Expert advice series
We’re excited to introduce a new opportunity designed to support your work in deeper and more strategic ways.
Beginning in April, we will host quarterly Zoom conversations with experienced consultants, creating space for grantees to engage directly with experts, ask questions, and explore the complex challenges emerging in their work.
To help you get started, each consultant has recorded a short (20-minute) conversation offering practical insights, early steps, and key considerations. These videos are intended to help you prepare for deeper engagement and make the most of the upcoming Zoom sessions. We encourage you to watch the videos in advance, then join our drop-in conversations to bring your questions, reflect on your own context, and engage directly with the consultants.
These sessions are not presentations but interactive, conversation-based meetings grounded in real-time needs and experiences. Together, we will create space to think more deeply, share perspectives, and learn alongside one another.
Topics include:
- Strengthening development efforts to support shared endowments – led by The Focus Group. Register here for the April 20 conversation.
- Supporting long-term strategy and sustainability – led by Windermere Consulting. Register here for the April 23 conversation.
- Approaching assessment and evaluation in meaningful, practical ways – led by Outsight Network. Register here for the April 28 conversation.
- Navigating adaptive change and leadership – led by AE Sloan Leadership. Register here for the April 28 conversation.
- Managing complex partnerships and collaborations – led by rpk GROUP. Register heref or the April 30 conversation.
These conversations are an invitation to engage the more nuanced questions shaping your work, offering time to reflect, strategize, and gain insight from both consultants and peers.
We hope you’ll join us for these upcoming sessions and take advantage of this opportunity to connect, learn, and grow together. If you have any questions in advance of these conversations, please contact Annie Glanden at amglanden@intrust.org.
Fundraising for Shared Endowments
Drop-in: April 20, 2-3 p.m. ET
Register here.
In this conversation, Brad Layland, CEO, and John Ranheim, Chief Consulting Officer and Senior Consultant of The Focus Group, share practical guidance to help you launch your fundraising efforts with confidence and build a strong foundation for long-term sustainability. They discuss common early-stage fundraising mistakes and how to avoid them, explore strategies for building endowment and governance structures that inspire long-term confidence, and offer insights on cultivating relationships that are essential to a successful first year.
Strategy and Sustainability
Drop-in: April 23, 3-4 p.m. ET
Register here.
In this conversation, we speak with Dr. David Rowe, President of Windermere Consulting, who shares practical guidance on building a strong strategic and relational foundation for long-term sustainability. He explores how schools can start well and position themselves for lasting impact, covering common early-stage mistakes to avoid, strategies for creating governance structures that support clarity and strategic decision-making, and ways to cultivate trust and relationships that will sustain collaboration over time.
Assessment and Evaluation
Drop-in: April 28, 2-3 p.m. ET
Register here.
In this conversation, Kay Edwards, President, and Mary Reinders, Senior Research Partner, of Outsight Network, share guidance on designing thoughtful assessment and evaluation strategies for your projects. They discuss why evaluation is so important and explore how leaders can determine whether to bring in outside expertise or handle the work internally, offering practical insights to help grantees strengthen their project planning and impact.
Partnerships & Collaborations
Drop-in: April 30, 1-2 p.m. ET
Register here.
In this conversation, Rick Staisloff, Senior Partner at rpk GROUP, shares practical guidance to help institutions build and sustain strong partnerships in support of collaboration-focused projects. He explores what it takes to get partnerships off to a strong start in the first year, highlights common challenges and missteps institutions encounter, and offers best practices for addressing them. Rick also provides insights on sustaining partnerships over time.
Adaptive Change and Leadership
Drop-in: April 28, 11:00 am – 12:00 pm ET
Register here.
In this conversation, Dr. Tod Bolsinger, co-owner and principal, AE Sloan Leadership, explores adaptive leadership in collaboration and how institutions can navigate the internal change needed for long-term success. He reflects on where leadership often falls short in the early stages of collaborative initiatives, shares key leadership shifts drawn from experience, and offers practical insights on building internal capacity to adapt in the first year. Tod also highlights the role of institutional culture and what leaders should pay close attention to as they guide adaptive change.
