Interview with Christopher Clinton Conway, CEO, Dr. Susan Love Foundation
Donor insights and relationships, and working at the speed of sound with Christopher Clinton Conway.
Our Cairney Conversations to date have focussed on strategic and operational responses to COVID-19, and how they engage with alumni and donors. In our talk with Christopher Clinton Conway, we discuss what he’s learnt from working alongside history-makers, how he’s taken philanthropy from a personal and family ethos to a central principle in his role as CEO and consultant, and what the post-pandemic world will expect from philanthropy and giving.
Christopher, you launched your career assisting a former U.S. President to cement his charitable legacy and win a Nobel Prize, then went on to lead the itinerant and struggling Joffrey Ballet into a new Chicago facility and fiscal solvency. What inspired you to pursue a career in philanthropy?
I was raised in a home which placed great importance on religion and supporting faith-based institutions. My family believes that giving someone the opportunity to contribute is a blessing and I have always carried that with me. So often donors feel honoured and privileged to support something that they believe in, and they want to see the mission go further. But then I took a very different direction and was the first person to ask the Art Institute of Chicago if they would take an intern in fundraising. They had 12 long established internships in art and marketing and administration, but no-one had ever asked to be in fundraising. So, at 16, I was taking the train downtown every day to be their fundraising intern! From there it went on to a really high level because the pedigree of the institutions you work for really matters. Having the Art Institute of Chicago on my resume, it opened doors to the next opportunity.
You are the CEO of the Dr Susan Love Foundation for Breast Cancer Research. You once said that you and Dr Love share a special kinship based partly on being shaped by adversity and a passion for helping those who are struggling. Can you describe that kinship and how important that ethos is in attracting donors?
Someone said to me years ago, that I am the most consistent person they have ever met and I liked that. Susan and I are both open to change whilst being consistent to our core values. We both believe in many causes beyond Breast Cancer. My mother often comments that “I love too deeply”. I connect with people in a very authentic way, which can be a lot of work managing so many deep relationships.
You have also built a successful philanthropic practice, Philanthropic Counsel working with founding philanthropists and family foundations. In your view what drives philanthropists giving and what are they looking for from the organisations they support?
I was drawn to the West Coast because of the meritocracy that’s here. All the way down the West Coast from Seattle to San Diego, people who give want to be involved in philanthropy. There is a lack of dynastic families that control philanthropy as is often found in the UK. And similarly, in many East Coast cities, it’s much more an obligation based on your social position, and there’s not always the same connection to the mission. It’s true that having philanthropists too involved can be distracting but most West Coast pioneers have built their fortunes themselves, or are at most the second generation. They understand how to create value, how to grow something, and how to lead.
As fundraising professionals, we understand more about how Millennials approach their giving, but it’s still a work in progress. What’s your experience working with younger generations of givers, and are you seeing shifts in their thinking or approach?
One thing I have seen recently, especially in Los Angeles, is a lot of programmes masquerading as organisations. A celebrity or a high-net worth individual decides they want to create a charity because they see a problem and want to answer it. Their motives are usually pure, but they set something in motion without really thinking through what that means. However, what I am seeing with the pandemic, is that this has radically slowed down. People are much more conscientious about identifying the existing philanthropic and non-profit players in the community and helping to leverage their resources.
There is a perception that women are perhaps not as philanthropic as men, although we know differently. However, your work with major donors and mid-level supporters across health and cultural non-profits has evidenced that women are particularly generous when the need is local and visible. How can fundraisers continue to challenge perceptions in this area? How should they engage with female donors?
