Stewardship Vending Machine vs Donor Experience Engine

Gian Booker
Executive Director, Stewardship, Donor Relations, and Communications
University of Maryland Medicine

Our profession can operate a lot like a vending machine. A request comes in, then someone pushes the proverbial button for an impact report, video, recognition piece, or donor event. We produce it, package it beautifully, deliver it on time, and get ready for the next selection. Many of us are exceptionally good at running the vending machine. If we're not careful, the better we become at execution, the harder it can be for others to recognize our strategic value.

The Difference

A stewardship vending machine asks, “What do you need us to produce?” A donor experience engine prompts, “What are we trying to accomplish in this relationship, and what should this donor experience next to help us get there?” One question starts with the request. The other starts with the relationship, i.e., what the donor cares about, the need for them to understand their impact, momentum in said relationship, and what experience will most effectively move the partnership forward.

Sometimes the right answer is one of the aforementioned vending machine options. In other instances, it's something less tangible, such as access, a candid conversation, a leadership touchpoint, or a deeper understanding of philanthropic impact. And sometimes, the most strategic choice is not to add another communication at all, but to pause and make space for the relationship to breathe.

Behind the Booth: ADRP & Sponsorship

Brinton Vincent
Committee Chair, December 2024 - September 2026

The Sponsorship Committee connects returning and prospective sponsors and exhibitors with ADRP members, bringing their ideas, values, and products to the international conference. Outreach begins each spring and continues through the conference. The partnerships we build support the member experience and ADRP's annual budget.

Over the last three conferences, the committee has secured an average of $65,000 in sponsorships each year, contributing to the success of both the international conference and ADRP's annual budget.

The committee has brought organizations, including Mythos, Presentation Design Group, Eleven Fifty Seven, Ovrture, Storyraise, Awarded, and FundMiner, among others, to connect directly with members and attendees.

These vendors have helped make donor relations work more efficiently, and have given members tools to implement best and effective practices at their own institutions.

Analisa Gama Aguilar, CFRE
Director of Donor Relations and Stewardship
Rotary International
2026-2026 ADRP Board President

1. What kind of organization are you doing donor relations in right now?

For more than 10 years, I have led the donor relations program at Rotary International, a global humanitarian membership organization.

2. What’s a donor relations topic you’re always happy to talk about?

As a self-proclaimed donor relations nerd, I’m always glad to talk shop. I’m especially passionate about multicultural donor relations and global philanthropy through a donor relations lens, including how cultural context shapes meaningful stewardship. I’m also happy to dive into topics like donor recognition, impact reporting, individualized stewardship plans, and donor travel initiatives.

Autumn reminds us each year that change is inevitable, and it is how renewal begins.

October marks ADRP’s annual leadership change. I’m honored to be ADRP president. I love this organization, and I believe donor relations is truly the heart of philanthropy, and that’s why I care so deeply about its future.

ADRP is amid a season of change. In recent weeks, we bid a fond farewell thanked last year’s board, welcomed three new board members, and navigated an executive director transition, bringing new perspectives to our volunteer and staff leadership. We also signed a thought leadership agreement, bringing partnership and uniting four associations to give our field a stronger, shared voice. And as we know, our profession is constantly changing, too, bringing challenges and opportunities.

Change is rarely easy, because it asks us to move beyond what we know and imagine something new. My hope for donor relations is that we do more than tolerate change, or even embrace it. I hope we drive it. Change will happen with or without us, but when we lead it, we shape the future of our field, the experience of our donors, and the standing of our work.

Dear ADRP Community,

I’m writing to share an important leadership update.

Scott Eichinger has decided to step down from his role as ADRP Executive Director, with his last day on Friday, October 9. Scott’s connection to ADRP spans more than a decade, beginning as a member in 2014 and continuing through numerous volunteer leadership roles, including service on the Board of Directors and as President, before becoming Executive Director in May 2025. We are grateful for his leadership, commitment to ADRP and the donor relations profession, and the care he has brought to our community, and we wish him every success in his next chapter.

I’m also pleased to share that Megan Miller will become ADRP’s next Executive Director. Megan brings more than a decade of experience in association management, events, marketing, business development, and client relations. Through her role with SBI Association Management, ADRP’s management partner, Megan has worked closely with ADRP staff and volunteer leaders. She is already familiar with our programs, community, and priorities, providing valuable continuity as she steps into this role.

