In September 2001, The Advancement Project held a series of structured discussions with over 80 senior staff, development directors and business administrators representing schools and centers from across the university. The objective was to identify a collective vision for the project – a small set of high level ideas to inform and guide the project team as it works to formulate a set of requirements.
The participants were asked to present their ideas in response to the following questions:
How can revised business practices, policies, and supporting systems related to development, alumni relations, and gifts best support your mission?
What visible benefits do you hope to gain? In five years, what new things will you be doing?
What will you be doing better?
What will you no longer have to do?
Four major themes arose during these sessions:
Stronger Relationships with Constituents
Enhanced Stewardship of Financial, Human, and Systems Assets
Easy Access to Quality Information as Needed
A Comprehensive, Streamlined Business Process Model Supported by Tools and Training
The following examples represent the spirit embodied in these themes. They are drawn from our discussions, usually combining specific details from the responses of several participants.
Stronger Relationships with Constituents
Alumni Portal: Using an integrated electronic web portal, alumni communicate with classmates, register for reunions, enroll in online courses, review their giving history, make a gift to Penn, and buy Penn merchandise.
Grateful Patients: Development officers at UPHS/Medicine and Vet cultivate former patients and clients using the same processes and tools they use for their alumni. This approach extends to university organizations that have no alumni (for example, the Library).
Personal Communication: An administrative assistant generates personalized acknowledgements to donors more quickly and with less manual rework than before, logging each automatically.
Enhanced Stewardship of Financial, Human, and Systems Assets
Forecasting: A school business officer forecasts operating and capital receipts for the next 3 years based on pledge receivables and historical data using a standard, online report.
Fundraising Totals Reconciliation: At fiscal year end, both school development officers and business administrators report fundraising totals which are easily reconciled, while remaining consistent with generally accepted accounting principles.
Volunteer Management: An alumni relations officer identifies a group of volunteers, assigns tasks based on stated interest, available time and historical commitment to Penn. The volunteers are encouraged because they have the adequate support and information to complete their assignments.
Staff Retention: A promising junior development officer decides to stay at Penn because he has new tools that help him manage his work better and he is developing new skills through enhanced training.
Systems Management: System owners regularly track usage; report results and trends to management, schools, and centers; identify process and system bottlenecks; and plan and implement appropriate upgrades.
Easy Access to Quality Information as Needed
Electronic Primary Documents: A school business officer examines an electronic copy of a gift agreement at her desktop to confirm that the proposed use of a fund is consistent with the donor’s intent, rather than reviewing the paper original as she must now.
Validity Checking: An alumnus makes a typographical error while updating his home address online. A validity check prevents him from entering a non-existent ZIP code.
Integration: A planner reports on the university’s relationship with Pfizer using historical information from the Data Warehouse. This is made easier because both grant and gift activity are available in the same place and are stored using a common business name.
Access: Preparing for a kickoff meeting, an alumni group leader reviews the group’s volunteer interests and history online during his lunch hour. Access is granted to the leader alone and only for information pertinent to the group.
Shadow System Elimination: The director of a campus arts and culture center instructs a consultant to shut down a custom membership database - historical data and the equivalent function are now available in a shared, university-wide system.
A Comprehensive, Streamlined Business Process Model Supported by Tools and Training
Fewer Handoffs: A school office administrator receives a check with an accompanying letter stating that the donor has recently changed jobs and that he would like information on Penn's Planned Giving program. The administrator records the donation, sends an acknowledgement, updates the donor's business address, scans and stores the letter, then generates an alert to the Gazette and Planned Giving for follow up. A gift analyst, working from home, reviews the transaction and deposit, then approves it for posting to the financial system.
Online Policy Manual: A new gift coordinator receives a check by mail without any supporting documentation from the donor. After referencing his online policy manual, he is able to decide if the check is tied to a gift or grant.
Capture at the Point of Entry: A Development Officer receives a check while on the road. The Development Officer begins filling out a gift transmittal on his/her PDA. This information is automatically uploaded to a shared database through a wireless Internet link.
Workflow Tools: An annual giving officer drafts a pledge reminder email for overdue gifts, incorporating a link to online giving for the donor's convenience, and then generates a recipient list. The message and list is reviewed and approved through electronic routing.
Training: An administrative assistant no longer has to wait for scheduled training courses for gift processing and database updating. The on-line tutorials are available at the desktop. They include a testing module that requires proficiency before allowing access to the live data.
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