The reality is that women will end up with the overwhelming majority of wealth and more than 90% of philanthropic decisions will be made by women. So smart fundraisers are calling female donors specifically. Not just lumping genders together and not being overly broad with their approach. Many times the estate plan has been set while the husband or partner was still alive and the wife will defer to what was drawn up. Men usually drive the estate plan, so recognising those two things and having the philanthropic conversation as part of the planning and not as an afterthought is key. It’s always been said in the US that by 75, an estate plan is set and there’s no reason to even have a conversation. This isn’t the case anymore. People now often revisit their plans because they’ve realised it’s quicker, simpler and cheaper than they presumed. We can’t just let them say ‘oh well whatever the residuary is, we’ll send that to our University or favourite charity’.
Many organisations, from education to arts to health, made bold moves in their approach to how they pivoted during 2020. Many leveraged their digital presence and virtual resources. In your role as CEO of Dr Susan Love Foundation, what bold moves did you take this year to ensure that donations were maintained, or increased?
The Dr Susan Love Foundation was one of the first organisations to pivot their flagship fundraising event. We launched a new virtual walk in 23 states and seven countries. It set a record, I think because at the beginning of the pandemic virtual events were still a novelty, and we were offering it far and wide. People were really excited to get out of the house for something they believed in. We went to a community of breast cancer influencers across the world to build our digital profile. Some of them were paid relationships, others were voluntary but our numbers have gone up exponentially. But we’re already seeing fatigue around supporting these events because they are all starting to look alike. One of my advisees runs a celebrity management company here in Los Angeles and celebrities have found a way to charge for taking part. There’s always been remuneration for travel and expenses, but even doing it virtually from their living room, they are now finding ways to charge.
One of the things we are often asked is that people have been making very good use of Zoom to be able to engage with their current donors, partners, and those that they are already close to, but have you seen, either yourself or others using it as a tool for cultivation with a relationship that’s a bit colder – have you seen anyone who is using it a bit more creatively?
Actually, I’m seeing a lot more people use the telephone. It feels very old school! People are actually answering their phone and are willing to have a conversation because their schedule is less pressed. I have had lots of conversations with some of our older donors, or donors who couldn’t be with the family at the holidays because of the virus. The calls are a little more focused on stewardship, and even if I’m cultivating donors, it’s about ‘how you are doing, what are you experiencing, how can I be helpful, how can the Foundation be helpful?’
The global pandemic created financial nervousness which in turn is known to affect philanthropy. However, this is something that you experienced during the 2008 financial crisis. What impact does such economic instability create, and what advice would you give to fundraisers going through this?
I have noticed some charities not directly addressing the impact of the pandemic, either on themselves or their mission, and I think that is a missed opportunity. There’s a story in addressing how you’ve been affected, for example, how your staffing levels may have changed if you are a foodbank. Both the Susan Love Foundation and the Guthy-Jackson Foundation are investing millions of dollars in medical research, and we know research into one disease can accelerate a cure or a therapy in another disease. A lot of what is being used now in breast cancer came from investment in immunology, for example, so it’s important to talk about these connections and keep the funding flowing.
We talk to our clients a lot about how in America, you build a culture of philanthropy that goes beyond raising money and beyond the Development department. In the UK, we still witness people cringing at the idea of fundraising, but it can be integral to the success of an organisation. How do you create the culture of fundraising professionalism and an accepted objective for everyone to understand and participate in?
It’s really all about gratitude. People in the UK, France, Australia and even in Canada think I am going to ask them to identify the wealthy people and ask them for money. The fundraisers aren’t phased so much, but certainly the Professors and Clinicians become twitchy. But it has to start with gratitude; a grateful patient, a grateful alumnus, a grateful subscriber to the ballet. Just bring me people who appreciate and are thankful for the organisation and I’ll take it from there. I have found so much joy in my career because I work with people who care and support the cause. They want you to succeed. Of course, they may have feedback but it's because they care. Many of these ideas that came full circle started as faith-based initiatives and that often gets lost in non-religious charities. But for me, there is something that is very hopeful about that. It’s very restorative to my soul.
You are quoted as saying that you are drawn to visionary, often volatile personalities who establish, lead, and inspire. Can you describe some of these experiences and what drew you to these individuals?
