Scott Nichols, Boston University

Today, no higher education institution can ignore the need of an effective and efficient fundraising team. With governments looking to wrestle their debts and deficits, education funding is certain to stall or, as the UK has already announced, go into free fall.

One of the most enlightening sessions at Harvard was delivered by Scott Nichols, Senior Vice-President at Boston University. Scott has over 25 years experience in the fundraising field, serving as the chief money man at Harvard’s Law School prior to joining Boston University (BU) in 2006. With a billion dollar BU capital campaign in the works, he shared his vast knowledge with the HIHE Management Development Program students.

Adding my own Advancement experiences, I have taken Scott’s set of principles and practices and with a few edits submit for consideration what I believe are The 12 Laws of Fundraising.

1. If you don’t ask, you don’t get:  If you abide by any of the laws, choose this one. No campaign has ever failed for a lack of giving, it has failed for a lack of asking. Simply put – If you want to get, you have to ask. Scott noted that in his world the ratio 7:1. Seven qualified asks to every one gift.
2. The more you ask, the more you get: How many visits do your solicitors make a month? 15-20 per month should be the answer. Any fewer and your are not asking enough.
3. Think big:  Or as Scott put’s it “Ever Upward”. We have met the enemy and they are us. No one has ever died from being asked for too much money. Being aggressive will rankle a few donors so be sure to prepare your President or Dean. A big ask needs to marinate so keep in touch even when the donor goes quiet. Remember, that while research can give you a good sense of a donor’s capacity there is probably 2 times more you cannot see. Carpe diem.
4. No means Not Now: Be pleasantly persistent. No solicitor died from having been told no. Fundraising is a rejection process, not an acceptance process. Find people who relish removing the hay as much as they do finding the needle.
5. Money is attracted by strength:  Be worthy, not needy. You institution, school or department must have a compelling vision and a list of priorities.
6. It’s a process: research, cultivation, solicitation & stewardship:  Fundraising is part science and part art. The science side shows that there is a formal process, that if followed, will generate results. Going a step further, Scott Nichols proposes that the majority of fundraising is research, which in today’s data rich world is not terribly difficult to compile.
7. It takes time – years:  Contrary to what a number of university and college Presidents would have you believe it takes time to research, nurture, ask, and ask again. Be deliberate in the set-up of your efforts. There are no short cuts.
8. Make it personal:  People respond to people, not paper. A glossy brochure or email solicitation are helpful but they will never replace the face-to-face ask. Find and hire people who love people.
9. People give from the heart first, the head second:  Finding out what makes a donor tick, where their passion lay, pays off. Forgo the rational and pitch the emotional.
10. Authenticity & honesty count:  Be sincere, open and trustworthy.
11. Giving begins at home:  Campus leaders, whether faculty, staff, board members or senior executives need to be the first to give. If they don’t believe in the cause why should anyone else.
12. No one ever died from being told no: See Law #1.

In the words of Scott Nichols, fundraising is simply having “the right person, in the right spot, asking for the right amount of money, for the right purpose.”

Luckily, I work for an institution who believes in the fundamental value of leadership development. For two weeks in June,  I had the opportunity to put the day-to-day grind on the back burner and consciously work on my leadership skills at Harvard University. Figuring others in higher education might be interested, both in the program and the subjects covered, I am posting a few of the lessons learned while attending the HIHE Management Development Program.

Brand building lessons that are easily transferable to a college campus near you.

Swan inlaid in floor at Boston's Logan Airport

What do you think of when you think of Boston? What images and symbols come to mind? What do you think of when you think of your university or college campus? What images and symbols come to mind? When you stroll your campus are your values on display. Do they visually hit you in the face?

Many university and college presidents seem inclined to throw in the towel when faced with the task of turning a lemon of a physical plant into lemonade. They either don’t believe in the power of place to build campus spirit and tribe or they worry that their dream campus comes at far too high a price.

As I travel, I am reminded that building a symbolic, meaningul sense of place is not necessarily an expensive endeavor and never more so than when I landed in Boston on my have to a two-week professional development course at Harvard.

