The Development Debrief

This week, we chat with Boi Carpenter about her career journey and her business, Inquisitive Leader. In the first half, we dive into her career path, and in the second, we explore her business. We discuss management, the role of curiosity and inquiry, strategies for preventing burnout, modeling behavior, and the importance of unplugging on vacation days. Boi Carpenter serves as Vice President for...

This week, we feature Justin Fincher (Chief Deputy to the President of Stony Brook University and Senior Vice President for Government and Community Relations and Executive Director of the Stony Brook Foundation) for the second time. The first time he was featured was episode 55 where he spoke with Mike Eicher in his former role at The Ohio State University. Justin’s view on leadership inspires me...

As we wind down the summer, I wanted to share a bit about our CASE intern. We had the opportunity to hire someone to join our team and work on a project. This summer’s project was a data driven analysis. We hired a student who told us he was interested in human behavior and economics, and we thought that might be a fun combination. Special shout out to my colleague Emma Wellspeak who ultimately ch...

Last week, I attended the Parents Fundraising conference hosted by Cornell University. Chris McGowan (Yale's former co-chair of the Parents Leadership Council) joined me for a live audience conversation about working with parent volunteers and donors. It is worth listening to the end where we will have a live Q and A! Chris McGowan has been a private equity and venture capital investor for the...

This week we talk about management and leadership. Elizabeth has developed training materials to help managers at all levels increase the performance and retention of their teams. Elizabeth Keppel is the Senior Director of Annual Giving & Digital Strategy at Johns Hopkins University, where she leads a comprehensive, university-wide annual giving program. Prior to joining the Hopkins team in 20...

This week we hear from Heather who just relocated to Houston, Texas for a new role as Executive Director, Annual Giving at Rice University. She talks to us about how we can get started using AI in our work and she suggests a few places to start. She equates learning new systems like training for a marathon--start small. A few places to start include but are not limited to: Google Gemini, Microsoft...

This week, we continue to drill down into the burning questions about AI and how it will change our work. What comes up again and again with Mark is, how do we work alongside this? Listen to discover the answer to that overarching question.  Mark Koenig is the vice president for technology and chief innovation officer for the OSU Foundation. In this role, he serves as the Foundation’s technology s...

This week, Deb shares her perspective as a corporate and foundation relations professional. In the second episode on this topic, we compare it to individual giving and learn more about how the space is unique. Deborah Lin is the Director of Corporate, Foundation, & Association Relations at Stanford Medicine, leading the team closing and facilitating organizational philanthropic support to the...

This week we get some AI forecasting from Andrew Gossen. He reflects on how much technology has developed over the past six years, and shares predictions about ways our work will change and evolve. Andrew outlines the risks and rewards of keeping up with artificial intelligence and how we should think about the use of human time verses machine time. Andrew Gossen is the executive director for comm...

This week, I get the opportunity to talk with Stephanie Cook about her career journey and most recent experiences with the National Audubon Society. We talk about how her broad higher education experience prepared her to work in a more niche area with a non-natural constituency base.   Stephanie Cook brings over 20 years of experience to her work as a fundraising executive for the National Audubon...

Hello and welcome to Season 13! This season is different because ½ of the 8 episodes are going to be focused on AI. However, there are a few episodes that aren’t focused on AI including today’s. While understanding AI is important, we also need the EQ that occurs in between skilling up and one of those huge skills is navigating difficult conversations. As Jennifer says, contact and context before...

This is a two-part episode but the two parts are inextricably linked. The first is looking back at the past six months—and the second is looking forward and creating visions of an ideal future.   Part 1 is a six month update on my time in New Haven and at Yale! Part 2 is a 5-step process at creating a vision board, a tradition of mine...

First and foremost, Happy Birthday to today's guest, Chad Paris! Ever wondered how a campaign is born? How firms get started? What matters most with communications? Chad Paris tells us about his firm, Parisleaf and how it has grown into an international brand and digital partner working with a wide array of non-profits. With over 15 years of experience in brand, digital, and fundraising, Chad...

