<ORGANIZATION BRAND>

FY17 Donor Relations

Disaster Relief Stewardship Response Plan

Objective: To develop an appropriate donor-centered response to gifts made to the (1) Student Disaster Relief Fund, the (2) <Organization>Employee Assistance Fund managed by the Baton Rouge Area Foundation, the (3) VetMed Relief Fund; and the (4) <Organization>Food Pantry Support Fund.

Audiences: (1) Alumni, (2) Parents, (3) Students, (4) Faculty/Staff, (5) Friends of the <Organization>Community, (6) National One-time Donors; and (7) University Leadership

Stakeholders: (1) <Organization at Large>, (2) <Organization’s Fundraising Arm>, (3) the <Organization> Alumni Association

Project Manager(s)/Sponsor(s): (1) <lead donor relations officer>,(2) <lead communications officer>, (3) Others TBD

Benefits/Risks/Concessions:

  1. Benefit: Donors will have the opportunity to see how their funds were used,
  2. Benefit: Fund use communication to donors is the first and best kind of donor engagement, the more engaged a donor is, the more likely s/he is to choose <Organization>as a long-term philanthropic investment,
  3. Benefit: Collaborating with the University and the Alumni Association will (a) build trust with University and Alumni Relations partners and, (b) provide the <Organization Fundraising Arm> with the chance to identify other areas of strength and opportunity as it relates to the development of other donor relations programs and priorities,
  4. Risk: Being subjectively under-resourced, the <Organization> could expose itself to criticism for attempting to do more than it is reasonably staffed to execute and communicate,
  5. Risk: There is a fine line between donor audiences and volunteer audiences – with some blessed overlap. We will need to take care with how and how much we communicate to these audiences. Mixing the messages too much or too little could be problematic,
  6. Risk: We must be mindful of how and when we approach fund recipients for impact stories, statements or notes – sensitivities and FEMA-related frustrations could bleed into recipient perceptions,
  7. Concessions: We will need to accept up front that we will want to do better than will have the resources or will be prepared to execute. We will need to set reasonable expectations for ourselves and take care to think through what we “might” do in the future should we find ourselves in a similar situation.

Requirements:

  1. Donor Relations Department>and Development Communications Department>will need to consider internal plans as well as the plans of the University and the Alumni Association as it relates to how impact will be communicated to donors (and volunteers) and will need to act accordingly,
  2. Donor Relations will need to collaborate internally with (a) annual giving, (b) major gifts, (c) principle gifts and (d) board staff to customize as effectively possible the ways in which we communicate impact
  3. Integrate/Investigate social media channels as appropriate/advised/necessary and/or recommended

Phases, Activities, Tasks and Milestones

First Month

  1. <Fundraising Arm’s President’s>Letter to Trustee/Board Donors
  2. <Fundraising Arm’s President’s> Email to Staff/Employees
  3. Acknowledgements of Relief Fund(s) Gifts (see <Staff Writer>)

End/First Quarter

  1. How You Responded Video/Email Message: <Organization President>

End/Calendar Year

  1. Print Piece on Select Stories, Web Page Updates, Giving by Numbers
  2. <Fundraising Arm’s>Staff Support Recovery Celebration/Family Picnic honoring those who are rebuilding/recovering and their colleagues supporting them

End /Third Quarter

  1. Phone-a-thon/Thank-a-thon Stewardship Calls to Donors with updates and facts, gathering data and establishing follow-up

End/Academic or Fiscal Year

  1. Impact by the Numbers

First Anniversary

  1. University-Based Continued Recovery Fundraiser/Fellowship

Other Planned Anniversaries or Milestones

  1. TBD

Communication Plan

  1. See: <Communications Staff Leadfor review, editing, and next steps

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