Scott, Megan, ADRP staff, and the Board are working closely together to ensure a thoughtful and seamless transition. As we enter this next chapter, ADRP remains focused on advancing the donor relations profession and serving our community. We are grounded in the strength of our members, volunteers, staff, and Board.

A More Connected Fundraising Association Community

The work of philanthropy has never happened in silos. The challenges we’re navigating—and the opportunities ahead—don’t belong to just one function. So why should our conversations?

Fundraising, prospect development, donor relations, and advancement services each bring distinct expertise and perspectives to the work. But our success is increasingly connected. The strongest ideas often emerge when we step beyond the boundaries of our individual disciplines and learn from one another.

So, what does this collaboration actually mean?

At its core, this agreement creates a framework for our four associations to work together in tangible ways. That includes opportunities to develop shared thought leadership—such as webinars, articles, podcasts, panels, presentations, and other resources—cross-promote professional development opportunities, collaborate around issues affecting the broader profession, and build greater connections across our conferences and events.

That's a Wrap

And just like that, another ADRP International Conference, and my time as President, are in the rearview.

What a way to finish! Reno brought our community together around resilience and reinvention, with days filled with learning, connection, celebration, and countless conversations in between. From recognizing our International Stewardship Award recipients and Blair Scholars to exploring the many paths from engagement to leadership, I was reminded again and again of the people who make ADRP what it is.

In my time as President, I've reflected often on intention: how we spend our time, where we invest our energy, and how we show up for one another. Especially in recent months, I've found myself returning to connection, learning, leadership, belonging, and community. Conference brought all of those ideas to life.

As my term comes to a close, I'm deeply grateful to our members, volunteers, partners, board, and staff, and for the privilege of serving as your President.

DEI Committee

Daniella Hanson, Co-Chair
Faryal Khatri, Co-Chair

The ADRP Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee works toward a more diverse and inclusive representation of members, presenters, and programs across the organization. We strive to build a culture of action, dialogue, collaboration, and inclusion among ADRP members.

 

One of our main responsibilities each year is to select the Blair Scholarship recipients. We are also involved in the review of conference and webinar material. This year, we have been reviewing ADRP website content for accessibility and inclusive language.

Amanda Nakoneczny, CFRE
Director of Stewardship
University of Michigan - College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

1. What kind of organization are you doing donor relations in right now?
I work in higher education.

2. What’s a donor relations topic you’re always happy to talk about?
Strategy, data, change management, capacity planning, and inclusive practices are my happy place. I’m fairly certain talking with others about these topics is one of my love languages. I’m also a Lean and Six Sigma enthusiast and love conversations about process improvement, problem solving, and building better ways of working together. One of the things I enjoy most is building and growing donor relations programs. I love stepping into areas where stewardship is still evolving, assessing needs, and developing roadmaps that help programs scale and thrive.

3. What donor relations practice did you stop doing and why?
Like many others, we've sunsetted honor rolls and societies and moved away from most mementos unless they're deeply personal and unique. We've also shifted away from generalized stewardship roles in favor of dedicated ownership of key programs and work areas.

Perhaps the least popular change has been scaling back acknowledgments. Our donors have told us they feel thanked more than enough, but they want to hear more about the impact of their giving. So we've intentionally shifted capacity from gratitude to reporting. Less "thank you again" and more "here's what your generosity made possible."

4. What’s one donor relations decision that didn’t work, and what did it teach you?
One lesson we've learned is that efficiency and effectiveness aren't always the same thing, and that structure and flexibility need to coexist. We launched a semiannual custom stewardship request process with six-month lead times, which worked well on paper but proved too rigid in practice. Gift officers needed more agility, especially for smaller opportunities. It reinforced that the best processes are the ones that balance capacity with responsiveness.

Megan Racicot
Senior Officer, Donor Recognition and Stewardship
The Ottawa Hospital Foundation

Gezelligheid…
A vague, abstract Dutch concept that describes a sense of togetherness and connection. It has no direct English translation. The internet tells me it’s an emotional atmosphere that relies on feeling connected. Loosely…convivial. Good company.