Liz comes from a family of story tellers. This week we learn about how she found her voice as a communications specialist, a trustee, and so much more. Liz tells us how her education impacted her and lead her to write about her great uncle and philanthropist, A.G. Gaston. His investment is his family and ultimately her- is an inspiring story. Liz sights “movement moments” and her mentors along the...

This weeks episode explores what is looks like to work for a younger institution and realize exciting potential, the way that our guest combined a variety of skills for his current role, and the critical aspect of leadership along the way. Brandon Baker is the associate senior vice president for University Advancement at the University of Southern California (USC) where he works across campus on p...

This week, my guest and I explore the concept of academic research in the field of fundraising. We dig into donor motivation and ways in which scholarly research can help provide framework and clarity of thinking. Frontline fundraiser, researcher of donor inclinations, and status quo breaker, Anna Schlia is an expert in philanthropy research, principal and major gifts, program building, and execut...

This week, I talk with Anna Dugan about her work with next generation donors at Carnegie Hall. Since I knew her there, she has moved on to work at Johns Hopkins Medicine. Anna talks about building a pipeline program, answers why younger donors want more metrics and data, and explains why creating a feeling with events must always go back to the mission.   Anna Dugan is a frontline fundraiser with...

Hello! Today you are in for a treat. The following episode will explore themes of being put on the spot, networking, and sparking connections. Listen to learn how to start and stop event conversations, make a cogent pitch, and understand a tough audience. Matt Abrahams is a leading expert in the field of communication. As a Lecturer in Organizational Behavior at Stanford University’s Graduate Scho...

Welcome to Season 12. In today's solo episode, I talk about the process I took to plan our team retreat. Special thanks to Lisa Alvarez-Calderon for guiding me through the planning and execution. Planning tips: 1. Set your intention- what is the goal? 2. Space 3. Timing 4. Outside inspiration- mentor, volunteer, or donor can share their expertise! 5. Order of information 6. Follow up plan

This episode is the last conversation of Season 11. The episode took place in NYC with a live audience of over 1,000 people. AFP-NYC puts on a fundraising day for fundraisers every year-- we were lucky enough to be the morning keynote. Enjoy the live format featuring Wendy Sealey and thank you AFP-NYC! Wendy Sealey has over 20 years of non-profit management and fundraising experience, overseeing t...

Emily and I talk about preparing for fiscal year end, annual giving trends and changes, and her passion for leadership. Emily Kernan is the Executive Director of The Penn Fund at the University of Pennsylvania, where she oversees all annual giving efforts primarily engaging undergraduate alumni. She previously led the annual fund team at Rice University and started her career in development at Laf...

The Wells Collective was born out of both necessity and the right amount of mimosas. After six Black women, who worked individually as public and private school educators, researchers, educational administrators, and psychologists, gathered together for a bubbly brunch, the kinetic energy that manifested itself at their table confirmed that by coming together, they could have a greater impact in p...

This week, I speak with Marcela Hahn about her role as president of the Board of Directors of Women in Development (WiD). We explore the importance of community and tradition. Marcela Hahn is the Vice President, Development at Bank Street College of Education. For eight years, Marcela Hahn served as the AVP for Strategic Partnerships at CARE, a leading humanitarian organization. In this role she f...

This week, we learn from Andy Rathmann-Noonan from the perspective of a non-profit CEO. Andy talks to us about changes his organization made to expand their mission and therefore grown their fundraising needs and goals. Andy is the President of the National Science and Technology Medals Foundation. Over the last ten years, he has been responsible for various leadership and oversight responsibiliti...

So far I am loving being back in Connecticut. Let’s learn more about Connecticut and this amazing guest’s career. This week, we hear from Christine Pina, Chief Advancement Officer at Miss Porter’s School. Christine and I talk about admissions, graduate work for fundraisers, building a community with pride, and how to educate your communities early about fundraising (especially at an all-girl's...