In 2021, LSE publicly launched Shaping the World, an ambitious capital campaign to raise £350m and clock up 100,000 volunteer hours to power social science solutions to some of the world’s most urgent challenges. Under the leadership of Chief Philanthropy and Global Engagement Officer, Ben Plummer-Powell, Shaping the World reached over 80% of target within just three years. Ben approached More Partnership to help answer the question: ‘What next?’

The brief
More Partnership has long supported advancement at LSE, conducting a Campaign Readiness Assessment for Shaping the World, helping to craft its case for support, and providing ongoing counsel to Ben and his senior team.

“We knew we wanted Shaping the World to continue,” explains Ben, “but we needed to take stock and consider just how ambitious we could be. More was a natural fit given their deep understanding of LSE, and I trusted them to give us sound and honest advice.”

In summer 2023, Ian Edwards, Joanna Motion, Adrian Punaks, Laura Phipps and Tim Wells got to work. They drew in the expertise of More’s Rosie Dale, Nik Miller and Adrian Beney; as well as friend of the firm, Bonnie Devlin, from US fundraising consultancy, Washburn & McGoldrick.

A full qualitative and quantitative campaign assessment
In the months that followed, the More team interviewed over 50 internal LSE stakeholders to understand their current experience and future expectations of the campaign. On the interview list was incoming President and Vice Chancellor, Larry Kramer.

“Working closely with Ben and Larry was essential,” explains Ian Edwards. “New leadership can bring renewed energy and focus to a recalibrated campaign, but it can also be disruptive. Larry had a wealth of philanthropic experience from across the Atlantic and his ideas and ambitions were critical to informing our thinking around the next steps for the campaign, including a new narrative for Shaping the World.”

The More team analysed over a million fundraising data points from LSE, and national and international campaign benchmarks to build a complete picture of LSE’s philanthropic growth to date, and potential in the future. The analysis identified the areas of most rapid growth within LSE’s philanthropic portfolio, and areas of untapped potential for a campaign extension.

External donor interviews
The second phase of the study saw the team interview more than 30 of LSE’s high-value donors, alumni leaders and influential stakeholders, as well as surveying mid-value donors to Shaping the World. Donors were asked to consider a proposed narrative around campaign extension, created by More and LSE using the digital platform, Shorthand.

“Our experience from thousands of interviews is that donors are very candid about the motivations behind their giving to a particular institution, and their expectations from such a giving relationship,” explains Adrian Punaks. “LSE’s donors provided valuable insight into the campaign story and propositions, the stewardship they expected, and what – if anything – could take their giving to a new level.”

The findings were pulled together into a report, including RAG (Red-Amber-Green)-rated conclusions across 14 themed areas including narrative, propositions, systems and processes, leadership, volunteers and structure. This was followed by a series of detailed recommendations that included an extended campaign target and the actions required to reach it. The recommendations were presented to Ben, Larry, LSE’s leadership team and Council (Board of Trustees) in late spring of 2024.

The impact of our work
Ben said: “More’s report gave us a set of actionable recommendations that spanned everything from team structure, to narrative, to optimising different income streams. The recommendations were tailored to LSE and how we work, and we were left feeling confident about the way forward.”

In September 2024, LSE announced an extension of Shaping the World. The campaign goals were raised to £750m and 300,000 volunteering hours to support renewed ambitions in areas of global importance such as democracy, political economy, sustainability, inequality and new technologies.

Working with More
“Since I joined LSE in 2018, we have had to make tough decisions, to prioritise, to set strategic direction, whilst delivering and taking everyone on that journey, internally and externally,” explains Ben. “More has been with us throughout this period and absolutely integral to our success. With new institutional leadership, More has shown us how to take things to the next level, to raise our sights and demonstrate how this can be achieved, step by step.”

“To open the door for consultants to go and speak with, engage and inspire your most valued alumni, friends and partners requires immense trust and partnership. It worked beautifully for us at LSE. More has an incredible group of individuals who are a joy to work with – they not only offer reassurance, but they challenge, like a critical friend, and make the journey a joyful process.”

To find out more about the bespoke support we could provide your organisation, contact us on info@morepartnership.com or 01382 224730.