International Advancement: More than Email and Parachutes

International Advancement:
More than Email and Parachutes

Marianne G. Briscoe, Ph.D., ACFRE

Yearly parachute-in visits and email blasts aren’t good enough to develop major gifts at home, so we can’t expect them to work with international constituents either. It is harder to get there—wherever that may be—and there are different cultural expectations about philanthropy and alumni/parent engagement, but the personal connections that lead to major giving still apply.

International students today make up a significant portion of current enrollments and alumni/parent bodies. These constituencies hold a lot of promise for philanthropy and for building and sustaining your school’s reputation and impact abroad. International student families and alumni are powerful assets; most have especially strong allegiance to your school. They lived far from home and family for four or more years and, throughout, your school was their anchor.

Colleges, universities and independent schools with strategic, sustained international advancement programs today see a steady stream of six- and seven-figure gifts. Recently Boston University closed a major capital campaign that saw 30% of gifts come from abroad.

How developed is your institution’s international advancement strategy? Here are some hallmarks for success:

A campus that values and engages internationalism at home and abroad and is willing to invest funding and effort over the long term.
Philanthropic giving priorities and opportunities that appeal to your international families and alumni.
Understanding and ability to work in each nation’s language and distinct philanthropic culture.
A regular presence in the region in addition to very high profile institutional visitors one or more times per year.
Tailored cultivation programs for international constituents when they are on campus or in your home region.
Efficient, impactful in-region alumni and parent relations programs.
Segmentation: strategies for the locations where your highest value international constituents are located.
Tax advantaged giving arrangements for donors in the nations where you have the greatest concentrations of high capacity constituents.

Brakeley Briscoe can build your international advancement program. Our consultants live and work in the US, Asia and Latin America. We provide strategic guidance and hands-on support for “foreign” advancement for colleges and universities. We advise US-based programs and foundations supporting their home institutions across the world. We also counsel US schools, colleges and universities on international advancement strategy and implementation. Here or there—Brakeley Briscoe, Brakeley Asia and Brakeley Search can assess, plan, staff, and implement your international advancement program.