The Right Story. The Right Donor. The Right Moment.
The Right Story. The Right Donor. The Right Moment.
Your team is producing content. But how much of it gives your gift officers a reason to pick up the phone? We help professional schools build content systems that move $1M+ gifts.
Your team is producing content. But how much of it gives your gift officers a reason to pick up the phone? We help professional schools build content systems that move $1M+ gifts.
THE BOTTLENECK
THE BOTTLENECK
Your Content Isn't Helping Your Fundraising
Your Content Isn't Helping Your Fundraising
You're halfway through the fiscal year. The goal is $12M. The pipeline says $2M.
You're halfway through the fiscal year. The goal is $12M. The pipeline says $2M.
Your team is working hard. Newsletters going out. Research news. Faculty awards. Enrollment wins. Good stuff. But here's the thing: Your top donors get the same email as everyone else. There's no story about the research they're passionate about. No update on the program they've been watching. No reason to hit reply.
Your team is working hard. Newsletters going out. Research news. Faculty awards. Enrollment wins. Good stuff. But here's the thing: Your top donors get the same email as everyone else. There's no story about the research they're passionate about. No update on the program they've been watching. No reason to hit reply.
But when you're approaching donor-investors with $30M+ opportunities in breakthrough medical research, you need more than relationship excellence. You need specialized AMC expertise to identify real competitive differentiators. You need dedicated storyfinding time to build belief in the researcher as a person. And you need investment verification frameworks to structure materials like the memos your donor-investors are used to evaluating.
They're not ignoring you. You're just not giving them anything to respond to. That's not a content problem. That's an alignment problem.
They're not ignoring you. You're just not giving them anything to respond to. That's not a content problem. That's an alignment problem.
Who This is For
Who This is For
University VPs of Advancement
You see the whole portfolio. Some schools hit their numbers. Some don't. When marketing and development are running parallel instead of together, you can tell. You need someone who can go in, build the system, and leave it working.
You're preparing for a $30M+ ask targeting donor-investors—former CEOs, tech founders, or PE partners. Your team excels at relationship-building but is stretched across 40+ campaigns. These donors evaluate opportunities like investments. You need materials built for that scrutiny: competitive analysis, verified outcomes, and a defensible edge.
University VPs of Advancement
You see the whole portfolio. Some schools hit their numbers. Some don't. When marketing and development are running parallel instead of together, you can tell. You need someone who can go in, build the system, and leave it working.
Deans of Professional Schools
You're watching the scoreboard. Against last year. Against peer schools. Against other colleges in your own university. Your team is working hard — but effort isn't the problem. You need a system that turns that effort into results.
Deans of Professional Schools
You're watching the scoreboard. Against last year. Against peer schools. Against other colleges in your own university. Your team is working hard — but effort isn't the problem. You need a system that turns that effort into results.
Assistant Deans of Advancement
You own the number. Your gift officers are good. But right now they're calling donors with nothing to share — or sharing the same newsletter everyone gets. What if donors saw a story about the exact thing they care about, and called you? That's the system we build.
Assistant Deans of Advancement
You own the number. Your gift officers are good. But right now they're calling donors with nothing to share — or sharing the same newsletter everyone gets. What if donors saw a story about the exact thing they care about, and called you? That's the system we build.
If your content is busy but not moving your pipeline, let's talk.
OUR APPROACH
Build the System. Run the System. Trust the System.
From Complexity to Capital: A Proven Path
01
Diagnosis and Strategy
We start by understanding who you're trying to reach and what they care about. We interview your Dean, your development leads, your communications team. We map your top 25 prospects to their interests. We audit your current content. We find the gaps between what you're making and what your donors need to hear.
Diagnosis and Strategy
We start by understanding who you're trying to reach and what they care about. We interview your Dean, your development leads, your communications team. We map your top 25 prospects to their interests. We audit your current content. We find the gaps between what you're making and what your donors need to hear.
Content System
We build the editorial engine. A 12-month calendar mapped to donor interests and cultivation cycles. Story playbooks your team can repeat. Clear formats — Hero stories, Cross-connection pieces, Quick Hits. Not more content. The right content, planned in advance, with a purpose.
Content System
We build the editorial engine. A 12-month calendar mapped to donor interests and cultivation cycles. Story playbooks your team can repeat. Clear formats — Hero stories, Cross-connection pieces, Quick Hits. Not more content. The right content, planned in advance, with a purpose.
02
03
Production
We don't just hand you a plan. We produce 5-8 real assets with your team — so they learn by doing. Hero stories. Donor-facing pieces. Content that goes in folders before meetings. Your team watches, then leads, then owns it.
Production
We don't just hand you a plan. We produce 5-8 real assets with your team — so they learn by doing. Hero stories. Donor-facing pieces. Content that goes in folders before meetings. Your team watches, then leads, then owns it.
Integration & Handoff
We connect marketing and development with a simple agreement: who tells who what, when. Gift officers get notified before relevant content drops. Marketing gets donor intelligence. We train your team to run the system. Then we leave.
Integration & Handoff
We connect marketing and development with a simple agreement: who tells who what, when. Gift officers get notified before relevant content drops. Marketing gets donor intelligence. We train your team to run the system. Then we leave.
04
THE DELIVERABLES
What You Get
What You Get
Every engagement produces real tools your team uses — not recommendations, not strategy decks, but the actual system:
Donor Interest Map
Your top 25-50 prospects mapped to what they actually care about. The foundation for everything else.
