Some students and parents in the Jefferson County school district near Denver, Colorado, area are mad. The conservatives on the board have sparked a strong debate in their community, but it's a struggle that is occurring in many other states as well.

Have you ever played or witnessed cage ball games at camp? Summer camps often feature teens playing two or three games a day with giant multi-colored canvases filled with air. To keep the ball airborne takes at least three teens jumping into it, achieving the objective of directing the massive ball into the goal posts to win.

Chick-fil-A founder, S. Truett Cathy died several days ago at the age of 93. He had a powerful influence on so many people, including me and my oldest daughter. A few years ago I had the privilege of taking a small group of high school students to Chick-fil-A HQ in Atlanta to visit Mr. Cathy. He shared about the milestones in his life, about his faith in God even through difficult times, and his leadership secrets. A very gracious gentleman indeed.

Have you ever wished you could see the consequences of your choices before you made them? Of course.

The Network of You is bigger than you think, and LinkedIn provides a cost-effective and time-efficient way to leverage these relationships to engage donors. Even if you only spend ten minutes per day on the site, these four fundraising features of LinkedIn should become a core part of your donor development strategy.

Network Expansion

Use Linked in to connect with parents, donors, community leaders, thought leaders, faculty, and even prospective faculty. Connecting requires sending an invitation to each person based on your current relationship: colleague, classmate, business associate, friend, or other. The "friend" option is the easiest because it doesn't require qualifying the nature of your relationship. LinkedIn provides a template message that should be edited to personalize your brief connection invitation. You might include acknowledgement of the person's achievement(s) and suggest a dialogue in the near future about an opportunity to collaborate.

Once connected, you will receive status updates posted by the person along with having access to their network through direct or indirect introductions. If one of your connections knows an executive in your community with whom you would like to build a relationship, you can request an introduction through LinkedIn and the system makes the process simple. (Hint: An iPad app that will show the scope of your LinkedIn connections and help you connect the dots is ProInsights. I use this app frequently to analyze opportunities and set up meetings.)

Donor Research

With the wealth of background data available through LinkedIn, you should never have a "blind" conversation with a donor. Learn what is important to each donor and his/her sphere of influence by researching what is being posted by or about the person along with the other people and organizations with whom he/she is associated. Learn the language and issues of your donor's world so that you're able to demonstrate genuine interest and preparation. By gaining common language and understanding you position yourself as a professional advisor who can establish shared vision and an investment proposal.

Introductions & Recommendations

Look for ways to connect people in your school community who share common interests. They may be in the same industry, share the same hobbies, or perhaps they attended the same university. You can introduce them through an email that provides a few sentences on each person, or you might set up a time to meet for lunch.

LinkedIn also makes it very easy to write a professional recommendation for people in your network. Such a recommendation can be accepted and displayed on their public profile as a testament to their valuable qualities. Make it a goal to write one introduction and one recommendation each week. This would only take about fifteen minutes and the mutual benefits will be well worth the investment of your time.

Community Engagement

Donor relationships shouldn't be one-sided, where you expect them to invest time to learn about the school but you know nothing about their goals and interests. (This is especially true of your board members) Listen to and engage with people from your community who are active on LinkedIn. Participate in the dialogue on select groups that supports awareness and relevance. You may even be able to start a LinkedIn group for your local community, then invite the real estate agents, business owners, executives, and civic leaders to join.

As Zig Ziglar once said, "You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help enough other people get what they want."

Why should donors invest in your school?

People give because of the connection they feel to you, the school, and the mission. How well do you know your donors? How connected are you to them? Are you helping them expand their network and accomplish their goals? The more information you have the better chance you have to increase the size of a donation and expand your donor base.

Translating the plans you have for this year into a compelling story enables you to attract more people to commit their time and money to achieve it. Your goal is to respond more quickly to changes in the community by thinking more creatively about your school design. Better relationships and greater trust are key for your long-term success.

Forrest Gump's momma said, "Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get." That's true, but it can also be said that, "Life is like a box of dental floss. Your habits predict your future."

Life extending benefits in the box

Stephanie is a precocious two year old. She loves getting into everything she can. Mom certainly knows that when the house is quiet, something is going on. So when Mom comes in to help Stephanie get dressed in the morning, naturally Stephanie’s independent spirit takes over. “No, I do it,” Stephanie protests, yanking her shirt from Mom’s hand. She doesn’t want help. Stephanie is a big girl and can do it all by herself.

Georgia's Board of Education decided to exercise the state's right to determine how the children in its schools will raise money and eat. No "damn Yankee" nor anyone from D.C. is going to keep these Peach State students from participating in the sale of unhealthy foods during the school day. (Dadgumit!)