How much of fundraising’s success depends on meaningful places?

Today I was privileged to connect with Laura Tepper, Executive Director of Development at the University of Pennsylvania, Carey Law School where she oversees all annual, major, and planned giving efforts. Her career spans all functions of frontline fundraising, including the recent Power of Penn’s Law campaign that raised $281M including two of the most significant gifts ever given to an American Law School. Today Laura and I talked about whether returning to the office is a reasonable expectation or if we should perhaps allow remote working to become the norm. This is an especially important conversation for Penn with its historic location in the heart of Philadelphia.This really had me thinking about how much of fundraising hinges on the meaning behind significant places and whether becoming overly reliant on virtual spaces is going to have effects that we haven’t quite begun to anticipate. We can all appreciate what a zoom platform affords us in terms of fostering meaningful engagement; however, such platforms will never have the capability to transport us to experiences that are deeply rooted in a very familiar and particular place. Our conversation had me wondering whether our donors, even though they aren’t always in the room with us, count on us to rekindle their affinity for meaningful places.As always, we are especially grateful to our friends at CueBack for sponsoring The Fundraising Talent Podcast. If you’d like to learn more about hosting the Responsive Fundraising roadshow in your local community, email me for more information. And, if you’d like to download Responsive’s latest edition of Carefully & Critically, just click here. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit fundraisingtalent.substack.com