Boston’s Logan ariport is undergoing a few renovations and one of the investments is the inlaying of symbols in the floor of the arrivals terminals. This relatively inexpensive addition serves to remind all airport visitors, whether from the area or away, of the symbols and values Bostonians hold dear. The image of the Patriot, Swan, and Mariner are I suspect just the begining of a set of images that will adorn the terminal floor when completed.

So the next time your campus floors are undergoing some form of renovation stop and think of it as an opportunity to build association and shared spirit.

Social Media - Drinking from a fire hose

Time is money. Yet, anyone with a passion for social media knows all too well how easy it is to lose sight of that principle.

The deep abyss that is the Web can take even the most diligent surfer on a seemingly endless journey of blog posts, articles, research reports and YouTube videos. Sitting at my computer a few hours in, I often jar myself out of semi-unconsciousness wondering what piece of information I had set out in search of in the first place.

For those of you who want to be thought leaders in your own niche and balance the rest of your life, here are 4 technologies that when used for good (not evil), will power you to social media super-stardom. Ok, perhaps that is a bit overstated. What they will give you is a couple of hours back. What you use those hours for is up to you.

1. Google Reader – How to drink from the fire hose? Google Reader is the answer. Through the use of RSS feeds I point all the content I am interested in reading to Google Reader. The incredible fact is that virtually everything on the Web can be transformed into an RSS feed. Want to keep track of trending keywords on Twitter? Follow someone on Facebook or LinkedIn? Keep tabs on what your competitors are doing? All of this can be funneled to Google Reader to allow for easy browsing. From there, your information can be sent almost anywhere – Email, Twitter, Delicious, Evernote, or your own blog. To learn how to use Google Reader the most effective place to start is YouTube. For rookies start with watching Google Reader in Plan English. For a more advanced understanding watch Ed Dale‘s three videos introducing the viewer to ever increasing levels of functionality.

If you liked this video thare are two more just like it:

• Google Reader Part 2
• Google Reader Part 3

Instapaper screenshot

2. Instapaper – Now that you have the social media fire hose firmly pointed at you how do you manage it? Google Reader allows you to organize the content but now you have to do something with it. Instapaper to the rescue. In short, Instapaper easily bookmarks the article so you can read it again later. Why you ask? Time is money. In my case, I have approximately 200 feeds headed my direction. I use Instapaper the way a nurse would triage an emergency waiting room. Using Google Reader I quickly sort through the articles sending those articles I believe are worth a in-depth read to Instapaper. Once sent, the article is automatically downloaded ensuring that when I do get back to it I don’t have to wait for it to load. Have I mentioned that time is money?

3. HootSuite – Now that you are armed with content ready to share the trick is how to do it efficiently. If you are like me you have multiple accounts – Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, the list goes on. In fact, you might even have two or three in each channel depending on the verticals or niches you cover. Hootsuite allows you to post once in many places. Load your account information, write your posts, and presto – your content is published across your multiple channels. You can even share account access allowing more than one person to post to a single account. For corporate social media leaders this tool is a godsend.

iPad & Iphone - Essential tools for advanced social media

4. iPhone/Ipad – I know people are probably sick of hearing about the iPhone, or its steroid enhanced sibling the iPad, but the reality is that for anyone serious about social media it is an essential tool. Android users your time is coming. Using an iPhone, the iPad and its a corresponding series of apps, anyone can be a thought leader in their preferred niche. One word of advice invest in the 3G iPad. I didn’t and I am still kicking myself.

From free to $4.99, here are a set of apps I believe are worth investing your time and money in:

• MobileRSS Pro and Reeder – Allows you to take Google Reader with you.
• Instapaper – Make the investment and purchase the $4.99 version.
• Hoostuite and Twittelator Pro – Hootsuite’s app even allows you to schedule re-tweets while Twittelator Pro’s integration with Instapaper is sleeker and faster than Hootsuite’s. I use both.

Share your thoughts – I am always on the lookout for software and technologies that help me stay on top of my niches and allow me to spend more time with my beautiful wife and kids. If you have found something that works for you please share by leaving a comment and link. I promise to return the social media love.

P.S. This blog post is part of an assignment for my Social Media Certificate Program at Algonquin College.

In their own words:

HubSpot’s vision is to provide a (killer) marketing application and provide great advice to small businesses enabling them to leverage these disruptive effects of the internet to “get found” by more prospects shopping in their niche and to convert a higher percentage of prospects into customers.

