#168 | Is pivoting really what fundraising professionals need to be doing right now?

Karlene Jennings has served as Executive Director of Development at UNC, Greensboro University Libraries since July 2016. Karlene is a passionate advocate for the life-changing impact of education and libraries and finds much joy in creating partnerships with her donors. Karlene has co-authored two books about library fundraising and has taught graduate courses for UNC, Greensboro, the University of Tennessee, and the College of William & Mary.

As a dancer, Karlene described the pivot as a turn on an axis without going anywhere. The term has long been a buzzword for startups however it seems to have taken on new meaning recently. It occurs to me that pivoting is just one of a number of skills that we expect of talented dancers. When it comes to fundraising, perhaps rather than allowing recent upsets in the economy to persuade us to move in another direction, we just need to be certain that they know how to dance in the first place. 

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