Not Making Target? Four of the Most Common Mistakes Made by Advancement Offices at Institutions of Higher Learning

1. Not Making Target? Four of the Most Common Mistakes Made by Advancement Offices at Institutions of Higher Learning in South Africa

2. 15 Years ago… • 1999: OCPD, the “final” studies, 60 cigarettes pd later and the vow • The fascination: three women and an awakening • But then, the visits… and spotting the trends, similarities and recurring themes • Commission to undertake an investigation into the State of M, A & C at HE Institutions in SA during the merger period • Since then – covering approximately a 10-year period – a realisation on 2 levels: observations pertaining to Advancement practice – the Reluctant Researcher… now crystalized into some publications • One such element relates to the most common mistakes made/ problems faced by Advancement Offices at educational institutions in the country • Let’s deal with them in 4 categories: Context & Background

3. The Skills and Confidence Levels of Advancement Staff: A Shortage of Fish or a Matter of Shallow Waters? • When Performance Does Not Matter: The World’s Only Non-incentivized Sales Team • Eish! Sometimes, Excellence can be Punishing • This Machine is Broken: Institutional Obstacles and Systems Failure The 4 Most Common Mistakes & Problems

4. The Musical Chairs phenomenon • The Catch 22: “Can’t find any experienced fundraisers” vs “They can’t pay me” –fuelled by transformation agenda • Young/decreasing levels of solid experience at several institutions –industry contacts restricted • The depth of experience at most institutions – including FET colleges – is alarmingly low, exacerbated by high levels of staff turn-over (“Why train the new ones – they come and go!”) • Where have all the (proposal-) writing skills gone? • Looking for a business opportunity? The opposite of “tata ma chance” has to be: intelligent “match-making” • “I am in a hurry/under pressure”: the most common mistake – the inability to build relationships (chasing target is the top priority) • Inadequate levels of donor involvement, based on incorrect power balance perceptions, even low self-esteem – shying away • Question: Reminders of another profession of ill repute ?… The Skills and Confidence Levels of Advancement Staff: A Shortage of Fish or a Matter of Shallow Waters?

5. It is naive to believe that, in the absence of rewards and penalties, performance will consistently meet Management expectations • The SAIF will probably be most unimpressed… • Let’s get real – you choose: 2 scenario’s • Incentives need not function like a commission-based % does – a business plan with appropriate financial provision is required • Not all incentives need to be monetary in nature… but some do! • Inflexible institutional systems and mind-sets prohibit innovation • The problem cuts both ways: a lack of consequences both for exceeding expectations and likewise for under-achievement • Shorter term/fixed-term contracts are not the solution to this problem – serial failures simply facilitate job-hopping • Recognition has to be linked directly to a scale-based incentive scheme, budgeted for by the institution, operating at 2 levels: individual and team When Performance Does Not Matter: The World’s Only Non-incentivized Sales Team

6. The unscientific way in which targets are arrived at – mostly the result of thumb-sucking • Common methodologies applied include mechanistic (simple) increases on previous year’s budget, a pressurised “voice from above” or an irrelevant comparison to (mostly unlike) “competitors” – sometimes even abroad • Constantly “raising the bar” with year-on-year increases eventually become demotivating • Variable budgets (between years), linked to specific project targets within the Advancement plan would be slightly more intelligent • Unrealistic expectations only serve to discourage (and in the absence of sanctions, are of no significance any way) • Star performers in already imbalanced teams are sometimes “punished” for performing well, “carrying” the rest of the team (and the better they perform, the more they are expected to do) • Far greater investment required in terms of training/skills development Eish! Sometimes, Excellence can be Punishing

7. Where enough mountains are high enough, the team will sit (down) and eventually will complain (even publically), but generally will simply wait = immobilized teams • The misconception that a strategy and a target are synonymous – without an Integrated Advancement Strategy, directly linked to the institutional plan, mobilising any resources is the result of pure luck • The “capital campaign cures all”-approach, and “the only model is the American model”-belief are fables and fantasies at best • The VC/Principal is “an academic who does not enjoy asking for money” mind-set secures an up-hill battle, right from the start • Outdated perceptions that raising funds, mobilising resources and advancing the institution do not require real monetary investment (yet warrants a handsome ROI) • A serious underestimation of the importance of the potential contribution of prospect researchers This Machine is Broken: Institutional Obstacles and Systems Failure

8. Poor data-base management/garbage information – eg, Alumni Relations Management • Lack of trust/collaboration (even competition/suspicion) between Faculties/project “owners”/leaders and the Advancement Office, as well as their “inappropriate” proposal-writing skills/style • The quality/appropriateness of projects presented to potential funders for funding – that is, the “product” that is being promoted • The correlation between human resources and Advancement performance/output • The “missing link” : an undefined institutional strategy and the consequentially vague Advancement plan, replaced by a monetary target • The strategic positioning of the Advancement function • A lack of understanding of what “mutual benefit” in a “business partnership” really entails – 3-way impact • The preference for short term gratification, or the inability to invest in/build longer-term relationships with funders Thank you …