Donor Interest Map
Your top 25-50 prospects mapped to what they actually care about. The foundation for everything else.
12-Month Editorial Calendar
Content planned around donor interests and cultivation cycles. Not reactive. Strategic.
12-Month Editorial Calendar
Content planned around donor interests and cultivation cycles. Not reactive. Strategic.
Content Playbooks
4-5 repeatable formats your team can execute without reinventing every time. Hero stories, Quick Hits, Cross-connection pieces.
Content Playbooks
4-5 repeatable formats your team can execute without reinventing every time. Hero stories, Quick Hits, Cross-connection pieces.
5-8 Produced Assets
Real content, made with your team during the engagement. Not samples. Stories ready to deploy.
5-8 Produced Assets
Real content, made with your team during the engagement. Not samples. Stories ready to deploy.
Marketing-Development SLA
A simple agreement that connects the two teams. Who tells who what, when. No more parallel operations.
Marketing-Development SLA
A simple agreement that connects the two teams. Who tells who what, when. No more parallel operations.
Trained Team
Your people learn by doing. By the end, they run the system without you needing us.
Trained Team
Your people learn by doing. By the end, they run the system without you needing us.
This isn't a pilot. It's an install.
The Guide
The Guide
Hi, I'm Andy — Founder of Studio Brio.
Hi, I'm Andy — Founder of Studio Brio.
Hi, I'm Andy
— Founder of Studio Brio.
I built this system at Virginia Tech's veterinary college. When I arrived, we were producing maybe 25 stories a year. No strategy. No connection to fundraising. Comms did comms. Development did development. They shared a logo. That was about it. Four years later: 120+ stories a year, mapped to donor interests, coordinated with gift officers. Fundraising grew from to $21M. Not because we made more content. Because we made the right content for the right people at the right time. Now I help other professional schools do the same thing. Medical schools. Business schools. Law schools. Nursing. Pharmacy. The school where fundraising matters and content isn't pulling its weight. I step in, build the system, train your team, and leave.
I built this system at Virginia Tech's veterinary college. When I arrived, we were producing maybe 25 stories a year. No strategy. No connection to fundraising. Comms did comms. Development did development. They shared a logo. That was about it. Four years later: 120+ stories a year, mapped to donor interests, coordinated with gift officers. Fundraising grew from to $21M. Not because we made more content. Because we made the right content for the right people at the right time. Now I help other professional schools do the same thing. Medical schools. Business schools. Law schools. Nursing. Pharmacy. The school where fundraising matters and content isn't pulling its weight. I step in, build the system, train your team, and leave.
"Breakthroughs don't speak for themselves. But the right materials—built for how donors decide—can."
The Bridge
Your Team Is Excellent at What They Do
Your Team Is Excellent at What They Do
Your communications team knows how to tell stories. Your development team knows how to build relationships. But building the system that connects them? That takes dedicated focus your team doesn't have — because they're busy doing their actual jobs. That's the gap Studio Brio fills. Twelve weeks of focused work to build what you'll run for years.
They build relationships. They manage portfolios. They coordinate campaigns across the entire institution.
But when a single $30M+ opportunity needs eight weeks of dedicated focus—deep faculty interviews, competitive analysis, materials built for how business-minded donors actually make decisions—your team doesn't have that capacity. Not because they lack skill. Because they're managing forty other campaigns.
That's the gap Studio Brio fills.
THE DIFFERENCE
THE DIFFERENCE
Content for the Website vs. Content for the Ask
Content for the Website vs. Content for the Ask
Most schools produce content for visibility. Newsletters, social posts, news stories. It's good work. It builds awareness. But it doesn't move money. Content for the ask is different. It's a story about equine research that lands in a donor's inbox the week before a gift officer calls. It's an impact update that answers the question a prospect asked six months ago. It's the piece that makes a donor say, "I've been waiting for someone to show me this." We build the system that produces the second kind.
Most schools produce content for visibility. Newsletters, social posts, news stories. It's good work. It builds awareness. But it doesn't move money. Content for the ask is different. It's a story about equine research that lands in a donor's inbox the week before a gift officer calls. It's an impact update that answers the question a prospect asked six months ago. It's the piece that makes a donor say, "I've been waiting for someone to show me this." We build the system that produces the second kind.
Traditional donors give based on emotional connection and mission alignment. Donor-investors add another layer.They evaluate opportunities the way they built their wealth—looking for competitive advantages, capable teams, and verifiable outcomes.
Your materials need to match how they make decisions. That's what we build.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Frequently asked questions
How is this different from hiring a content agency?
What's the typical engagement timeline?
What does it cost?
Do you work with our existing team or replace them?
What if we don't have a big team?
What types of schools do you work with?
Do you work onsite or remotely?
How do we get started?
How is this different from hiring a content agency?
What's the typical engagement timeline?
What does it cost?
Do you work with our existing team or replace them?
What if we don't have a big team?
What types of schools do you work with?
Do you work onsite or remotely?
How do we get started?
LET'S TALK
Ready to Build the System?
Ready to Build the System?
We'll respond within 24 hours to schedule a brief discovery call. No obligation, no pitch deck — just a conversation about your goals and whether Studio Brio is the right fit.
What to expect
We'll respond within 24 hours to schedule a brief discovery call. No obligation, no hard sell—just a conversation about your goals and whether Studio Brio is the right partner to help you achieve them.
Most discovery calls are 20 minutes. We'll discuss:
Your current fundraising priorities
How content is (or isn't) supporting them
Whether the 12-week model makes sense for you
Next steps if there's a fit