October 19, 2017
College of Engineering: Sharing advancement discovery services
Judy Mahoney, associate dean of Advancement, photo courtesy of College of Engineering
Anne Fitzmaurice Adams, senior director of Individual Giving, photo courtesy of College of Engineering.
The challenge: Cultivating the next generation of major gift donors
In 2009, leading up to the “Be Boundless — For Washington, For the World” campaign, advancement leaders in the College of Engineering recognized a need to develop a new generation of major gift donors. At the time, the college’s advancement team consisted of major gift officers, but it needed broader coverage in “discovery” staff who could identify, and build relationships with newly rated and prospective donors.
The solution: Sharing discovery officers
Judy Mahoney, College of Engineering associate dean of Advancement, and Anne Fitzmaurice Adams, senior director of Individual Giving, came up with a way to fund those new positions by sharing services with the college’s academic departments. In this new model — spearheaded and managed by Mahoney and Adams — the college and four of its 10 departments share costs of discovery officer positions, as well as the operational expenses of fundraising efforts.
Benefits: Relationship-based service, increased giving and professional growth
Since the team’s inception, the discovery officers have been able to place 95 prospects into the college’s major gifts pipeline and remove 133 prospects from consideration. They have secured, to date, more than $5 million in additional support. Mahoney notes that benefits have extended well beyond the financial. Discovery officers are deeply invested in and understand the culture, needs and priorities of their assigned departments. They develop personal relationships, working closely with the department’s chair and meeting regularly with departmental faculty and staff, while also building relationships with prospective donors. The college has also been able to focus strategically on donor-centered talent management and the model has allowed for more cohesive, on-brand messaging across the college.
The new model couldn’t have come at a better time. There had been growing demand across the college for high-level professional advancement opportunities. The discovery officer positions fulfill that demand. By gaining on-the-job professional development and mentorship, they also create a stronger pipeline of well-trained staff for the entire department and the University.
Lessons learned: Start small, build buy-in and share data to help with decision-making
To roll out the model, the College of Engineering Advancement team started small, working with three departments to pilot: Mechanical Engineering, Civil & Environmental Engineering and Computer Science & Engineering. They then began connecting with other departments — specifically those with high numbers of prospective donors. To foster buy-in across departments, Advancement collected fundraising and alumni data for each department and shared it with chairs. This way, chairs could better understand why the shared services model would be a good investment.
Next steps: Explore shared services in marketing and communications
Currently, Engineering’s Advancement team is expanding its shared services into areas of marketing and communications. The team has recently started collaborating with select departments, including Mechanical Engineering and Civil & Environmental Engineering, to create shared positions in publications and website support.
