You’re not raising as much as you could be if you haven’t “normalized” talking about money and the importance of giving generously in your school. Intentionally building a culture that places a high value on generously giving time and resources is the key to raising more money.    Yet, defining and clearly describing a Culture of Generosity is rarely discussed. Even more rarely described: EXACTLY HOW TO BUILD ONE. Until now. This is the first of a four part series on exactly how you can go about building a Culture of Generosity in your K12 school.   Resources: Kim Jennings is a ..read more

I’m going into detail in this episode on the second of the “3 C’s” of an effective K12 development plan: Community. I’m sharing ways to create a true, authentic community within your school, starting with the parent-school relationship. Parents aren’t another tool to be managed, another check box on a to-do list. They want to belong and to be integrated in the life of your school. And they should be. They need to be your partners.    In this episode I describe the three key characteristics I’ve seen in great schools across the US. How do great schools effectively create partnership a ..read more

The Your K12 Fundraising Coach podcast hosted by Kim Jennings is a weekly masterclass designed to give you actionable steps you can use TODAY to be more effective without being overwhelmed by the tyranny of the urgent. Learn more at www.kimtjennings.com/podcast.  ..read more

Fundraising can flourish in healthy, tight-knit cultures. So it makes sense to devote a portion of our limited bandwidth on optimizing our culture – for better fundraising results and for many other reasons! But, how do we create and nurture this critical success factor? This week’s episode talks about how one Texas school has begun to accomplish this.    My guest this week is Julie Ambler, Head of School at The Woodlands Christian School and current chairperson of CESA, the Council of Educational Standards and Accountability.    Five years ago, Julie designed and introduce ..read more

Every school possesses a unique culture, its DNA. Instilling that DNA in each member of our community creates an environment that’s conducive to nurturing generosity. Your school very likely has a warm and wonderful community. As a consultant, I hear this all the time in feasibility study interviews – so many parents deeply value and love their school’s community! But my question to you is: what if the folks you look to as leaders in your culture, the ones you use as a gauge for the health of your cultural DNA, are outliers? What if they’re not the best yardstick for how much your families are ..read more

Join me as I sit down with my friend and colleague, Dr. R. Mark Dillon, Executive Vice President and Founder of Total Advancement Solutions, the division of Generis that focuses solely on serving Christian schools, universities, and nonprofits (the division I serve with, too).   In this episode, Mark and I discuss his book, Giving and Getting in the Kingdom, A Field Guide, which is considered to be a standard guide for fundraising in the Christian realm.   We discuss the four “types” of givers that he's seen in his 25+ years in our business, and which of the types are in our schools ..read more

Of all the important elements of a K12 development plan to focus on, how do you choose the three most critical ones? Which ones will really make your work stronger? In this first episode of a 3 part series, I’m answering that question, introducing what I call the “3 C’s”: Clarity, Community, and Communication before unpacking "Clarity."   A goal or a project is necessary for fundraising, of course, but they’re woefully inadequate as the basis for a real plan, in my experience. Clarity in your purpose and plan should come first. Do you have a stated, overarching PURPOSE and written, organi ..read more

Communication is a key aspect of fundraising. Unfortunately, the nature of schools means they say A LOT but often aren’t really communicating…   If donors complain they only hear from you when you’re asking for money, or your donors are giving once or twice and then disappearing…it’s not their problem. It’s yours. They haven’t left YOU. You’ve left THEM. In the dark, that is.   In this episode, I’ll provide examples of solid communication plans and suggest tools that will help you communicate well in your fundraising efforts. Without strategic communication, the other major component ..read more