RAISE Podcast EverTrue

On this episode, Brent chats with Cheryl Webster Crounse, Vice President of Advancement and Executive Director of the Salem State University Foundation.

The Salem State team is fresh off a giving day AND just launched the Meet the Moment campaign to raise $75K, the largest campaign in Massachusetts State University history.

Brent and Cheryl cover some big topics like incentive pay, the intersection of advancement and student success, and why you need to get really good at telling your institution’s story.

Some nuggets of wisdom from this conversation:
- Know what makes you exceptional, and be able to talk about it.
- We all have an enormous responsibility to student persistence.
- If you’re dealing with high turnover, just remember that it will teach you about the power of resilience!

For this special episode of the RAISE Podcast – the sesquicentennial! – Brent hosts Scott Roberts, Vice President of Development at the Oklahoma State University Foundation.

On this episode, Brent and Scott chat about lessons learned from crashing a bicycle on a snowy evening in a small town in Germany.

They explore the cultural differences in major gift fundraising from rural Pittsburg, Kentucky to the City of Sin to quaint Mansfield, Connecticut.

They explore how building relationships with strangers and asking for money is, like everything else in life, a matter of practice. (“Just pick up the phone!”)

And they dig into Oklahoma State University’s laser-focus on the areas in which they will be the country’s best.

The episode includes an exposé of a beautiful moment between a donor and a scholarship recipient that reminds us all why we do what we do, everyday. (You can read the full story here: https://www.osugiving.com/stories-of-impact/education-senior-anna-perry-surprised-with-bryan-close-teaching-endowment-fund)

Tune in!

When Dr. Kirk Nooks first stepped into his role as President of Gordon State College, he launched a listening tour with potential, current, and outgoing students. What did they know about Gordon State? What did they love about it? What did they wish was different?

From those conversations, Dr. Nooks and his team built three succinct goals: To stabilize enrollment. To become a first-choice post-grad option in the region. And to round out the Gordon State College experience for students and alums.

During Dr. Nooks' tenure, Gordon State College:
- Saw an increase in enrollment.
- Launched an annual homecoming weekend.
- Introduced a new mascot and produced a bunch of branded swag.
- Launched club football, golf, and volleyball teams (and the football team won a national championship)
- Reached 100% giving from their Foundation Board.
- Reached 80% faculty/staff giving.
- Launched an annual Day of Giving.
- Launched a campaign raising over $2MM in 5 years.
- Received three largest gifts in history of foundation.

And it all started with listening.

On this episode, we we get an inside look at the unique funding model, academic nuances, and value proposition of "access institutions" that offer affordable two and four year degrees to graduates with direct pathways to guaranteed employment.

“So, how the heck did you end up in the Advancement field?”

Brent loves to pitch this question to RAISE Podcast guests. The answer is almost always different, but Brian Hervey’s path to advancement has more twists and turns that usual.

He started off in ROTC at his alma mater, Texas A&M, with dreams of being an army pilot. After graduating, he went into law enforcement. Then, he ran a restaurant. Then, he worked in insurance, ran a car lot, and eventually became a stock broker at Morgan Stanley.

Brian’s first son, Brandon, spent the early days of his life in the NICU at Baylor, Scott & White hospital in central Texas. Brian was so grateful for the care that saved his son and changed his family’s life that he served as a volunteer fundraiser for the hospital. His gratitude for healthcare, desire to pay it forward, and love for connecting with people launched a fundraising career that eventually led him to serve as the Vice President for Philanthropy at that same hospital.

Now, Brian serves as the Vice Chancellor for University Advancement and Alumni Relations and the President of the UCI Foundation at the University of California, Irvine. On this episode, Brent and Brian talk about his first $1MM gift, the differences between higher ed and healthcare fundraising, the importance of aligning stewardship with future potential rather than immediate past experience, and how tech can help keep fundraisers fundraising.

On this episode of the RAISE Podcast, Brent chats with Dr. Reshunda Mahone, Associate Vice Chancellor for Alumni Engagement and Annual Giving, North Carolina State University

Reshunda got her start in advancement “smiling and dialing” for dollars in the phonathon center at her alma mater, the University of Florida. She heard a lot of “nos” and was juuuust when she was about to give up when she got her first big “yes” and closed a gift. In her words, she got bit by the fundraising bug and she has been “smiling and dialing ever since.”

Brent and Reshunda talk about the nuances of fundraising with lawyers, the importance of partnering with faculty members and Deans, and the benefits of working in an advancement shop where alumni engagement and annual giving are completely integrated.

Also on the docket during this conversation: Reshunda’s doctorate studies in women leadership in higher ed, her new efforts to congratulate Pack alumni on their career moves, and her encouragement to lean into this “tight knit, career-focused advancement family.”

Tune in!

After 25 years working in a fully-integrated advancement model at Bowling Green State University, Mo Cotton Kelly joined the UConn team, where she was tasked with carrying out the “nuclear option” of dissolving the Foundations’s 501c3 to merge the alumni association with the foundation.

This week on the RAISE Podcast, Mo and Brent talk mergers and acquisitions, strike-zone data, regional development officers, hybrid work environments, the importance of having a COO, and lots more.

A few great quotes from this “kamikaze friend-maker:”
- “It it’s not a ‘Hell, yeah!’ then don’t do it.”
- “When you enact change with vision, intentionality, and kindness, you can do almost anything.”
- “We need to connect the dots for students so that gratitude is baked into their being.”