Fostering meaningful engagement of our major donors to help catalyze their support should be a central priority at all of our schools. At Lakefield College School, we have sought to invest in the engagement mechanisms that we believe are most attractive and meaningful for our major donors, and that most effectively help “shape the path” for their philanthropic support. Towards that end, we have embraced the following structures for successful major donor engagement, with each applicable in different situations and at different stages of the donor development cycle:

● A unique foundation trusteeship governance role emphasizing major donor engagement and relationship-building
● Issue-specific, time-limited task forces with a focused mandate
● Head’s advisory roundtables seeking small group input on strategic topics
● A strategic planning process that engages a breadth of input and involvement across our community, and
● A Campaign Cabinet structure that catalyzes effective peer-to-peer engagement.

Deploying such a variety of engagement structures helps us find the right role for our existing and prospective major donors. Indeed, these structures, coupled with the sort of one-on-one donor engagement for which there can be no substitute, have helped drive substantial fundraising momentum at our school, as we have raised in excess of $50M over the past six years as a relatively small boarding and day school of 439 students. In particular, our small group of foundation trustees will often contribute upwards of two thirds of our total funds raised in a given year.

This session will explore the key characteristics and underpinning rationale for each of the engagement structures we have deployed. While we believe our experience will be informative, it is vitally important to recognize that there is no “one size fits all” strategy for effective major donor engagement. Rather, each school will want to develop its own tailored engagement structures that mesh with the particular facts and circumstances applicable to their respective school communities. This session will help equip you to design and implement engagement strategies that further strengthen the commitment of both your current and prospective major donors.