The Silo Problem That's Costing Institutions Millions
A university’s Advancement team has been nurturing a $5 million gift for months. The donor is engaged, excited about supporting student scholarships, and just waiting for the right moment to commit.
Then, they attend an alumni event where the president’s speech—crafted by Central MarComm—focuses entirely on rankings and research growth, with no mention of the importance of philanthropy.
The donor walks away wondering: Does the university even need my gift?
Advancement loses momentum. The gift never materializes. Or maybe it comes in a year or two later, at a reduced amount.
Unfortunately, this scenario happens much more often than institutions realize.
When MarComm and Advancement work in silos, they send mixed signals that weaken donor confidence and cost institutions millions.
As I prepare for my CASE District II Annual Conference presentation to senior Advancement leaders next week, I keep reflecting on how institutions can break this cycle.
At Drexel, I saw this firsthand. Leading Advancement MarComm wasn't just about donor messaging—it was about aligning branding, storytelling, and engagement across the university.
That meant:
- Guiding Strategic Plan implementation as part of the senior leadership task force, ensuring Advancement’s voice influenced communications.
- Co-chairing an External Marketing strategic initiative group, bringing together campus communicators to foster collaboration and eliminate redundant efforts.
- Aligning faculty, staff, and stakeholder messaging through the Internal Communications leadership team, creating a cohesive institutional narrative.
- Developing integrated storytelling strategies for impact, stewardship, and alumni engagement, ensuring donor communications weren’t disconnected from the university brand or prominent outreach channels.
- Partnering on crisis communications with Central MarComm and the President's Office, ensuring donors and alumni received transparent, aligned, and timely updates during sensitive institutional moments.
Each of these efforts shared one goal: closing the gap between Advancement and MarComm, so both could work smarter and drive stronger results.
What Happens When These Teams Work in Isolation?
- Conflicting Messaging – Alumni and donors receive competing narratives, leading to hesitation or skepticism about giving.
- Redundant Efforts – Teams create similar content in isolation, wasting resources and budget. (How many independent photo shoots does one institution need?)
- Underutilized Expertise – MarComm has storytelling, digital engagement, and brand strategy skills that Advancement desperately needs, but Advancement often doesn’t have a seat at the table to leverage them.
- Missed Fundraising Opportunities – When a university’s brand identity doesn’t reinforce Advancement’s messaging, securing major gifts and inspiring alumni engagement becomes much harder.
Consider this:
A university is in the middle of its biggest-ever fundraising campaign. Advancement is working overtime to build donor excitement, crafting powerful storytelling around the impact of philanthropy.
Meanwhile, the university’s main social media accounts—managed by Central MarComm—are promoting sports wins, faculty research, and enrollment growth, but never mentioning the campaign.
Thousands of donors and alumni follow these accounts. But they never see the campaign messaging, missing a key opportunity for engagement.
When these functions operate independently, the institution suffers.
How to Bridge the Gap (and Raise More Money in the Process)
If Advancement and Central MarComm want to truly collaborate, it starts with seeing each other as strategic partners, not service providers. Here are three immediate steps any institution can take:
1. Bring Advancement Into Brand Strategy Conversations Early
Advancement shouldn’t just “apply” the brand to fundraising—it should help shape it.
📌 Action Step: Establish a joint Brand Messaging 'Playbook' that Advancement and MarComm co-develop. This ensures that donor messaging, alumni engagement, and institutional storytelling are working toward the same long-term goals.
2. Create Shared Content Goals & Calendars
One of the simplest but most overlooked solutions: alignment.
📌 Action Step: Develop a shared content calendar where stories are transparently mapped for use across audiences—prospective students, alumni, donors, and corporate partners. One great story should be leveraged across all communication channels, not live in separately managed silos.
3. Build Relationships at the Leadership Level
If the SVP of Advancement and the CMO aren't aligned, their teams won't be either. A strong relationship is critical.
📌 Action Step: Set up quarterly strategic check-ins between these senior leaders—not just their teams—to proactively align around upcoming initiatives, campaigns, and messaging priorities.
The Bottom Line
Institutions that effectively align Central MarComm and Advancement strategies don’t just collaborate better—they raise more money.
If your institution or nonprofit are struggling with misalignment, let’s discuss how to fix it now—not years down the line. Let's connect for a consultation.
That's it for now. See you next Thursday!
Dan
P.S. In case you missed it last week, here's a list of 100 AI-Powered Prompts for advancement and nonprofit professionals that I put together to help you inspire creativity and efficiency.
