Napa Review archives

Fundraisers As Facilitators

By Guy R. Hart, Managing Partner, Plus Delta Partners
June 2007 - Download PDF
The increasing number of billion-dollar university fundraising campaigns and a growing reliance on philanthropy in higher education revenue streams are causing a significant sea change for development offices. Together these trends create a situation we call “competitive fundraising.” Read more (.pdf)...


Balancing Mission and Market
in Higher Education in the 21st Century

By RJ Valentino, President, The Napa Group
January 2007 - Download PDF
Princeton’s decision not to raise tuition for the first time in four decades is an in-your-face example of the growing winner-take-all positioning in higher education. Colleges and universities like Princeton with top-of-mind prestige and mega-endowments inevitably win bright faculty and talented students. They can afford to dip into their billion-dollar-plus endowments to do something radical, such as holding the line on tuition decreases, thus making decisions that will impact the rest of the higher education marketplace. Read more (.pdf)...

Leveraging the Power of Philanthropy

By RJ Valentino, President, The Napa Group
August 2006 - Download PDF
What would Al Gore do with $60 billion?

Thinking about Al Gore’s campaign against global warming brought me to Bill Gates, Warren Buffet and the people who are making a difference through their extraordinary wealth. Buffet’s $31 billion gift to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation brings the foundation’s total to $60 billion. If the Gates Foundation were a country, notes the Chronicle of Philanthropy, its assets would equal the 55th largest economy in the world and a larger gross domestic product than oil-rich Kuwait. Read more (.pdf)...

Fundraising's Lessons for Solution Sales

By RJ Valentino, President, The Napa Group
May 2005 - Download PDF
Recently, while preparing for an assignment with a sales and marketing division in a publicly traded company, I was struck by the notion that the solution sales objectives for this company were not much different than the donor relationship objectives in philanthropy, especially university advancement. Although disdained to be compared to sales organizations, the sophistication that abounds in university fund-raising today certainly has merit for their for-profit neighbors. Several important lessons for business solution sales immediately come to mind. Read more (.pdf)...