The secret sauce

Yes, the product is a mind blowing array of features that empower folks at all levels of your organization to improve their marketing effectiveness.  The ability to merge and organize social media, lead nurturing, SEO, and content management in a manner that improves productivity and bottom line results is significant, but not the real story.

HubSpot’s winning formula is its commitment to education and training, with a large chunk of it free of charge. They have figured out that if they enlighten, educate and ultimately empower non-customers  and customers alike they will be successful. Straight forward enough but practiced by very few with the same tenacity, breadth and spirit of generosity as HubSpot.

At Algonquin College we have embraced HubSpot’s Inbound Marketing University Training Program encouraging staff in our recruitment, marketing and communication units to seek accreditation. To date, 2 of us are now certified with an additional 6 at various stages of their education. In addition, we are now piloting the HubSpot software and most recently presented our results to date to the entire Advancement Division. Click on the image below to view our 20-minute Camtasia screencast of the presentation or visit http://www.algonquincollege.com/algonquinproductions/presentations/hubspot_sept_17_2010/.

HubSpot Presentation by Karen Turner at Algonquin College's Advancement Strategic Planning Session - Sept 17 2010

There are others that have bought into the empowerment of the masses as their key strategy for driving business. Ed Dale’s “The Challenge“, formerly the “30 Day Challenge”, follows a similar business model with equal awesomeness.

Whether Algonquin continues being a HubSpot client time will tell, but at a minimum HubSpot has a an evangelist for their company and grateful to them for being smarter today than he was yesterday.

Doug Wotherspoon

Certification Achievements

Five signposts of educational trends (technology immersion, personalized learning paths, knowledge skills, global integration, and economic alignment), can be perceived as challenges to traditional institutions – or – as opportunities for meaningful and long-lasting systemic transformation to systems of education.

How an educational system responds to these trends will determine not only its value to its students but ultimately, its long-term value to society.

Will education stakeholders wake up and smell the winds of demographic shifts, technological advances and globalization or will they bury their heads just like automotive industry did? That is the $64,000 question.

Among the amazing people I work alongside is Kent MacDonald, Algonquin’s VP Academic. As part of the College’s Strategic Program and Services Planning Project, one of the most comprehensive planning exercises ever attempted in higher education, we have hosted a speaker series to raise awareness across the College of the meaty issues facing the post-secondary sector. For those worried that colleges and universities are not taking note of the storm clouds on the higher-ed horizon take heart and watch Kent’s address to faculty and staff on the future of learning at Algonquin College.

Yale University is the latest to ‘Glee up’ its recruitment process with impressive results (see also Delaware’s Reading Season).  One of a small group of college and university recruitment offices who have had the balls to try something different and break out of the traditional higher-ed marketing mix. Kudos to them.

The pleasantry out-of-the-way there is a big BUT. It is easy to get blown away by the total numbers of viewers. When your recruitment video hits the 100,000 viewer mark you are in an elite crowd.

However, all marketers, especially those trying to recruit students, need to be focused on outcomes. One eye firmly fixed on the goal line at all times. Case in point, Yale’s video is doing brilliantly among men and women 45-54. Not exactly prospective student material. Did Yale really have a problem with that audience? Even here in Canada, I am certain people asked to list the top 10 colleges and universities worldwide would probably have Yale on their list. Third on the list of audiences were women 18-24.

The results speak for themselves. Yale is doing a really good job marketing to their current female student body, potential female graduate students, alumni, and parents. If those were the target audiences for which the video was produced then they’ve succeeded.

If the video was intended as an undergraduate  recruitment video for women 13-17 there is some potential but the distribution strategy needs work. Guys 13-17, and 18-24 forget about them.

The moral of the story. Know the target audience and focus on outcomes. Use the free metrics to monitor your efforts and be ready to invest as much time after posting the video as you did producing it. Most believe the hard work is done once the video goes live. Partly true, but the real sweet spot is taking the time to ensure your efforts reach their true potential.

Recruitment is about leads, leads and more leads,  helping students figure out whether your institution is the right fit, and ultimately “bums in seats”. Put more appropriately by Algonquin College’s phenomenal VP Student Affairs it is about “feet across the convocation stage”.

