DEVELOPMENT INFORMATION SERVICES (DIS)

FY 2008 OPERATING PLAN

THEMISSION OF DIS

The mission of DIS is to support the objectives of OaklandUniversity fundraising efforts. This role is three-fold consisting of:

  • Processing of all charitable contributions and pledges to OaklandUniversity in a timely and efficient manner
  • Maintaining accurate constituent data in coordination with other areas of University Relations
  • Providing the proper reporting, training and technology needed to allow OaklandUniversity to accomplish its fundraising goals.

Using “lean” principles and developing and maintaining a “lean” culture will be a high priority and of importance. Just as important is understanding the needs of our donors, faculty, and staff and knowing that they are met, while maintaining a high level of confidentiality and security.

FY2007 ACCOMPLISHMENTS

  • GIFT/PLEDGE PROCESSING
  • A high volume of gifts and pledges were again processed in a timely and accurate manner along with their associated thank-you letters. Over 14,800 gifts, payments, pledges and OUAA memberships were processed in the last 12 month period, all of which reconciled to the general ledger.
  • As part of data cleanup, over 9,000 pledges were written off. These pledges were comprised of FY2006 unpaid telefund pledges and very old unpaid telefund pledges that never were fed to the GL at the time of the Banner conversion due to extreme uncollectability.
  • Implemented the Banner automated process for processing payroll deductions from the AUFD so we no longer have to manually add pledge payments each month.
  • A procedure for coding estate and trust records consistently was implemented and documented.
  • An e-mail receipt for on-line donors meeting all necessary receipting requirements was developed so it is no longer necessary to mail a paper receipt.
  • STEWARDSHIP
  • There were approximately 500 gifts of $1,000 and up which require additional thank-you letters from central stewardship.
  • In the fall, 130 endowment reports were sent to establishing donors and fund contacts. This process continued to be streamlined from the prior year.
  • Approximately 15 endowment/gift agreements have been started this fiscal year not to mention those that were started prior but are still in process and those that were completed but started in the previous fiscal year.
  • Both the donor honor roll and the donor wall of honor were successfully updated along with all needed donor recognition information for the donor gala.
  • A central data collection and easy reporting tool which houses and reports on all information associated with any endowment or restricted/named fund, including both scholarship and non-scholarship funds was created. The primary purpose for this program was to be better stewards to our donors through the streamlining of annual endowment reports. This program won a bronze award in the 2007 CASE Circle of Excellence award program.
  • A stewardship manual for OU and university relations was developed.
  • REPORTING, DATA, TECHNOLOGY AND TRAINING
  • DIS has revised existing canned reports along with new canned reports and has provided many ad-hoc reports both to departments within university relations and outside the division. Turnaround time has been very good which helps enhance our division’s reputation for being customer oriented. Over the past year, two NCOA’s have been applied to Banner along with biographical data obtained through the recent alumni biographical update mailing sent during the winter.
  • Training was provided in the area of Banner Advancement overviews and canned reports. These sessions were both classroom and one-on-one.
  • Created documentation and provided training on “Development Officer Issues – Gifts and Pledges - Everything you Need to Know – Almost”.
  • DIS assisted in the set-up of the Banner events module and is sitting on a committee to help OU find a university-wide event software system.
  • DIS is sitting on committee to create procedures and test new university software to assist in addresses being entered more accurately. (CLEAN ADDRESS)
  • Developed electronic business manager gift reporting system vs. paper copies.
  • Collaborated with University Technology Services in the writing of a reusable SQL script to update mass number of telephone changes received from outside vendors (e.g. telefund solicitors, prospect screening, NCOA providers, etc.) reducingthe number of known incorrect telephone numbers.
  • DOCUMENT IMAGING
  • Over 14,000 pages of documents have been scanned or cleaned up over the past 12 months.

FY2008GOALS AND STRATEGIES

  • GOAL:

Process all charitable contributions and pledges to OaklandUniversity and Oakland University Foundation in a timely and efficient manner.

Strategies:

  • Continued review of gift and membership processing for greater efficiencies
  • Review of backup document scanning process
  • Advancement to GL reconciliation
  • Evaluate the automatic processing of memo credits in Banner
  • GOAL:

Maintain accurate constituent data in coordination with other areas of University Relations.

Strategies:

  • Annual pledge review and write-off process for both major and telefund pledges
  • Develop monthly auditing mechanism to review salutations to reflect biographical updates (name changes, martial status updates, etc.) that are entered in Banner from anywhere on campus. The purpose of this goal is reducing the number of incorrect salutations.
  • In collaboration with University Human Resources, develop a mechanism for keeping track of current and past employees that are also constituents in Banner Advancement. The purpose of such a process will help reduce errors during AUFD and Telefund programs as well as keep us current on donor employees.
  • Create a regular process of evaluating j-drive space issues.
  • Develop a process that will inform UR staff of data security issues as they relate to mobile computing devices.
  • Develop an audit process of banner advancement users across campus.
  • GOAL:

Providing the proper reporting, training and technology needed to allow OaklandUniversity to accomplish its fundraising goals.

Strategies:

  • Business manager training
  • Banner Advancement system refresher training / emphasis on Banner as an integrated system and individual data entry responsibility (audit reports: name changes and salutation changes, etc.)
  • Banner Advancement Procedure Manual training
  • Canned Report Training
  • Canned Report enhancement – working UR staff evaluating needs for common, highly used reports
  • Develop a DIS website in order to enhance service to DIS customers
  • GOAL:

To recognize and appreciate, inform, and engage current and prospective donors through meaningful and consistent contacts with donors and prospective constituencies,aiding in fundraising efforts.

Strategies:

  • Timely and effective thank-you letters (turn-around time goal for key donors and major gifts will be three days)
  • Maintenance of the stewardship manual
  • Implementation of appropriate stewardship technology
  • Timely and effective endowment reporting