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News Washington News May, 2004 - Edition 15 Welcome to the May, 2004 edition of Washington News. Read on for client consulting activity, development and marketing news items and featured articles on media training for educationalists and emerging fundraising trends. In this edition:
Kellett School Hong Kong
Kellett School is the school of choice in Hong Kong for parents seeking a British style primary education for their children. The school is experiencing extraordinary demand, has long wait lists at most year levels and is considering a major extension to its Pokfulam, (Hong Kong Island), campus.
We were pleased to recently spend four days working with the Board and the Principal evaluating the prospects for a first time serious venture into philanthropy, buoyed by the success that other schools in Hong Kong are having with such programs. The prospects for philanthropic endeavours succeeding at Kellett are much enhanced by the very high regard current and past parents have for the education their children receive there.
Conference Speaking - Dates and Locations
Washington Services will be presenting at the following conferences during 2004:
October 21, 26 and 27, 2004, Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney respectively: FMRC School Leadership Seminars
Jo Pearson and Frank Opray present on introducing and refining philanthropic endeavours and asking techniques in schools.
October 13-15, 2004: Tri-Association (Association of American Schools of Central America, Colombia, Caribbean and Mexico), Mexico City Frank Opray will deliver a session designed to assist international schools, which are contemplating an investment in a development and alumni relations function. November 6-9, 2004: AISA (Association of International Schools in Africa), Nairobi, Kenya  European Council of International Schools
The ECIS Administrators' conference in Dublin in April provided an interesting perspective on how international schools are showing increasing interest in raising philanthropic dollars from various elements of their constituencies. We were pleased to be able to present a workshop on what has worked in a range of client schools in various countries around the world.
The concept of prudently raising substantial debt capital in schools for expansion projects was also extensively explored with a most professional session led by Dr Volker Pesta of Osterrichische Volksbanken AG, Vienna. Volksbanken has now lent over 100 million Euros to some 15 international schools throughout Europe and it is the only bank to be specialising in this growing market. (See Washington News January 2004 for further details.)
 Old Wesley Collegians' Association, Melbourne
The importance of an alumni association working in conjunction with its parent school in the international reunion setting was brought home to us recently at a Wesley College function in Shanghai, China. Alumni reunions take on much more significance when the event is combined with a gathering of enthusiastic current, past and future parents. This is particularly so when senior representatives of the school, such as the Director, are in attendance.
Some school successfully weave parent/teacher interviews into the visit program thereby making time spent by senior staff of even more relevance whilst making parts of the program all but "compulsory" for current parents.
In Shanghai Wesley combined a formal dinner for parents with a presentation from Frank Opray, as President of the Old Wesley Collegians' Association, on the benefits past students can derive from drawing on the association's extensive networking structure. Parents welcomed this briefing on an element of the educational "package" at Wesley they had largely overlooked.
Media Training ...... Catharsis not Crisis!
 Jo Pearson Jo Pearson and her Media Strategies team provide tailored media and presentation skills training, and corporate film and video production to clients in a range of industries, and in the educational sector. In this, the first of three articles on presentation skills for educators, Jo explains why educational institutions need to have an on-going media strategy in place. For many, it has meant a change of thinking in regard to the media and its role in turning the spotlight onto a school’s accountability to students, parents and the wider community. Could your school stand up to the rigours of media and public scrutiny, whilst continuing the business of teaching? ‘Because reputation is central to any transaction, it is therefore one of your greatest commercial assets. It makes sense to be ready for any crisis which might (Stephen Manallack - Stratcom Consulting) Hopefully, you will never suffer this nightmare. You are walking into the school grounds one morning, and just before you reach the gate, a television reporter appears from nowhere, invades your personal space with a microphone, and demands that you defend yourself and your school against a barrage of hostile questions. The questions relate to an issue that you thought had been dealt with – a complaint from a parent that their child had been bullied by other students. You are taken completely off-guard, your blood runs cold, you have no time to think of either a suitable strategy, or response. You simply look defensive, angry, guilty - or all three. It took just a few seconds. A few seconds which might have protected, perhaps even lifted, your school’s reputation in the eyes of the public, if handled differently. A few seconds which might have reassured parents, students, staff and the school Board, and convinced the viewing public that you are the sort of person they trust and are comfortable