In the throes of preparing for our grand opening, I happened to be reading The Book of Joy by the Dalai Lama, Desmond Tutu, and Douglas Abrams. Turns out these guys know a thing or two about challenging times. So my words to you, and my future self, is that when you are embarking on a complex project like installation of a large, prominent interactive digital donor wall, there are some very helpful qualities to keep in mind in order to end up with both the best possible installation as well as your own positive state-of-mind.
Case Study
The stewardship role in our organization had been vacant for years. What donor recognition took place was handled by individual gift officers, loosely coordinated across the department. Maintenance of static donor walls had been long neglected. The conclusion of our capital campaign was approaching, a new outpatient facility was to be opened, and the opportunity to set a new tone in recognition was obvious. We would remove the dated walls, plaques, and signage, and consolidate into a single digital interactive wall that could be updated and corrected easily. We did not commit to a budget other than it needed to be well below $1 million-- how much below, I didn't know.
We ended up installing a 30’x8’ digital, interactive donor wall that has the capability of featuring not only scrolling donor names, but also hospital programs, patient stories, patient art, and events. There is video capability, and a motion sensor that encourages our visitors to create a “confetti trail” by moving in front of the screen. The result is a polished, modern installation that signifies our hospital as innovative, kid-friendly, and incredibly grateful for our donor community.
So let's get to the lessons learned from implementing a large-scale digital donor wall, and the eight pillars of joy gleaned from The Book of Joy: perspective, humility, humor, acceptance, forgiveness, gratitude, compassion and generosity.
1. Perspective
This type of project involves coordinating multiple contractors and stakeholders of an organization. It's a good idea to keep in mind that you are part of a much larger whole that is working together to do a service for the community. Complex collaboration requires time and persistent follow-up. A project of this scale can meet unexpected delays, and all parties involved are managing several different priorities that may make progress slower than hoped. As soon as a digital donor wall is a twinkle in your eye, research through ADRPlistesrv and contact vendors for rough quotes. Present the concept to your leadership team to secure commitment and that this is a project that you collectively want to pursue.
Considering the sizeable investment involved, we invited two vendors to fly to our hospital to propose their services and budget to a committee that represented fundraising, facilities, marketing, and clinical leadership. Getting buy-in from multiple areas of a large organization was critical in order to gain approval for an installation in a prominent space, and also to factor in branding guidelines to infection control issues. We ultimately signed a contract near $300,000, a budget that came from the Hospital's capital budget. Less expensive options were available that employed fewer screens, stock coding and design templates.
2. Humility
Humility is an essential characteristic to embrace in order to combat anxiety and doubt along the way. As Douglas Abrams notes in The Book of Joy, "I was attempting to do something I had never done before, and whenever we challenge ourselves, fear and doubt are inevitable." At the end of the day, it's not about your limitations. It's about the fact that you are the one there, on the job.
If possible, I recommend contracting a graphic design firm in addition to the vendor that manages hardware, software, programming and cabinetry. Eleven months into the planning (and five months before installation) we realized two things: that we needed to bring in additional graphic design talent in order to elevate the project up to our expectations, and that our vision was going to require custom coding (exceeding budget by $35,000). You're creating a dream team-- let each contractor do what they do best, and don't expect them to be the best at everything. If you’re going to install a big wall, it’s worth the investment to make sure it’s done right.
3. Humor
Remember, just because you're an adult doesn't mean you can't have fun. Sometimes the fun comes in the form of A Comedy of Errors that is your own life.
For example, you might learn midway through the project that you are required to use union labor, and that there are almost always delays in city permitting. You may discover that electrical wiring needs re-routing. We realized once the project commenced that our concrete back-wall was warped and required additional labor to make it flat enough for flush screens. You may come across complications with the installation of cooling fans—and perhaps you, like us, didn’t realize at the outset that cooling fans were needed at all.
4. Acceptance
"The ability to be present in each moment is nothing more and nothing less than the ability to accept the vulnerability, discomfort, and anxiety of everyday life."
There are problems that can be remedied, and problems that can't. If you can remedy it, then don't obsess and stress, just take actions to fix it. If it can't be fixed, then accept it and move on. In our case, we were disappointed with some of the cabinetry quality and glitches in programming. Can we fix it? Some of it, yes. But could we fix it before the donor grand opening in two hours? No. Take stock of what is in your control. Either accept and take action, or accept and move on to the next priority.
5. Forgiveness
Sometimes you have to be the bad cop. Read proposals, contracts, and change orders like the legal documents that they are-- don't assume anything is obvious or mutually understood. Trust, but always verify. Our vendors oversold us somewhat on features that were actually out of our budget range, and then were unable to deliver. Everyone likely wants the best outcome, so forgive misunderstandings, face disappointments, and then negotiate. Be extremely clear about expectations and details throughout.
That said, if some part of the project clearly went wrong and is the vendor’s error, ask for an acknowledgment and some form of reparation. This became a challenging balance to manage since we are asking for a partial refund whilst at the same time seeking to maintain a good working relationship from the vendor providing ongoing maintenance.
6. Gratitude
We all know that communicating gratitude is the whole point of a donor wall. It's also a good personal practice to stay positive while managing this project. I recommend starting each day by thinking of five things that you are grateful for, in order to re-focus your brain on what is going well. I was personally very grateful for the project manager of our facility expansion. If installation of the donor wall is taking place at the same time as the building itself is under major construction, the donor wall is apt, understandably, to be a lower priority to the overall project manager. Cultivating a good relationship with the facilities team will be critical to keeping the donor wall a priority. Express gratitude for what goes well.
7. Compassion
Remember to have a sense of compassion for the people who are working hard on this project, especially when complications arise. Everyone has a life outside of work and unseen challenges. When the going gets tough, take a deep breath, and remember that all involved likely want a positive outcome.
8. Generosity
Let’s address the criteria we used for inclusion of donors on the donor wall. We identified three tiers for donor recognition on this wall. Each tier determined a frequency of name appearance which appropriately reflects their level of giving. No giving levels are explicitly displayed. List criteria include:
Permanent Listing
- Master Plan gift over $5k, unless employee then over $1k
- Cumulative lifetime over $250k / Corporate partners over $1M
Annual Refresh
- Annual Fund calendar year giving over $5k
Frequency of donor name appearing on scrolling stream
Tier 1 appears 10x more than Tier 3 : $2M+ cumulative (from capital + lifetime giving list)
Tier 2 appears 2x more than Tier 3: $250k-$2M cumulative
Tier 3:
- Annual Fund (including corporate) $5k+
- anything below $250k in capital campaign
Conclusion
I cannot stress enough: you can never start too early. We started about a year in advance of our projected installation date, and with capital construction delays, ended up having four additional months. In the end, we needed all of this time to accommodate delays in graphic design, permits, and union schedules.
In the end, we feel that the wall is a success and we would do it again. The wall is functioning, and we are addressing issues with the touch sensitivity due to high level of sunlight on the sensors. The wall is a much-needed focal point to our atrium, an innovative display that brings the older space in step with the newly attached expansion. Updates to names on the wall have been quick and easy, and we love having another avenue to share digital content like produced videos.
Good luck on your path. Feel free to contact me for moral support or questions by connecting with me on LinkedIn.
Margaret Stutt
Stewardship Officer
UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospitals
Back to the August 2018 Hub