I touched down in Reno and was immediately met with the warmth and connection of friends, both old and new. This year’s International Conference was both personally invigorating, professionally affirming and in short – good company. The 2026 themes of reinvention and resiliency emerged as a clear reminder that we can never stop evolving. Our collective success begins and ends with our willingness to adapt and question the status quo, all while remaining grounded in our principles that build meaningful connections.

The notion of reinvention was woven into so many conversations – during breakfast, at lunch and between mocktails. Our profession has expanded far beyond traditional gift announcements, impact reports and generic stewardship touchpoints. As AI evolves, we are adapting and using new tools to strengthen donor stewardship while keeping our communications personal and meaningful. We are boldly going where no donor relations professional has gone before!

The sessions on innovative approaches to donor recognition and stewardship affirmed that our organization is on the right track. They also reinforced an important lesson: reinvention does not mean abandoning proven strategies. It means building on what works and viewing those efforts through a new lens.

Equally powerful was the focus on resiliency. Nonprofits, higher education, and healthcare foundations continue to navigate economic uncertainty, shifting donor priorities, and increased demands for transparency. There’s that “T” word. In Kate Vitasek’s opening keynote, she highlighted the Power of T: trust, transparency, and eliminating transactional thinking – resulting in transformation. All I could do was nod energetically in agreement.

Despite our collective challenges, we persevere and remain optimistic. Stories shared by colleagues highlighted how we rise to the challenge, strengthen connections, and maintain donor trust even in hard times. This underscores the vital role donor relations plays in sustaining philanthropic support and helping to foster long-lasting donor confidence.

Our Attendee Experience Sub-Committee shares six tips for making meaningful connections, finding new ideas, and getting more from your experience. And, as a bonus, our final tip looks ahead to next year with an invitation to get involved and help shape the conference through volunteerism.

As always, conference is a time to understand what’s shaping our field and where donor relations is headed. Many thanks to the 2026 International Conference Committee members who shared perspectives on two key trends with answers to the following prompts. Keep an eye out for additional questions and insights from the committee in the Voices of Experience section later this year.

What conversation, challenge, or issue keeps surfacing at your organization that you believe deserves more attention within the ADRP community? Think about the topics donor relations professionals are navigating behind the scenes, discussing with colleagues, or trying to solve without enough shared guidance, resources, or conversation.

Donor relations teams are being asked to scale personalization, stewardship, collaboration, and increasingly sophisticated experiences without proportional increases in staff or resources. What should technology actually take off our plates and what work becomes more important because technology can handle the rest?

- Service function or strategic function: If donor relations influences donor experience, trust, retention, and long-term engagement across the entire philanthropic journey, why is it still sometimes positioned downstream as the team that executes requests from everyone else?

- How do we measure stewardship's contribution to fundraising outcomes? We know the work matters, yet the struggle often remains to demonstrate how it matters.

Marian Johnson
2025-2026 President

Where Community Happens

What makes associations so special is that people choose to be part of them. People come together because they share a purpose, they value learning from one another, and they seek connection.  

One of the things that drew me to donor relations, has kept me grounded, and continues to fill my cup is that same sense of purpose and connection. It’s what I value most about ADRP.  

At its heart, ADRP is a community of people who choose to invest in one another. Ultimately, I always come back to the simple but powerful idea of people coming together. Now more than ever, our world needs purpose, connection, and community. It’s something I find myself reflecting on often. 

Sarah Brickman
Director of Donor Relations
V Foundation for Cancer Research

1. What kind of organization are you doing donor relations in right now?

I am currently collaborating to build a strong donor relations program at a national cancer research foundation. Our donor relations shop is a small but mighty team of two!

2. What’s a donor relations topic you’re always happy to talk about?

I'm always game to chat about how we're using technology, especially artificial intelligence, to help us better understand and reach donors. AI has opened up tremendous opportunities to raise the bar in donor relations and stewardship and deepen philanthropic engagement. It's an exciting time.

Britt Hoffmann Smith, Co-Chair, Education Committee
Holden Scheidel, Co-Chair, Education Committee

The Education Committee builds a learning ecosystem that reflects the best of what our community has to offer and positions ADRP as the leading authority in the donor relations field. Our members are our greatest educational resource, and we're creating opportunities for that collective knowledge and experience to be shared, elevated, and translated into practical tools that strengthen the entire profession.