Let me tell you about two individuals, both now deceased. Andrea Rich started her career in television, creating iconic US shows in the 1970s, including All in the Family and The Jeffersons. She then went into academia, as the Executive Vice Chancellor of UCLA, then the President and Director of Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Andrea was motivated by what she believed was the right thing to do. She did not have a museum background, which was unheard of for a very large encyclopaedic museum. For her, it was about processes, hiring the best people, efficiency, the visitor experience and, ultimately, fundraising. She did things like taking the uniforms and guns away from the security guards and putting them in Bermuda shorts. She opened the museum on every Federal holiday, when before they’d always been closed. She experienced extraordinary push-back from staff but I was drawn to Andrea’s creativity, her energy, her boldness, and unflappability. The other individual is Gerald Arpino, one of the Founders of the Joffrey Ballet. He was 82 when I started working with him, and my role was stabilising the company and finding new leadership. He was the quintessential impresario, the showman, always in a tuxedo and a ruthless snob. He would dismiss people out of hand for having a lack of dance and art knowledge. I was very much the buffer in those situations, not repairing relationships but guiding conversations and thinking through interactions before they happen. I take great joy out of that, the kind of psychological, sociological aspects of fundraising, of which there are so many!
A lot of budgets in the UK academic and Higher Education sector have been frozen and there is uncertainty about students coming back to campus, especially the very important international students. If you were a Director of Development or Executive Director pitching your case to the President of the University as to why fundraising was important, what’s the top two things that you would say as to why they need to invest in fundraising?
Fundraising is only increasing right now. It’s not like you are chasing diminishing returns, because our economy for the top 10% has dramatically improved. Continuing to pursue those resources just makes sense. Right now there is a fear among a lot of development professionals to leave their current jobs but I think once things settle a bit with the vaccine being widely used, we are going to see a lot of people moving. Organisations are going to have to provide better packages than before the pandemic, especially organisations that made cuts during the pandemic. Already, institutions are beginning to replenish reserves but not restore the cuts they made to staff. They have to be careful because their people will remember that, and when they get an opportunity, they will leave.
We all hope that in 2021 with the vaccine being rolled out that hopefully the world will return to some new, positive sense of normality. So what’s next for Christopher Clinton Conway and the Dr. Susan Love Foundation, what’s the next step in the journey?
It’s a very exciting time. Dr Love has invested a huge amount of time and financial resources in mapping the ducts of the human breast, a world first. All breast cancer begins in the ducts, and the idea of no-one knowing their structure has always been maddening for her. Over the past five years we have been working with the National Institutes of Health and a for-profit company called QT Ultrasound. We’ve come to market with a device that uses the speed of sound to map human breast ducts and hopefully we’ll be able to go into human studies soon in 2021. We’re looking for ground-breaking information about using ducts to deliver treatment precisely to the affected area, so we won’t have to cut large segments of a breast out without knowing where the cancer is. I’m incredibly hopeful for its success.
Amazing! You have obviously had an incredible journey from early on and philanthropy is part of your DNA - how do you plan to continue that beyond the Foundation and the other work that you are doing?
I anticipate a dramatic increase in giving. A lot of the families I work with are looking forward to getting beyond the pandemic and helping to rebuild institutions. We are already seeing it in the US, and I think 2021, 2022 and 2023 will see some extraordinary billion-dollar gifts to institutions. There’s the opportunity for transformational work to happen, which may be an overused word in philanthropic circles, but I see it happening and it’s very exciting.
I feel the suffering and loss that is happening right now, but there are some positive aspects. There were some organisations whose time had come to merge or end their work, and I think we are going to come out of this with literally tens if not hundreds of thousands fewer non-profits. Warren Buffet says when the tide goes out you see who’s not wearing a bathing suit. Right now, there are a lot of organisations not wearing bathing suits! Those who survive are the fittest, and more likely to attract new major support.