What Can Obi-Wan Kenobi Teach You About Major Gifts Fundraising?
In this episode of The Beacon Podcast, Lighthouse Counsel Senior Consultant Harry Chapman talks with Dr. Russell James, professor in the School of Financial Planning at Texas Tech University, about making the ask.
In their discussion, Russell addresses:
- What Obi-Wan, Gandalf and Morpheus can teach us about major gifts.
- The specific process to epic storytelling that puts the donor front and center as the hero.
- The three-sentence roadmap that lets you know when you’re ready to make the right ask at the right time for the right thing.
ABOUT OUR GUEST
Dr. Russell James is a professor in the School of Financial Planning at Texas Tech University where he directs the on-campus and online graduate program in Charitable Financial Planning (planned giving).
He graduated, cum laude, from the University of Missouri School of Law where he was a member of the Missouri Law Review and received the United Missouri Bank Award for Most Outstanding Work in Gift and Estate Taxation and Planning.
He also holds a Ph.D. in consumer economics from the University of Missouri, where his dissertation was on charitable giving.
Prior to his career as an academic researcher, Russell worked as the director of planned giving for Central Christian College in Moberly, Missouri, for six years and later served as president of the college for more than five years, where he had direct and supervisory responsibility for all fundraising. During his presidency the college successfully completed two major capital campaigns, built several new debt-free buildings and more than tripled enrollment.
Russell has published research in over 75 peer-reviewed scientific journals and law review articles and has been quoted on charitable and financial issues in a variety of news sources including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, CNN, MSNBC, CNBC, ABC News, U.S. News & World Report, USA Today, The Associated Press, The Economist, Bloomberg News and The Chronicle of Philanthropy. His financial neuroimaging research was profiled in The Wall Street Journal’s Smart Money Magazine. He is a member of the Hall of Fame of the National Association of Charitable Gift Planners
