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Using ‘Storytelling thinking’ for advancement
Journal of Education Advancement & Marketing,
1
(4),
320-328
(2017)
Abstract
This paper provides tools for using storytelling to accomplish advancement goals. It describes an ongoing collaboration between campus-level Advancement and a faculty member who specialises in storytelling, both at the University of Illinois. Our work involves bringing tools from storytelling, which we call storytelling thinking, to help advancement professionals enhance organisational effectiveness. Participants learn how to choose what to tell, how to select what to ask philanthropists and when to listen, and how to mobilise storytelling to make more meaningful and effective connections to serve Advancement goals.
Keywords: storytelling, leadership training, partnership, communication, donors, ethics, philanthropic support
The full article is available to subscribers to the journal.
Author's Biography
Kate Mcdowell has taught graduate-level storytelling seminars to aspiring professionals for the last nine years. She has served as the storytelling consultant to campus-level Advancement at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign for just over two years, and has also conducted storytelling workshops for the College of Business, College of Media and College of Fine and Applied Arts. She is Associate Professor in the School of Information Sciences at the University of Illinois. Her new research project, Storytelling at Work, involves interviews with professionals to understand how storytelling operates practically on a day-to-day basis in workplace environments.
Elizabeth Mcgreal Cook serves as the Executive Director of Talent Management in the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Institutional Advancement at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Her work is focused on attracting, engaging and retaining a best-in-class advancement team. She possesses a successful professional track record in talent management, business development and fundraising. Her career path has led her from Walt Disney World to small business ownership to higher education development. A common theme that emerges from these experiences is a passion for aligning talent with organisational strategy to improve team and individual performance.