Last year, we reached an exciting milestone with the launch of the Fundamentals of Donor Relations e-learning course. We also support member learning year-round through 12 annual webinars and 1-2 interactive workshops designed for professionals at every career stage. This has been one of our most attended and highest-rated webinar years yet, and we’re committed to continuing to answer the growing demand for high-quality, accessible professional development.

Behind these programs are three dedicated volunteer teams. 

1. The Webinars Team develops and delivers our annual webinar slate of timely and relevant content. 
2. The Workshops Team partners with facilitators to create engaging, interactive learning experiences. 
3. The Roadmap to Certification Team is laying the groundwork for a future credentialed learning path for our profession. 

We're incredibly grateful for the time, talent, and expertise these volunteers contribute.

Allison Kyle

Director, Events

John Muir Health Foundation

 

Making Mission Memorable

Journey Queen
Donor Communications Officer
Georgia Institute of Technology

1. What kind of organization are you doing donor relations in right now?
I work for one of the nation’s leading technological research universities located in Atlanta.

2. What’s a donor relations topic you’re always happy to talk about?
I’m always happy to talk about how to keep donor communications feeling personal at scale. It’s easy for acknowledgment cycles to become transactional, especially with high volume, but small adjustments can make each touchpoint feel intentional. I enjoy finding ways to make recurring communications still feel fresh and meaningful for the donor.

 

3. What donor relations practice did you stop doing, and why?
One practice I’ve moved away from is over-editing or holding onto communications too long in pursuit of making them perfect. Early on, I would spend extra time refining my language, which sometimes delayed getting messages out. I’ve learned that in donor relations, timeliness often matters just as much as polish. Now I focus on delivering clear, thoughtful communications efficiently, knowing that a timely message can have a greater impact than a perfectly worded one.

 

4. What’s one donor relations decision that didn’t work, and what did it teach you?
Earlier in my role, I tended to take an independent approach to drafting custom donor communications. While I was able to get the work done, I realized I wasn’t always capturing the most timely or personal details that could have made the message stronger. That experience taught me that strong donor communications are rarely created in isolation. Now, I take a more collaborative approach by connecting with development officers and others who know the donor well to gather insights before finalizing a letter. It’s improved both the quality of the communication and the overall donor experience.

Corey Smentek
ADRP Board Member
Senior Director, MIT Donor Engagement and Stewardship

Still full of beignets and soaring from the high of representing ADRP at the CASE Donor Relations Conference, it was energizing to connect with donor relations colleagues from across the country — and the world — in New Orleans.

ADRP was proud to sponsor this year's conference as part of our commitment to strengthening partnerships in the donor relations and fundraising profession. Throughout the conference, I spent time at the ADRP booth alongside Executive Director Scott Eichinger, meeting both current and prospective members. Some stopped by to learn more about ADRP for the first time, while others shared how they have benefited from webinars, conferences, MyADRP, and the many opportunities ADRP provides to engage with colleagues across the field.

That spirit was evident even before the CASE conference officially began. ADRP hosted My ADRP Live – New Orleans, bringing together donor relations and advancement professionals to share ideas and learn from one another. It was especially rewarding to reconnect with many of those same colleagues at CASE over the following days, picking up discussions that had started the day before.

What struck me was how many people were interested in learning more about ADRP and what it offers. Attendees were eager to discover resources, hear how others engage with the association, and explore the many ways ADRP supports professionals throughout their careers. Their interest highlighted the importance of having a professional home dedicated specifically to donor relations.

Research Committee: Helping DR & Stewardship Professionals Turn Evidence Into Impact

Sarah Brickman
Research Committee, Chair

The ADRP Research Committee provides members with evidence-based approaches to donor relations that can be adapted for any shop. We aim to underscore the measurable value of donor relations through peer-reviewed research and benchmarking, and to empower ADRP members with the data they need to make confident, strategic decisions.

Currently, the committee is hard at work preparing for the 2026 ADRP International Conference in Reno. This year, we will lead a session where attendees can learn directly from researchers and experienced professionals who are using research in their work.

Aligned with the ADRP 2026-2030 Strategic Plan, we are also diving deeper into MyADRP and survey data to explore how research shows up in our members’ daily work, with the goal of offering new tools and resources to help ADRP members continue to elevate and lead through evidence-based decision-making.

How to Work With Us