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Breakout Session 1B:
Digital, Decentralized and Donor Driven

Natasha Jokic, Danielle Costanzo Dorsey, and Louise James

Wednesday, September 23
10:30 AM – 11:30 AM


Session Description

Universities often have difficulty coordinating stewardship communication across multiple units. Moreover, with younger alumni/donor audiences preferring to receive information digitally, we must streamline and coordinate compelling stewardship messages for a digital age. In this session, we will share strategies and recommendations we used to collaborate with our colleagues across a complex research university. This collaboration has allowed us to evaluate and develop best practices for communicating with donors. We will jointly present how we leverage technology to centralize our donor database and endowment reporting, create online acknowledgments, holiday cards and thank-you videos to effectively and creatively connect with our donors.

Keywords: Acknowledgements, Inspiring Change, Reporting, Scholarships, Technology


Who Should Attend

   



 
  Private College / University Large Shop (11+ staff) Mid-Career (8–12 years)  

Learning Objectives

  1. Learn how technology can help them design impact reports, thank-you videos, online acknowledgments, and donor stewardship communications.
  2. Learn how to use compelling student stories, appealing graphics, and videos to create digital stewardship communications that engage and inspire donors to increase their giving. 
  3. Learn how to effectively collaborate and complement efforts between departments that focus on similar functions.

About the Speakers

Natasha Jokic
Assistant Director, Stewardship and Donor Relations
USC Marshall School of Business

Born, raised and educated in the former Yugoslavia, Natasha moved to London and Paris in the 1990s before arriving in Los Angeles. In 2019, she won a Spot Award for her work in developing programs to modernize and streamline communication systems with scholarship recipients and donors, and for creating a gold standard campus wide. In her spare time, she enjoys yoga, cooking, hanging out with friends and disappearing on epic road trips. 

Danielle Costanzo Dorsey
Assistant Director of Stewardship and Donor Relations
University of Southern California

Danielle's professional interests focus on reporting, data and digitizing stewardship. She graduated from DePaul University in Chicago with a degree in English literature. Danielle is a proud Aquarius and minimalist.Her professional interests focus on communication strategies and continuous improvement of processes.

Louise James
Assistant Director of Stewardship and Donor Relations
University of Southern California

Louise holds a master of arts degree from New York University's Graduate School of Arts & Science, where she served as president of the Museum Studies Student Association. During her free time, she loves to visit art galleries and museums and trying new vegan recipes.