with. You may ‘know’ your profession and your school in the finest of detail, but that does not mean you should risk everything you have struggled to build, by believing you can ‘wing it’ with the media. If challenged by a reporter in an ‘ambush’ situation, would you know how to respond, without engaging in a damaging unprepared debate, and without looking as though you are unco-operative? In an interview, would you know what to say, and how to say it – without taking five minutes to get your point across? Firstly, you don’t have five minutes to make your point. In reality, you have only about ten seconds. Very few people can verbalise their key messages, clearly, simply and powerfully, without preparation and training. They have not experienced the power-play and theatre of a media interview or ambush - what it feels like to be in the ‘firing line’ of questions, lights and cameras. Even with print media journalists, the same principles of preparation, simplicity, brevity and clarity are of the utmost importance. Have you ever wondered why you frequently hear complaints that the press misquoted, quoted out of context, or completely ‘got it wrong?’ I have no doubt that, in some cases, the interviewee can share some of that blame. Perhaps they were so confident they could ‘wing it,’ that they failed to properly prepare, and the result was an interview weighed down by long, convoluted, confusing and entirely unquotable answers. In this situation, the journalist has a massive task to determine context, simplify, and précis the content into simple, clear ideas. Without proper training and preparation, you run the risk of losing control and leaving too much leeway in the hands of a busy journalist, who may have three stories to cover within a tight deadline. Imagine again. Morning talk-back radio is running hot with a story about students allegedly providing ‘sexual favours’ for money during the lunch break. You are horrified to hear your school’s name being mentioned. When you arrive at your office, there are several messages from a producer with a national television current affairs program. One of the program’s high profile reporters wants to interview you, and answer criticism levelled by hysterical parents and a radio talk show host, who has been very vocally asking, ‘what’s being done about sleaze in our schools?’ This scenario faced the principal of a Melbourne, Australia Catholic school not long ago. To his credit, the principal appeared on television that evening, and answered questions in a controlled and intelligent manner. His perspective and calm was effective in taking the heat out of a media exercise in sensationalism. Without his appearance, the school would have looked as though it had something to hide. You might discover that a senior teacher has just unwittingly given a television news crew, on videotape, just what they wanted. The crew was chasing the story of an allegedly hostile confrontation between that teacher and a parent. The parent is alleging that the teacher has singled out their son for disparaging comments, and the student’s work is suffering as a result. Not media trained, and behaving like cornered prey as the camera crew catches him in a classic ‘ambush’ interview, the teacher has broken just about every rule of talking to the media. Hostile to the interviewer, defensive and seemingly shifty and arrogant, your staff member, and your school, is about to be voted ‘guilty’ by thousands of viewers, as his awkward body language and aggressive remarks are replayed around the country. You are about to experience a media nightmare, which could set your school’s reputation on a downward spiral that takes years to recover from. This might seem like an extreme scenario, but one that you could find yourself acting out in the next few minutes, days or weeks. The triggers for media exposure can come from a range of sources – including the tragedy of a school excursion accident. In a situation like this, your entire school population is dealing with extreme trauma, as well as having the demands of the media to contend with. Be Prepared Whether it is television, radio or press, 'news' is immediate, sudden and unpredictable. The key to protecting your reputation, and importantly, controlling the flow of information, is preparation. Sadly, there is still a misconception that media training is either unnecessary or a band-aid measure when things go wrong. In reality, media training should be one of the One ten second faux pas on the evening news, or quote in the daily newspaper, can compromise your schools reputation. It may not be what you said, or didn't say, but perhaps how you unwittingly offended the viewer or journalist, with your attitude or manner. Dealing with media enquiries well, briefing journalists effectively, and confidently answering questions can save the day, or at least give you the best possible chance to keep the public on-side, even when your staff member may have been guilty of an error of judgement. The most powerful element of a media performance is the most ethereal - the perception of the individual. Particularly when dealing with television appearances, the public's perception of you, says more than all the well-chosen phrases you can string together. Facial expression, dress, posture, body language and importantly, vocal tone, are critical elements of your ‘believability’ or power to convince. These vital factors generally constitute a subconscious assessment by your audience, but they are nonetheless critical to convincing all audiences – including print journalists and radio listeners (professional voice-over artists invariably use a great deal of facial expression - smiling, frowning and