Talking Shop: Moving From Parties to Personalization
David Smith started his career in independent schools as a history and political science teacher. Soon thereafter, he realized he wanted to have a greater impact on his students and school, and that opened the door to a new career path as a major gifts officer. Smith served as an independent schools development leader for more than a decade—most recently as Director of Advancement at Saint Ann’s School in Brooklyn, New York, U.S.—before founding David Smith Consulting in 2023. Here, he shares his thoughts about shaking up “business as usual” for advancement events and strategy.
You’ve been critical of “traditional” events like galas. Why is that?
I’ve been pushing hard on how to rethink our events calendars to move away from events that center wealth instead of mission. That’s really where my opposition to galas developed. It’s out of date with our objectives. We have two objectives in our [development] offices: to center and build community, and on the other side to raise money. A big, elaborate fundraising gala is in opposition to both of those—so let’s rethink and do it a different way. Let’s bring our fundraising practices in alignment with our missions. Our mission statements don’t talk about centering wealth—they’re about our values, belonging, and community.
What approach do you recommend in place of ‘big, elaborate galas’?
Personalized fundraising; a direct conversation with someone from the school asking someone—a prospective donor—for a donation. When you take away the big event and focus on the individuals, you can bridge the conversation in a more positive way. There is, in that moment, a chance [for the donor] to make an affirmative donation to your school and mission. At an event, an affirmative donation is not the goal—it’s to participate in the paddle raise during the auction, or something like that. But when you’re one-on-one, you can personalize the ask, bring them closer to the mission, and inspire an affirmative donation to the school. It’s not incidental. And that’s an important shift—moving to that more personalized conversation.
How does diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging play a role in this shift?
In institutional culture, fundraising staff and volunteers think that the responsibility for DEIB is somewhere else. The DEIB staff and volunteers think that the responsibility for fundraising is somewhere else. Something I’ve worked hard to do is bring those two groups together. That’s a tough concept to get across, but once you do, there’s a lot more success. It transformed the donor landscape at St. Ann’s, for example, because we didn’t separate those two things. We had tremendous success in increasing giving from LGBTQ families, families of color, and alumni of color.
What does bringing advancement and DEIB together look like in practice?
Some alumni at St. Ann’s—particularly Black alumni—did not feel comfortable returning to campus for our traditional alumni events. We worked to create opportunities for people to gather with their classmates off campus to help rebuild their relationship with the school.
We worked with our DEIB team to create specific programming for our Alumni Day that featured conversations about equity and inclusion at the school with the Director of Diversity. That year, we brought back more alumni of color than we had in previous years. We used that event as a foundation to expand outreach to alumni of color in other parts of the country. That outreach enabled us to develop a more diverse pipeline for the nominating committee of our Board of Trustees—and today, more than a quarter of St. Ann’s board members are alumni of color.
Why is incorporating DEIB in advancement work critical for institutions today?
The profile of the American family has shifted dramatically in the past 30 years in relation to all kinds of difference—and so has the profile of wealthy families. There are no demographic data to suggest that the United States will not become more racially diverse, that there will not be more interracial families, that there will not be more LGBTQ families. Once we have these families in our fold, how do we make them feel like they belong? And how do we translate that into giving? I have always considered myself both a diversity practitioner and a major gifts fundraiser—and I think more fundraisers will need to look at themselves that way, too.
What drives your passion for pushing the advancement field—especially for independent schools—forward?
At my core, I’m a major gifts fundraiser. What I’ve enjoyed most about my career is raising transformational gifts for these schools. A large part of my job has been working with families who are making their first large gift to any institution, and I’ve always taken that very seriously. As a consultant, I help schools bring the conversation about major gifts and campaigns together with the conversation about events and DEIB.
About the author(s)
Kristin Hanson is a freelance writer and editor who previously served as an editor for Currents.
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March-April Issue of Currents
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