Schools, Seminaries, and Universities

As a leader in a Christian K12 school, university, or seminary, you juggle competing priorities: leading with vision, resource management, enrollment, board alignment, student development, and staff/faculty retention, to name a few.

When you have a gap between your vision for your school and the ability to fund it, it can be frustrating to find effective, real-life solutions that truly make a difference in your development program. Our team understands this.

Total Advancement Solutions is a division of Generis dedicated to partnering with faith-based non-profit organizations, Christian schools and colleges, seminaries and camps. Our team of highly skilled, strongly credentialed development professionals specializes in helping your Christian school or university rethink your current reality to make new things possible.

When you work with an Advancement Strategist, you are working with someone who has been in your shoes, felt the tension of your role, and has faced many of the same challenges as you have. The Advancement team is composed of practitioners who have real-life experience working in Christian schools and universities. We’ve been there, done that, and now are here on the other side ready to guide leaders like you.

Generis has provided the best campaign wisdom, support, expertise, and follow through of any firm I have worked with throughout several campaigns. They customized a campaign unique to our needs and have been with us every step of the way. They have provided both high level strategy support and detailed support down to the sentence in our communications to donors. I would use them again tomorrow if needed.

Cade Lambert, Superintendent, Des Moines Christian School

We help you elevate your efforts to reach your funding goals and make your God-inspired vision a reality.

From comprehensive development program design and coaching, to singular projects like planning a Give Day, to historically critical projects like designing and implementing a capital campaign, we walk alongside you to construct custom solutions that meet your needs within your school’s unique culture.

From our first meeting to celebrating reaching your goals, we are with you every step of the way of your generosity journey — you’re not in this alone.

And, with our kingdom-focus and “make-it-last” mindset, we ensure that everything that we accomplish together outlives the length of any one campaign, project, or initiative.

Advancement Solutions

Campaign

Our team of experts provides guidance for every stage of your campaign from feasibility study to campaign planning and execution. We create customized strategies to communicate vision, ensure board alignment, engage major givers, host events, onboard new givers, and track progress toward your goals.

Development Assessment

We dig deep into your giving data, evaluate print and online communications, explore mission/vision alignment with fundraising processes, assess the return on investment of your events, evaluate staff roles, and make customized recommendations for strengthening your development program.

Interim Leadership

Our team members can temporarily fill most open roles from chief development officer to annual fund director. Also, we help you build a position profile for your open position, assist with the interview process, and guide you in onboarding your new hire.

Development Plan

We come alongside you to set gift income goals, acquire new donors, expand communication strategies, build a stronger major gifts program, add a planned gifts program, help your board understand their role in fundraising, and ensure execution by assigning specific tasks and dates to the right people.

Major Giving Program Development

We help you identify major givers, create unique strategies to engage with them, and provide coaching for staff and board members who will be involved in the process. We help develop and/or enhance major gift programs for organizations of any size.

Feasibility Study

Through targeted one-on-one interviews with your highest capacity givers, a full analysis of your giving data, and a thorough review of your organizational structure, we provide an honest assessment of your campaign readiness and a realistic campaign goal for your organization to pursue.

Annual Giving

We help you assess the performance of your current annual fund or help you build one from the ground up. We provide best practice strategies for identifying new annual fund givers, encouraging current givers to increase their annual gifts, and stewarding these loyal givers by thanking them creatively and keeping them in the loop about how your organization is fulfilling its mission.

Constituency Relations Programs

Our Total Advancement Solutions team has experience in creating and growing constituency relations programs of all types and sizes. Whether you are starting an Alumni Relations program for a 25-year-old school, or you want to strategically deepen your relationship with thousands of your alumni across the globe, we can help.

Wealth Analysis

Conducting wealth screening for your database is a great fundraising tool. We take the mystery out of the information and provide specific recommendations to help you find the hidden gems in your database and increase the overall culture of generosity in your organization.

How It Works

MEET

An expertly matched Advancement Strategist will meet with you to understand your school’s unique DNA, assess the health of your development program, and dive deeper into your development needs and goals.

GUIDE

Our team of experienced experts will help you find the right path forward. Together we’ll build a unique development strategy that will mobilize your givers and accelerate generosity in your school.

IMPLEMENT

Your Advancement Strategist will guide you through the steps of implementation, ensuring success and stability along the way. We come alongside your team, helping you reach your development goals and build a stronger future for your organization.

What Leaders Are Saying...

Featured Resources

Is A Capital Campaign In Your Future?

Time and again we’ve seen God use capital campaigns to accelerate growth, impact communities, and galvanize organizations in exciting ways. Is now the right time for your organization to step forward in faith and pursue the God-inspired dream on your heart?

In this resource, you’ll find an explanation of the essential elements of a successful campaign, along with practical tips for accomplishing each step in the campaign journey.

  • An aligned mission
  • A unified board of directors
  • A detailed plan
  • A culture of gratitude
  • And many more elements that you can't skip
Building A Culture Of Generosity Among Your K-12 Parents

When you ask your K-12 parents to financially support your God-inspired vision, you invite them in to what God is doing in your school. But the foundation of support you need is unlikely to grow within a transactional model of development. The steps you'll learn in this workshop can begin transforming your parent giving program into a true partnership.

You'll walk away with:

  • Ideas for growing parent giving.
  • Calendar and cadence ideas for a year-long development plan.
  • Actionable steps to reduce dependence on a yearly gala.
15 Fundraising Fallacies Holding You Back

Fundraising isn't getting easier. While many have tried, most have discovered that you can't allocate enough resources to overcome flawed thinking.

If you want to fund more, do more, and accomplish more, then this resource is for you. This is your opportunity to turn what's holding you back into what propels you forward.

This resource will help you:

  • Watch your capacity to raise funds grow.
  • Find a clear path from transactional to transformational philanthropy.
  • Change your fundraising trajectory and impact forever!
Giving Days Resources

A designated giving day is an opportunity to engage those connected to your school or organization, invite them to participate in your mission, and celebrate what you've accomplished together.

This bundle of resources includes:

  • Giving Days Overview
  • Giving Days: What to Consider
  • 3 Lies (and 2 Truths) About Giving Days
  • Giving Day: A Staple to your Annual Fund Program
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Partnering with Christian K-12 Schools, Colleges, Universities, and Seminaries to Accelerate Generosity