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In Service:
The Column of the ADRP President
Kathleen Diemer, CFRE
Executive Director of Donor Relations and Advancement Communications
George Mason University
In the last six months, I have been thinking a lot about the role of donor communications in times of crisis. Not surprisingly, moments of crisis at both the university where I work, and my own alma mater instigated these thoughts.
Last fall, a junior level staff member in our university's admissions office used his personal Facebook account, which identified him as a university employee, to share some strongly worded thoughts and opinions regarding the outcome of the U.S. presidential election and the individuals who voted for a particular candidate. The national media picked up his post and then it spread like wildfire. Cable evening news shows discussed and debated his comments. Because his personal Facebook page identified him as working in the admissions office, many people, wrongfully, assumed he had a role in admissions decisions for the university and they were outraged that his personal views might cloud his decisions related to potential students. In the following weeks and months, the university received hundreds of letters and emails from donors, alumni, parents and people not affiliated with our institution. Most of those letters and emails were angry and many demanded that the university dismiss the offending staff member.
For the two months following this incident, I spent countless hours working with a team of colleagues from my university's central office of marketing and communications, admissions office, and alumni office to address and respond to all of the correspondence we received. I am fortunate to work with incredible colleagues and together we reviewed the ongoing correspondence, divided it up and then prepared appropriate mass and individual responses within our various departments. I can assure you that reading hundreds of pieces of mail from disgruntled and angry people is not a fun way to spend even a day, let alone months. It was a crisis we never saw coming, but it taught us some great lessons about social media use, collegiality and planning for the unexpected.
Last week provided another reminder of why organizations need a strong crisis communications plan in place for their donors. This time it was a much more unfortunate incident that made me think about this topic. Early on a Saturday morning, the day before graduation, a homicide occurred at my alma mater. In the days after, along with many fellow alumni, I followed the local media coverage and learned that the F.B.I. was investigating the homicide as a potential hate crime. The news was heartbreaking to many alums who view the institution as a place of acceptance and an upstanding example of diversity. Sadly, as an alumna, a donor and a retired staff member of the institution, I received no correspondence from the university about the incident until six days after it happened. At that point, the university president sent an email to the university community detailing how the university planned to respond to the incident. The press received and disseminated that same detailed information the previous day, which meant it was already old news to many of the university's constituents by the time they received the president's email.
No organization is perfect, and as these two examples demonstrate, crises happen without warning or advance notice. A lapse in personal judgement combined with social media, a horrific crime, and a variety of other unfortunate incidents or events - on any given day crisis can arrive. The important thing is that when a crisis occurs, we are immediately prepared to keep those who are most involved and invested with our organizations informed. If any good can come from a crisis, it is often the fact that it makes us think more strategically about how we can best communicate with our donors. What has happened and when did it happen? Who should be informed and why? At what point should we inform them? What should we share and how will we share it with each segment of our audience?
If you have not recently reviewed the crisis communications plan for your donors, I encourage you to do so. If you do not have a plan in place, now might be a good time to create one. You may never need it, but it will certainly help you better inform and appropriately respond to your donors if a crisis arrives on your organization's doorstep.
With gratitude,
Kathleen Diemer
[email protected]
President
Grit. Gumption. Gratitude.
Emily Abrahamson
Associate Director of Stewardship
Rush University Medical Center
Two out of three of those words are not often used to guide donor relations professionals, but Shanon Doolittle and Beth Ann Locke know better. They led a motivational pep-talk at the 3rd annual Midwest Regional Forum in Chicago on May 10, 2017 and their concept of the "3 g's" inspired the nearly 100 attendees. Donor relations work is complex, fast-paced, and ever-changing. Embracing the "3 g's" helps remind donor relations professionals to stay passionate, determined, appreciative, and celebratory of their awesome work.
Doolittle and Locke recommended not only drawing the heart of the donor back to the organization, but infusing passion into the day-to-day of donor relations professionals. "Pinning up passion," or in other words, displaying an image in your work station that reminds you of your organization's mission, is a daily reminder of motivation. They also recommended identifying "your thing" and "owning that thing." Whether you have the gift of process implementation or memorizing donor stats, own it and make it known throughout your organization.
[Read More]
The Power of Personalization: What's in a Name and Other Lessons I Have Learned
Amelia Harrison
Director, Special Events and Constituent Engagement
Adelphi University
My name is Amelia, but my personality screams Amy. Those who know me would not argue.
Though I long to be Amelia (I think of her as tall and slim and elegant), if my husband were to address me as Amelia, I would be peeved and a little alarmed. "After all this time, don't you know who I am?" I expect the same from my alma mater and my favorite charitable organizations.
In donor relations, it is our job to know our constituents: from the non-donor to the $50 million dollar benefactor. The first step is learning how they prefer to be addressed, not only the spelling of their name (JoAnn vs. Joanne), but, nicknames (could that Richard really be a Dick?). Is the spouse included in acknowledgements, is a title (Dr., the Honorable, president, trustee, Cmr.) important in their salutation?
[Read More]
Regional Updates
Registration for Vancouver Regional Luncheon is now open! Join us at the Vancouver Club on June 28, 2017 for lunch. Round table discussions will focus on opportunities and barriers to connecting with our donors and colleagues. Come prepared to share your triumphs and challenges.
Learn more and register >>
In This Novel, a Director of Stewardship is the Heroine
Dianne Dyslin
Associate Director of Stewardship
Clark University
Really! Who would have thought? Including the fictional development director of Elinor Lipman's funny and light On Turpentine Lane (2017), who refers to our main character, Faith Frankel, as " . . . head of whatchamacallit." Faith, who thought she was signing on to a "stress-free job," as director of stewardship at her alma mater, Everton Country Day, finds more than she bargained for when the school's leadership accuses her of conning an elderly couple into leaving her a personal bequest gift of $100K, when all the time she was cultivating them for a donation to renovate Everton's pool and locker room, as part of her annual fundraising duties.
[Read More]
Guest Articles for The Hub
(We Want Your News!)
One of the many benefits of being a member of ADRP is belonging to a community of professionals that shares knowledge and experiences. In an effort to better serve our members this year, we are working to bring you content each month that is helpful, relevant, and cohesive.
We are seeking article submissions from our members that cover any topic relevant to the profession, including those that may coincide with one of the monthly webinars.
Please share with us your best practices, experiences, successes, or challenges related to this topic so we can collectively learn and grow. Articles must be received the month prior to the scheduled publication month.
Member Spotlight
Name: Anne Gorman
Institution: NPR
Position: Manager, Donor Relations
ADRP member for 2 years
How long have you worked in donor relations/stewardship and how did you get involved in this profession?
I began my career at NPR on the database team, which was a great introduction to the entire donor lifecycle: from research and cultivation to tracking stewardship. This bedrock helped me realize that my true passion is communicating directly with our funders, so when a Donor Relations position opened up three years ago, I knew it was too good an opportunity to pass up! Since then, I've focused my work on increasing meaningful stewardship and communications, and I love connecting our donors with the mission of NPR.
[Meet Anne]
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