the email that indicates you have read the entire email.
7. Ask the “so what” questions… this might seem confrontational at the time but basically what I am suggesting is that you ask yourself or the person talking to you what needs to be done. I have seen one of the best listeners I know use this technique with amazing skill. He would ask the person, at the appropriate time, what would you like for me to do with this information…
8. Purpose… if you have time to prepare for a conversation, try to think about what is the purpose of the conversation FROM THE OTHER PERSON’S PERSPECTIVE!
9. Be a sponge… take everything in and then at the right time you can react to the information, you have it all and can decide what to do next.

Basically, an organization’s leadership (or management) can either build a POW camp or a creative, innovative community that values every individual.

Dr. Ludlum is an international speaker on performance psychology and organizational behavior who has 
spent his career dedicated to helping individuals and organizations reach their goals. He is a Partner with Shannon Consulting.

It was time, the gentleman said to me as we sat in his living room, for him to put plans in place to assure that his children eventually received the equity he held in the family business they formed together some years ago.

It was a point in our conversation that created a very natural opportunity for me to encourage a thorough review of his estate plan at a time when recently enacted federal tax law established some fairly generous opportunities for individuals and couples with high net worth.

You have access to some of the very best legal and financial professionals, I reminded the gentleman.  There may never be a better time to engage them in this process and ensure that you take advantage of the “gift” that Washington has bestowed upon us from now through the end of 2012.

Under legislation signed this past December and valid through the end of 2012, the gift-tax exemption rises to $5 million from $1 million for individuals and to $10 million from $2 million for couples, which means individuals so inclined can give away that much without paying a penny in taxes.

“Washington’s unexpected largess,” Anne Tergesen and Laura Saunders wrote in the Wall Street Journal, “is prompting many taxpayers to throw away their estate plans and craft new ones before the favorable terms expire.”

This is obviously important news for people like my host and a significant percentage of the estimated 5.4 million American households that have a net worth in excess of $2 million.  But what does it mean for your non-profit organization and the benefactors you have cultivated so attentively through the years?

Simply this:  Anytime an individual is conducting a review of his or her estate plan – whether driven by a change in personal circumstances or by a Beltway bonanza such as this legislation – there is an opportunity for your organization to receive consideration anew or again as the individual reviews charitable giving provisions.

The importance of having a baseline understanding of current tax law and of staying current when those laws change has never been more critical.  Likewise, being in position to share that knowledge in appropriate ways with both your closely cultivated benefactors and your broader prospect base is essential.  Stay in regular contact with your donors.

In my real-life example, the gentleman with whom I was visiting had a passing understanding that there had been change in the gift and estate tax legislation, but he was not all together clear on some of the details.  I was able to assure him that, while he did not want to delay the need to plan, he had ample time to incorporate the provisions of the new legislation into his discussions with his planning professionals and ultimately into his and his wife’s plans.  I know for a fact that this gentleman is closely involved with a number of charities.  Yet I was the one who happened to be in position to have this conversation with him and gently encourage him to continue on course with his business succession and estate planning, bearing in mind these new opportunities to “lock in” the advantageous gift tax provisions.  I also followed up our visit by sending him some information on the legislation so that he can go into his upcoming meetings with an even better understanding of the situation and talk in greater depth with his planners.

What lessons do I take away from this encounter?  Three main points, perhaps:

• Stay current on tax legislation and other personal finance news.  Doing so can cast you in a favorable light with your donors and prospects – and it is the right thing to do.
• Stay in touch with those donors and prospects.  That, of course, is key.  And if you “meet them where they are,” so to speak, they will remember that you were there to assist.
• There are experts who can help.  We as frontline development officers – whatever our titles – needn’t be experts on these complex and ever-changing matters.  But we do need to establish credibility through our baseline knowledge and recognize the importance of calling on the experts who are equipped to assist.  That is where Shannon Consulting can assist you.  Please let us know when we can be of service.

David Boggan, CFRE, has more than 25 years of experience in health care and higher education fund development and is a Partner with Shannon Consulting.

1. Have a visit with your superior. Sit down and have an open and honest conversation with your manager about your future in the organization. Make sure he or she knows you want to meet and exceed the expectations of your position. Even go so far as to talk over some strategies you think will help you achieve that, and get their reaction.  This will exude confidence and maturity.
2. Ask for more. This always increases your value to the organization and shows you’re willing to go above and beyond to help the organization achieve its goals.
3. Sharpen your skills. Learning new strategies to help you be successful can be invigorating and it earns respect from your leadership as well as your colleagues. This can help you become a referral from someone you work with, and a connection to a position you’d like to have.
4. Make sure you are friendly, outgoing, and personable. Strong interpersonal skills will always play a crucial role in gaining the respect of others and may just help open new doors of opportunity for you.
5. Be a good listener. Effective communication skills are critical to success and none is more critical that listening carefully to people, and showing you are listening by repeating back to someone what they just said.
6. Be a creative problem-solver. How often have you seen people be so very willing to present a problem to their superior and never offer a solution? Be sure this never happens to you!  This may well be the most important trait of a successful and dedicated member of anybody’s team.
7. Develop a relationship with a mentor. Believe it or not, there are studies that have shown that many times, promotions within an organization are influenced by a mentor higher up in the organization. These accomplished individuals can offer you nuggets of experience that can help you succeed as well as great career guidance.
8. Develop your personal network. All the latest social networking vehicles can certainly strengthen your opportunities. It will get you reacquainted with people, share what you’ve been doing and remind them of your great strengths and abilities.
9. Build your reputation. Be known for being genuine, dependable, and trustworthy. Show up on time, or better, be early.
10. Be a great team player. Let your team know you will do whatever you can to achieve the goals you have a direct influence on.

And good luck! You’re gonna do great!

“An organization can have noble intentions and great plans but to be successful it must also have a roadmap that builds on its strengths and overcomes any weaknesses,” Shannon said. “Shannon Consulting has the expertise to examine organizations in terms of vision, structure, technology capabilities and alignment with constituencies and help those organizations with such initiatives as strategic plans, capital campaigns, specialized training and communication strategies.”

eduSearch, an executive search firm that works primarily with clients in higher education, is now a division of Shannon Consulting.

The services provided by Shannon Consulting include capital campaign planning and execution, staff and board training, and other advancement services. Shannon Consulting serves colleges and universities, athletics foundations, as well as faith-based, healthcare and social service organizations.

You can reach Shannon Consulting on the web at www.shannonconsulting.biz