gesticulating, to give the right ‘tone’ to their voices, even though there is no-one to see their performance). Be A Major Asset Media training can be an extremely cathartic and focussing experience as well as being informative and somewhat liberating. After a day's media training, participants are generally surprised at the amount of ground they have covered and the range of issues that they have dealt with. Participants are encouraged to answer questions and face issues that may otherwise remain unspoken. Addressing those issues enables the individual to better rationalise how they feel about their school’s achievements, challenges and policies. Solutions are identified, and importantly, key messages verbalised, so that the right words will be ready when you need them most. With preparation, a school’s core values and key positive messages are there at the tip of your tongue. Instead of floundering when questioning becomes aggressive, unpleasant, persistent or repetitive, you are in total control of your answers. When given the opportunity to sell yourself, the response will be natural and almost reflexive. Even though you may not have control over the line of questioning, in an interview, you do have total control over what you say in response, and how you say it. By taking control of the flow of information, even when the news is bad, you can not only validate the concerns of your audience, but also emphasise the positive qualities and priorities of your company. Avoid the Media Nightmare News has become increasingly dominated by the need to win the circulation or ratings war. News budgets depend on their ability to entertain, titillate and sadly, often to sensationalise. The in-depth explanation, or witty oration has given way to the thumbnail sketch and 10-second sound ‘bite.’ Perceptions run strongly and substance often takes a back seat. This is dangerous territory for the unprepared, or those who optimistically think that a simple, ‘no comment’ will make their media nightmare go away. Fundraising in Schools – An Ever- changing Scene (Part Two) In the March 2004 edition of Washington News Frank Opray reviewed some shifts in fundraising practice and pointed to trends which are emerging for schools. The implications of these developments for school fundraising were canvassed. That article reviewed: 1. annual giving, 2. major gifts and 3. giving by trusts and foundations. This subsequent article considers sponsorship and corporate philanthropy, special events and bequests. The numbering sequence continues from the previous article. 4. Sponsorship and Corporate Philanthropy
In recent years the corporate world has made much of its interest of embracing the concept of “the triple bottom line”, (TBL). This concept focuses corporations not just on the economic value they add, but also on the environmental and social value they contribute to society – or destroy in some cases. A corollary of this movement has been an increasing preparedness by the corporate world to embrace philanthropy, but not always in an entirely “free of strings” manner which brings into question whether or not it is in fact true philanthropy. Before exploring these “strings attached” aspects however it is necessary to clearly identify the distinction between sponsorship and corporate philanthropy. Sponsorship implies that the transaction is reciprocal in some way – the corporate makes a payment and expects to receive a benefit in return. This could range from simply exposure by way of acknowledgement or advertising to the more involved, and increasing common, access to data base information or continuing involvement with the constituency of the institution receiving the sponsorship. Corporate philanthropy on the other hand implies that the gift will be given unencumbered, but this is increasingly rare as corporates lay down ground rules as to what they will or will not support by way of causes. Education could be a candidate cause but equally it might be the environment, (in the case of oil companies increasingly), or it might be the arts, which is increasingly taking the fancy of banking and finance donor companies and automotive manufacturers. As a consequence it is necessary for schools and universities to be crystal clear in their conversations with potential corporate supporters as to whether the offer is for sponsorship or philanthropy. One way or the other a common feature is that corporates are becoming increasingly prescriptive as to what they will support. It is therefore incumbent on the institution to do its homework and only approach those corporates with a track record or a known intention of supporting education. Features of corporate giving which have emerged in recent years include: · the attitude of “what’s in it for us” has become increasingly important. Schools need to be able to clearly articulate the benefits the corporate will derive from the gift, and seek to quantify them in dollar terms, · there is a distinct trend for corporates to seek partnerships with hand picked gift recipients with whom they will generally want to associate for some years, (the consequence of this is that corporates are seeking to support fewer causes but with larger average contributions), · there is an increasing sense of “ownership” by corporates of the projects supported along with which goes an increasing level of accountability placed on the recipient institution, (evidence of appropriate acquittal of the gift is becoming common), · corporates are comforted by, and actively encourage in some instances, involvement of their employees with the recipient institution, (this is inclusive of an increase in the acceptance of “matched giving” whereby an employer will match the gift of an employee to agreed institutions to agreed levels), · there is some evidence to suggest that causes supporting the ageing and those supporting women will gain preferential support from certain corporates, · there is increasing competition for the corporate dollar as more and more “worthwhile” causes emerge. 