Living our values

Thank you to all those who participated in our Advancement Value- Action Statement exercise. Over the next several issues of ALTogether Now, ALT will be talking about living these values.

I will start with Accountability. Here are the action statements we chose:

• I hold myself accountable for my work and take responsibility for the outcome.
• I hold others accountable in a productive way. This includes setting clear expectations and providing clear feedback.
• I recognize opportunities for process improvements and learn from mistakes.
• I own my mistakes and discuss them in an open and honest way.
• I don’t blame others, make excuses, or pawn off responsibilities (or failure) onto others.

As I reflected on these action statements, I looked inward to identify which one would be most difficult for me. I think discussing my mistakes is always a challenge for me because I personally hold myself to a very high standard. But over the course of my career, I have recognized that sharing mistakes in an open and honest way not only helps me do better, but also creates a space of honesty, reflection, and safety for others around me.  We give each other the freedom to learn and fail together without fear of judgement. Once I realized that, sharing mistakes became much easier-- because it was less about me doing something wrong and more about me helping others to do something right. With time, I have embraced a philosophy of trying to be as open and vulnerable with mistakes as possible. While some are still terribly embarrassing, I see the opportunity for growth and learning that they present. 

To our team:  Which action statements will you find most challenging to live? How can you hold yourself and others around you accountable for embodying these values? How can you hold me accountable for doing the same? Enjoy the discussion!
 
Michelle

Principal Gifts Office

by Patricia Falzon, Executive Director

Our Principal Gifts office will lead some important work in the coming year, to support the Forward, Together strategic plan and objectives. Specifically, our focus will be on Strategic Direction 4 - Grow Key Program: Principal Gift Fundraising, and related objectives in support of our 2021-22 goal of $51 million, including setting the stage for successfully achieving our goal of generating 70% of annual private revenue from philanthropy over $1M in future years. 

The role of the Principal Gifts office within Development and University Advancement is to build the capacity and drive strategy for the university’s largest philanthropic investments; those of $5 million or more. The results of these important functions will include:

• Raising $160-$170 million in principal gifts over the next five years, averaging about $32 million a year 
• Imagining and articulating those truly transformational initiatives for Queen’s University and students that inspire principal gift-level investments from donors.
• Building and advancing a robust pipeline of near-term and long-term principal gift prospects.
• Growing the lifetime engagement of principal donors.

… and ultimately, realizing Queen’s University’s mission, strategic goals, and societal impact.

We know that the best philosophy around which to build a strong Principal Gifts program is one that is built around the donor. That donorcentricity we often talk about involves really building systems and practices around:

• A Culture of Collaboration across Advancement and the university
• Nurturing big, innovative thinking
• Facilitating donor investment in pan-university/impact opportunities
• Focusing on Relationship Strategy over The Pitch

In the coming year, we will be focused on three key responsibilities:

1.  Advancing Advancement’s top 5-10 prospects to/through solicitation and closing one-five gifts.
2. Building tools and systems to identify and advance all potential prospects, not only supporting but increasing the current pool of 44 Principal Gift prospects (and 89 potential Principal Gift prospects).
3. Developing really big opportunities for social impact in alignment with the Principal’s focus on the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals and our new strategic framework. 

How does this work connect to yours, you might ask? The answer is that Our Success is Your Success! Or perhaps, Our Success is Our Success. We look forward to sharing big ideas, developing donor strategies, and building new information systems to move us “Forward, Together”. 

Your Principal Gifts Team:
Patricia Falzon, Executive Director
Allison Slopack, Senior Director of Development (effective June 1, 2021)
Engagement Officer (now recruiting!)

Fundraising Mentor Network

Want to connect with peers in institutions across Canada? Looking for a mentor or to be a mentor?

I’ve recently reached out to my network across Canada and had a lot of interest in creating a fundraising mentor network. So, on May 12, I will be hosting our first connection.

So far, we have registrants from nearly every province!

What to expect? Although we will be sending a Google form next week asking and giving more details, our first meeting will involve a group speed dating exercise of sorts so everyone can meet everyone else. We will have guided conversation topics and afterwards, participants will be encouraged to reach out to each other to establish a mentor partnership. 

For those of you interested in expanding your network, please join us! 

Development Communications Master Class Update

by Deborah Melman-Clement, Senior Development Writer

Last week we opened registration for the first-ever Development Writing Master Class. This week we’re excited to announce that all three weekly sessions are fully booked.

We’re grateful to everyone who expressed interested in the class. We had a lot of interest throughout Advancement, but we determined we would make the first round available exclusively to development officers.

The good news is that we’ll be offering the class again in the fall -- and opening it up to all of Advancement. We’ll announce the new dates soon. 

Contact Deborah Melman-Clement or Kelly Cox for more information. 
 

Jobs with Advancement

We need your recruitment help. Know great talent that would be a good addition to our team? If so, please promote the vacancies below with your networks and let’s find some amazing new team members.

Applications (including a cover letter and résumé) must be submitted through CareerQ. For additional information on this posting, please reach out to either Carla or the hiring manager for the position you are interested in.

Available Position:

Fun Fact

The Bader International Study Centre (BISC)

The Bader International Study Centre (BISC), is located on the historic 500-hectare Herstmonceux Castle estate in East Sussex, U.K. The estate was donated to Queen's in 1993 by Queen's alumnus Dr. Alfred Bader, Sci’45, Sci’46, MSc’47, LLD’88 and his wife, Dr. Isabel Bader, LLD’07. 

After extensive renovations the BISC offers an ideal setting for innovative international undergraduate programs and a post-baccalaureate law program that involve extensive use of integrated field study activities both in the British Isles and in continental Europe.