About Advancement Digest

Advancement Digest is a weekly email for people working in advancement, written by Haider Ali.

I've spent 20+ years in advancement, leading teams at institutions like McGill and uOttawa, working in the education technology, and in consulting. Somewhere along the way, I noticed the same gaps kept showing up: we train people to do their job - fundraising, operations, research, alumni relations - and then we promote the best of them into management. And with almost no preparation for the part of the job that's actually about people, topics like talent management, people strategy, organizational culture, how teams really function day to day, are left untouched.

This newsletter is my attempt to write about - and address - that gap honestly. Every issue is three short pieces, focusing on talent, culture, and community, meant to take about three minutes and actually be worth reading, not another thing competing for your attention.

If you're managing an advancement team, in the "messy middle" between strategy and staff, this is for you.

Subscribe to get it every week. Past issues are available to subscribers in the archive.

I'm always open for chatting as well, so if you'd like to discuss a topic or working together, you can reach me at: haider.ali@makeresonate.ca