5. Special Events Special events, in the form of a fete, an art show or a banquet action have been around the school scene for decades but there has been noticeable shift in the attitude of schools to special events in recent years. This is evidenced by: · recognition that special events are not philanthropic ventures and should not be considered as such, (they must sit alongside the philanthropic fundraising endeavours of a school and not seek to replace them), · acknowledgement that schools should seek to do fewer but larger special events, perhaps just one per year, ensuring that they are thereby more significant fundraisers in their own right, (a dispensing of the multitude of “small” events throughout the school year and applying effort in a more concentrated manner), · the application of more creativity going into the conceiving and carriage of special events drawing increasingly on particular skills and contacts residing within the school community, · acknowledgement that successful special events in a school setting will have at least a three to five year life span enabling the investment in the concept in year one to be more than recouped in subsequent years as the formula is refined, (if a special event is not capable of being repeated in an improved and more profitable manner over at least three years, then there should be questions as to its validity at the outset). It is freely acknowledged that special events, professionally run, not only raise attractive sums of money, but also have the ability to bind a school community together in their organisation and carriage. Additionally, they can play an important supportive role in the context of a major capital appeal and certainly can be a useful adjunct means of identifying potential donors to the school and assisting in their cultivation. 6. Bequests
One only has to scan the daily press, noticing the number of available positions for Bequest Officers, to readily appreciate the competitiveness which exists for the bequest dollar in this ageing society. All manner of non-profit entities are seeking bequests and this has led to some distinct features emerging which alert schools and universities need to be aware of. These include: · increasing sophistication of the accompanying marketing and promotional material,
· continual mentioning of the bequest option in newsletters and the like emanating from institutions, (schools which mount successful bequest programmes recognise that a single proposition for a constituent to remember the school in his or her Will will generally be insufficient),
· the usage of testimonials in written materials and on web sites as pointers to what other might do, (I remembered XXXX College in my estate because….. is generally a powerful marketing message),
· a focus on females mindful that they have a propensity to outlive their male partners and thereby often have final say in the distribution of the joint estate, (many single sex girls’ schools are alert to this and are placing ever greater emphasis on their bequest programmes amongst former students),
· the growth of “bequest societies” which offer membership to those who have advised that the school has been remembered in their estate and which hold dedicated functions for their members two or three time per year, (a pro-active bequest society will be encouraging its members to bring along to such functions prospective new members),
· realisation that keeping school connected firms of solicitors well acquainted with the objectives and purposes of a bequest programme is likely to lead to an increase in “unexpected” bequests, (solicitors often attest that clients regularly seek advice as to which charities they might support and school connected but well informed solicitors can be gentle but powerful advocates in this setting).
There has been growing realisation in recent years that many school supporters who can give only modestly from current income can be substantial donors in bequest mode. Ever increasing real estate values all but underpin this proposition with even a modest home, left to a school, having the ability to support a full scholarship for example. Again, all girls’ school are recognising this opportunity and are tilting their philanthropic programmes accordingly. Further Information (return to top) For further information and all other enquiries regarding Washington Services' consultancy services, please contact Frank Opray at: frank@opray.net Washington News is published each second month and is designed to alert clients and others to developments in international school and university administration. Washington Services works with schools and universities internationally assisting them with alumni relations, fundraising, marketing, feasibility studies, placements and governance opportunities. Back editions of Washington News can be found in the "News" section of the Washington Services' web site at www.opray.net/washington Material from Washington News can be reproduced but acknowledgement would be appreciated. If you do not wish to receive this bulletin from Washington Services each second month, please reply to: wsnews@opray.net with 'remove' in the subject line. |
For further information and all other enquiries regarding Washington Services' consultancy services, please contact Frank Opray at: frank@opray.net
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