I’m the development professional at our school. How can the enrollment professional help connect me to prospective donor families?
Here at Prizmah, we like to say “We are all Team Development.” In other words, every interaction, conversation, piece of information or insight can lead to an investment in our work, and that investment enables us to have a greater impact in strengthening and elevating Jewish day schools across North America.
The reason this works is because the essence of development is not really fundraising or money. It’s about connection, engagement and relationships. The goal of development is to help people invest in causes, programs or institutions that they care about, so that they can contribute to the impact, change or outcome they want. As a development professional, you know that better than anyone, and you can help your colleagues see it that way so that they can help you—and the school.
Enrollment professionals use many of the same skills and tactics that development pros use. They engage curiously with the family and work to understand what excites them about Jewish day school education. Is it the school community? Academic rigor? Class size? Its grounding in Jewish values? A good professional will listen to the family and connect them to the school in the most fitting way.
The enrollment pro can share this valuable information with you and introduce you to the family. You can then develop your own relationship with the family, inviting them to events and sharing resources that would be of interest to them. When the time comes, you can give them the opportunity to invest in a program or initiative that they feel strongly about. But all of this will only come to pass through authentic relationships—the one they had with the enrollment professional and the one they have with you.
It’s important to the enrollment professional that you are not “all about money.” They have worked hard to build trust and pave the way for a good experience at the school. If you’re approaching families transactionally, it won’t sit well. Work with the enrollment pro to understand what they have learned about the family, and they will help you determine how to engage them.
Be patient if they are “protective” of their families at first. They don’t want their families to be bombarded with requests for donations. Once they understand that you are in the business of developing relationships in order to help people invest in what they care about, they will run to you excitedly with ideas and potential donors.
If you do your job well, the enrollment pros will be happier because more resources lead to greater opportunities for the school, which in turn leads to greater enrollment, and the virtuous cycle continues. And soon everyone will say, “We are all Team Development!"
