Advancement leaders are under increasing pressure to grow revenue, accelerate campaign performance, and demonstrate return on investment. Yet in many institutions, the marketing and communications function that supports advancement — whether called Advancement Marketing and Communications, Development Communications, Development Marketing, or another local variation — remains structured as a reactive service function, often measured by output rather than strategic impact. When positioned as an order-taker, it cannot consistently influence strategy, align institutional messaging, or support fundraising at scale. More often, the problem is not the talent on the team, but how the function has been positioned, empowered, and resourced.

In this focused provocation, Dan Giroux challenges leaders to reconsider how this function is positioned within the advancement enterprise. Drawing on experience across agency and in-house advancement leadership, he explores how reporting relationships, authority to shape priorities, integration into strategy, capacity, and shared measures influence revenue performance. Elevating this work is not a tactical enhancement. It is a strategic revenue imperative. When leaders get it right, they do not simply improve communications. They strengthen the advancement enterprise.