Let’s Meet a Chapter Member …

Each eNews, we introduce you to one of our wonderful Chapter Members, through a question and answer type interview article.

Therefore, in the hot seat this edition is David Wybourne, Chair of St Peter’s School Cambridge Alumni Association and Interim Head of Advancement. David is filling in while a permanent Head of Advancement is recruited. 

How long have you been working in Educational Advancement? 

Only 10 months in education Advancement but in Advancement activity, particularly Fundraising either commercially, or for charities, for 20 years. Since returning from the UK in 2022, I became involved in the school Alumni Association where, with the help of a fantastic committee, I was able to evolve our whole operation. Off the back of that, I was asked by the school to design and implement a strategic framework for an Advancement office at St Peter’s.   

What is the achievement you were most proud of? 

Without a doubt, the success so far of the Alumni Evolution Plan, which was implemented in 2023. The plan was developed by myself, our committee and the school Alumni Engagement Manager. Implemented in 2023, it set out five key target activities for our association that are all around building our community. The most important being getting our members together. We have smashed every performance metric we could. Our database of contactable Alumni has more than doubled. We used to hold one or two events a year. This year we will have held ten. Where once we measured annual attendance of events in the dozens, we now measure in the hundreds. Our social media following has gone through the roof and the engagement between Alumni and school has never been better.  

What is the greatest moment of learning in your career so far? 

My career in education Advancement has been brief. Working in the school, albeit as a contractor, has really opened my eyes to how they operate and who/what makes them tick. For me the greatest moment has been understanding and appreciating the hard work and dedication of the amazing staff at our school. They have their feet on the ground and understand the students, the parents and therefore by default the Alumni probably better than anyone. If you want to understand your school community then you can’t go far wrong by engaging with them.  

What is the most impactful book you’ve read or podcast you’ve listened to? 

I have many but I’d have to put Our Iceberg Is Melting by John Kotter as one of the best. It’s all about change management and I would say that change is an important part of what is required in the New Zealand Advancement space. My contract for St Peter’s involved me researching schools all over the world and speaking to lots of Advancement professionals, many of whom raise substantial figures for their schools each year, some in the millions. There was nothing I learnt that couldn’t be done here in New Zealand but there are areas that our organisations will need to change to do so. This book helps understand those areas and combined with knowledge from teachings like Maxwell’s The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, there is a great basis for a plan.  

What are three tips or words of advice you have for new members and/or those new to Advancement? 

• Take time to understand the different stakeholder groups – Alumni, parents, grandparents, governors, the school foundation (if there is one), staff and the senior leadership team of the school. 
• Build them into a community. That means creating opportunities for them to get together, giving them something to believe in, understanding what is important to them and harnessing their collective resource. 
• Create a culture of giving. Whether it’s time, skills or knowledge, the sooner your community get used to giving and receiving, the easier it will become to do bigger things.  

What do you do in your spare time? 

Swimming is great. It’s my yoga. I try and do a few events a year which gives me a focus to train for. In July, I swam 50km over the month to raise funds for New Zealand Coastguard. The next event will be a 4.2km Lake Taupo swim. I’ll need to train for three months to post a decent time. Swimming takes my mind of everything and keeps me fit.  

My favourite thing at the moment is gardening. New Zealand is great for growing things and the Waikato is even better. I have no idea what I’m doing yet but it’s so cool to plant something and then harvest for the table weeks or months later.  Outside of that, I love spending time with my family. I worked long hours in the UK and commuted sometimes up to four hours a day. Being in New Zealand has given me so much time with them, and for that, I’m really grateful.  

Thank you David – it’s been wonderful getting to know you!