This video is so well done it deserves better results. The production values, choice of singers, and well written lyrics are completely on target. Add in a beautiful campus and you have a potential home run. The Glee style is wildly popular among women of all ages. With a distribution and communications push this could go over the fence. For the moment let’s call it a double.

FYI – Increasingly, there is a price to be paid for those that continue to push the over the top marketing message as witnessed by Harvard. The parody of its Harvard by the numbers video has four times the viewers. Schmaltzy marketers beware.

“Universities and colleges need to focus on the emotional essence of their offerings”, noted Anson Lee, the Vancouver-based director of customer experience strategy at the communication and branding design firm Karo noted in a recent Globe and Mail article entitled In branding higher learning, it’s out with old school. At Algonquin College we couldn’t agree more.

These are exciting times for marketers in higher education. Most university and college administrators no longer regard “branding” as a dirty word. Faculty may still cringe, but most campus Presidents are staring at increased competition and changing demographics and looking for branding advice.

Tried and true is out. Ad campaigns that resonate with their respective target audiences are in. While some are still going for shock and awe, others are tapping into their points of differentiation, forgoing the standard list of features and benefits, and choosing instead to connect emotionally.

Kevin Roberts in his acclaimed book Lovermarks defined this special status as the point when a product or service has ”reached your heart as well as your mind, creating an intimate, emotional connection that you just can’t live without. Ever.”

This belief in the power of emotion and the firm’s focus on measurable results where some of the reasons why Algonquin College selected Blue Blanc Rouge Kolegram to lead our re-branding exercise. The following is a small sample of what impressed us the most about BBRK.

• Great credentials – BBRK ranked highly in Marketing Magazine’s annual list of top agencies in Canada. To make that list is impressive. To have been on the list for multiple years shows a commitment to ongoing excellence.
• Experience in the field – Every corporate marketer believes their issues are unique. While not convinced that sector experience matters all that much, we did look for experience in the post-secondary field. Had the agency done any work in the university or college field and did they deliver results? BBRK’s work with Bishop’s University and the Katimavik program proved to us they could have a measurable impact with the youth market.
• Journalistic interviews – The first step in every re-branding exercise is research. Almost every agency who submitted a bid offered up the standard quantitative and qualitative research as requested. What separated BBRK out from the pack was their qualitative approach using a combination of journalistic style interviews, focused individual interviews and mini-group interviews. We live in a conversational world and while journalistic interviews will in all likelihood not produce much new knowledge they can confirm  common knowledge. Every brand champion should be cognizant of the perils of interviews, especially “tourist interviews” where  the interviewer without substantial prior-training, meets the subject for a very brief period of time, records a conversation in snapshot mode, and subsequently tries to say something interesting about it. BBRK was able to convince us that our research need to be progressive and that journalistic interviews were a good place to start and would make the focused and mini-group interviews that much more rewarding.
• Value for money – They highlighted their commitment to delivering the excercise “On time and on budget”. Making the point clearly and concisely made an impression.
• Great creative – While bidding was only for the brand audit portion they showed us they could translate research into strategies and creative that delivered results.
• They promised to represent our clients first - We weren’t looking for someone to tell us what we wanted to hear. We were looking for an agency that was committed to representing our clients. They delivered on that front.
• They wanted it more – It may be cliché but BBRK showed us they wanted it more. Their enthusiasm for our clients, our business and our story was contagious. In the final interview they showed us they were passionate about education and our brand. That passion made the decision relatively easy.

Now the tough part begins. Stay tuned for further updates on Algonquin’s re-branding efforts.

The number of college and university websites that are being powered by WordPress continues to grow. Long a favorite of the blogging community, increasingly the open source platform is finding favor among campus web developers as an enterprise content management system (CMS).

Its selection and implementation by the likes of Boston University in the US and Carleton University in Canada has shown its true power as a competitor to Drupal and Joomla.

In Carleton’s case, the implementation is now up to 60 sites all deployed within the last six months. At Boston University the count is now over 80 sites. In both cases, each institution singled out usability as the primary differentiator.

