Spread the Love: Educate, Elevate, and Thank All in One Day
Session 4D

Session Description: 

Have you been looking for a way to elevate the internal culture of philanthropy at your institution? How about gathering low-cost, high-impact, personalized stewardship content on a broad scale? Are your donors tired of Giving Days? Perfect! How about hosting a Gratitude Day instead?

While some institutions ask donors to show their love by making a donation on Valentine's Day, Worcester Polytechnic Institute rallied our campus community to show our love for our donors, for our community, and for giving back. This session will showcase the success of a comprehensive campus-wide event 100-percent focused on thanking donors and celebrating the impact of giving—a donor relations dream event! Join us to gain ideas about how to design an event that will engage your entire institution in philanthropy, provide meaningful stewardship collateral that can be deployed immediately, and impress the pants off your senior leadership team.

Shop Size
Suitable for any shop size

Experience Level
Early-career (4–7 years)

Sectors
Private College/University
Public College/University
Healthcare
Arts Organization
Environmental Organization
Advocacy Organization

Categories
Annual Fund
Donor Experience
Donor Retention
Events
Major Donors
Relationship-Building
Technology
Volunteer Management

About the Speakers:

Stephanie Murphy
Director, Donor Relations and Stewardship
Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Stephanie Murphy is the director of donor relations and stewardship at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Worcester, Massachusetts. Her team is responsible for acknowledging, recognizing, and engaging WPI's most generous supporters, with a focus on elevating the donor experience with creative new programming and communications as the university moves into a new comprehensive campaign. Prior to joining the University Advancement team at WPI, she was assistant director of stewardship at Northeastern University in Boston, responsible for scholarship stewardship and reporting. When she's not in the office, you are almost guaranteed to find her outside on a bike, a rope, or a snowboard.

Tracy Baldelli
Associate Director, Annual Giving
Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Tracy Baldelli is an associate director of annual giving at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Worcester, Massachusetts. The annual giving team is responsible for all digital and mail solicitations, crowdfunding campaigns and initiatives, and parent engagement and fundraising, while also spearheading and launching an initiative around creating a campus-wide culture of philanthropy.

Focusing on young alumni and student engagement and fundraising, Tracy is an annual giving officer who also oversees the senior class gift campaign as well as large-scale giving day and gratitude events. Prior to joining WPI, she was a community relationship manager at United Way of Central Massachusetts helping companies and organizations launch fundraising campaigns. Tracy will either have a handmade card on her or be in the process of making one for a colleague, friend, family member, or stranger!