SUCCESS STORY
The Hun School of Princeton
Premier independent boarding and day school renews its commitment to excellence and makes a long-lasting impact on fundraising.
The Situation
The Hun School of Princeton is a recognized leader in empowering the students of today to thrive in a diverse and ever-changing world. But in its 113-year history, a culture of philanthropy had been developed only within the past 15 years. In a region of competing independent schools, plus an Ivy League University, school leadership recognized the need to step up its fundraising and engagement.
The Solution
As a strategic partner in The Hun School’s next chapter, we encouraged leadership to be bold in goal setting, while not focusing on comparisons between themselves and their regional counterparts.
With Hun’s longtime development director headed toward retirement, we guided the transition, including supporting his needs, goals, and timeline. As the retiring advancement leader rounded out his tenure, capping off engagements and relationships, making final asks, and smoothing the donor-relationship handover to the incoming team, we helped introduce new fundraising leadership. This prevented disruptions among internal and external constituents, ensuring that Hun staff could flourish in their roles and meet the needs of donors.
The Success
A seamless transition to the new advancement professional meant that relationships with key leaders and donors were established early, and development staff felt empowered to do their best work. The Hun School team went on to a record-breaking first year. During a year disrupted by a pandemic, Graham-Pelton is now coaching The Hun School to be flexible in meeting the needs of their constituents and their evolving philanthropic desires.