The popularity of WordPress as a CMS is not limited to college web administrators. College newspapers are also starting to see WordPress as an alternative to homegrown news sites. This shift is largely the result of a deal WordPress did with CoPress, a managed hosting solution for college newspaper publishers.

College Website/Homepage

• Boston University – (Boston University WordPress site)
• Carleton University – (Carleton University WordPress site)
• Federico Santa María Technical University
• Georgian College
• Glen Urquhart School
• Leeds City College
• Queen’s College, the University of Melbourne
• The New School, University Student Senate
• University of Arkansas at Little Rock
• University of Maine

College and University Magazines

• Boise State University Update
• McGill Reporter
• Swarthmore College Bulletin
• Temple News
• Texas Tech Today
• The Rice Standard
• The Thunderbird – UBC Journalism News Service

College/Student Blogs

• Association of Graduate Planners, University of Waterloo
• Azusa Pacific University Blogs
• Blogs at UMass Amherst
• Bolling Green State University Blogs
• Keene State College
• Plymouth State University Blogs
• University of British Columbia Blogs

The business case for green building keeps getting stronger and stronger. A recently released University of San Diego led study, entitled Green Buildings and Productivity, confirms that green buildings have a significant impact on employee productivity, while at the same time lowering ongoing operational costs.

The study concludes that on average, employees reported 2.88 fewer sick days in their current green office versus their previous non-green office. Using an average salary calculation, an office space base of 250 square feet per worker, and a count of 250 workdays per year, the decrease in sick days translated into a net impact of nearly $5.00 per square foot per year. When added to other productivity gains, such as staff output and morale, the net impact grew to $20.00 per square foot per year.

Healthier buildings reduce sick time and increase productivity. The steps required to provide a healthier building are not that much of a design and engineering challenge. Generally natural light, good ventilation, the absence of organic compounds provides happier, healthier workers.

The study also showed that green buildings have 3.5% lower vacancy rates while also allowing owners to charge higher rent than market rates. The research was based on surveys of 154 buildings under commercial real estate broker CB Richard Ellis Group’s management, with a total 3,000 tenants in ten markets spread across the U.S. A green building  was defined as one with either LEED Certification or the EPA ENERGY STAR ® label.

A smaller 43-page case study from Australia, entitled Employee Productivity in a Sustainable Building, showcases the pre- and post- effects on employee productivity. The report  tracked the productivity of employees from two large companies who had moved to a 5-star green building, the Green Building Council of Australia equivalent to the USGBC and CaGBC LEED system.  A law firm, tracking before and after sick days, found sick days reduced by 39% overall to .28 days per month. Additional impacts in areas such as billable hours and typing speeds also had significant positive impacts for the firm. 

The results collectively suggest a significant positive impact on staff productivity and satisfaction resulting from the move. They do not provide the basis for the construction of a predictive model for productivity gains from sustainable office accommodation, but do provide a compelling case for IEQ as a positive influence on staff productivity.

The University of San Diego led study also adds to a previous analysis published in 2003 by Gregory H. Kats, entitled Green Building Costs and Financial Benefits. Using a sample of 33 green building projects, the Kats report concluded benefits of $37 to $55 U.S. dollars per square foot. These savings were as a result of  productivity gains from less sick time and greater worker productivity primarily from better ventilation, lighting and general environment. See chart below.

At Algonquin College, our commitment to sustainability includes a policy ensuring all new construction meets a minimum of LEED Gold certification. Our first LEED building will open in fall of 2011 with the completion of Algonquin’s Centre for Construction Excellence. Appropriately, we are seeking Platinum certification. Three new buildings set to open in 2012 will also meet LEED criteria.

Anyone looking for even more detail on the business case for green building should consider the following links;

• BusinessWeek - Green Buildings: Fewer Sick Days and Higher Rents (November 19, 2009)
• National Resources Defence Council – Building Green From Principle to Practice
• CaGBC - A Business Case for Green Building in Canada (March 31, 2005)
• USGBC – Making the Business Case for High Performance Green Buildings

A great article from the New York Times on the power of face-to-face customer interaction and the opportunity for involving customers in product development.

In a time when digital marketing is the all rage, some companies are ramping up their personal engagement strategies.

Prototype: Seeing Customers as Partners in Invention.