Episode Details

In this episode, Tom sits down with David Chambliss, Associate Dean for Development and Executive Director for Strategic Initiatives at Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College of Education and Human Development, to talk about what it really takes to build and run a modern higher ed campaign at scale.

David shares what life and work look like at Vanderbilt in Nashville, including how he uses campus life and events as part of a thoughtful engagement strategy with prospects and donors.

From there, the conversation dives into the engine behind Vanderbilt’s “Dare to Grow” campaign and what fundraisers can learn from it:

• What it actually means to serve as the chief development officer for a college inside a major university campaign
• How Vanderbilt structured its $3.2 billion “Dare to Grow” campaign and why they believe they can surpass that goal
• The benchmarking process they used, comparing staff size, portfolio load, and revenue with peer institutions
• Why leadership committed to hiring roughly 35 new frontline fundraisers and 70 support staff in only three years
• How investing in stewardship, operations, and talent management builds the capacity to raise more, not just work harder

David also traces the career path that prepared him to think at campaign scale:

• Growing up in Fairborn, Ohio as a proud first-generation college student
• Discovering development work through the senior class gift program at Bowling Green State University
• Learning advancement from the inside at Clemson through an assistantship and internship in student affairs development
• Moving from annual giving at Ohio Dominican into true major gift work at Ohio Wesleyan
• Deepening his experience at The Ohio State University, including corporate and foundation relationships in engineering
• Taking the leap to Vanderbilt in 2019 and navigating campaign work through a global pandemic

Throughout the discussion, David is candid about rejection, risk, and the mindset shift required to think in campaign terms: staffing to the goal, using data to justify investment, and building portfolios that actually match institutional ambition.

Whether you are planning your first serious campaign or trying to scale an existing one, this episode gives you a practical look at how a major university is restructuring its development shop to raise significantly more over the next decade.

Looking for fundraising coaching?  Check out www.abundantvision.net