Clarifying Advancement: From Discovery to Direction

Rethinking advancement as an ecosystem, not a task list

In this article, our consultant Catalina Gardescu reflects on how schools can rethink advancement by moving beyond a list of operational tasks toward a more strategic understanding of relationships and stakeholders. Drawing on her experience in international education, she explores why discovery and stakeholder awareness are essential starting points for building a coherent advancement strategy.

In many schools, marketing, admissions, communications, and fundraising live under one role (or a very small team). This concentration is understandable - budgets are limited. It is also quite risky. When time is scarce (and when is it not?), these functions tend to collapse into an almost permanent state of operations: emails answered, posts published, applications processed, events delivered. Strategy becomes something we promise ourselves we’ll return to “once things calm down.” As if they ever do.

Like much of the work we do in education, advancement is also an area where strategy should come first, with operations flowing from it - not the other way around. Yet the reality on the ground often looks different.

When someone new steps into such a role, this becomes an even more acute problem. With no clear map, no protected time for thinking, and a constant stream of urgent demands, the most reasonable response is to jump straight into the rapids. The work is ongoing, visible, and necessary. And so the cycle of reaction continues, quietly shaping the school’s trajectory without much of a compass: when we the destination is unclear, any road will get us there, right?

If there is a place to begin breaking this cycle, it is in discovery, more specifically the discovery of all of those who are connected to our schools in any way, who “have a stake” in our school’s existence - our stakeholders.

Stakeholder management is rarely written into job descriptions or titles. And yet, it is (or it should be) foundational, at the heart of any effective advancement strategy.  Alongside clarity of vision, mission, and brand, deep knowledge of stakeholders provides direction for marketing actions, enables quicker and more appropriate communication in moments of crisis, and creates far stronger conditions for strategic enrollment management.

Most advancement leaders know who the “obvious” stakeholder groups are: current and prospective families, students, staff, alumni, donors, and partners. These are expected, visible, and frequently discussed. But there are other stakeholders who often remain on the sidelines. And this is where blind spots quietly begin to form.

If you are responsible for admissions, marketing, communications, or fundraising, it is worth pausing to ask yourself a few questions:

• How well do you know—and how often do you engage with—relocation companies that bring families to your school?

• Which accrediting bodies or local authorities have real influence over your work, and how proactively do you interact with them?

• Do you know which companies pay fees for your students? What sectors do they operate in? Are there patterns worth understanding about those sectors?

• Are there educational “feeders” within your local or international ecosystem that you could be in closer relationship with?

These questions are not about adding more to an already full plate. They are about seeing the plate differently.

The more we understand a school as an ecosystem and the advancement function as a two-way street, the more coherence becomes possible. Advancement is not only about supporting the school’s reputation from the inside out. It is also about bringing insight, relationships, trust, and what we might call friend-raising capital back into the organisation. When this exchange is intentional, the other functions begin to fall into place - not because there is more time, but because there is more clarity.

At Sage, we work with schools to step out of constant reaction mode and into purposeful discovery. Through stakeholder audits and guided engagement strategies, we help schools understand who matters, why they matter, and how to build relationships that genuinely support their vision. If this feels like the conversation you haven’t quite had time to start, we invite you to reach out. Sometimes the most strategic move is simply deciding where - and with whom - to begin.

This article reflects the author’s professional reflections and lived experience in international education and was edited with the support of AI.