Rose Dalba

2004 – 2005 Founding Board Member

What were you doing when we founded ADRP? Where did you go from there? Where are you now?

I was serving as the director of stewardship at the University of California, Los Angeles, when discussions kicked off with colleagues on the East Coast about creating a national organization of donor relations professionals. Later, I moved to the University of Chicago to serve as executive director of donor relations in 2003. And now I have my own consulting company, Dalba Consulting LLC, specializing in donor-facing communications. 

What lessons, words of advice/inspiration would you like to pass on to other donor relations professionals? 

My best advice is to never consider your donor relations or stewardship role as “back office” or merely in service to frontline fundraisers. What you do to engage and sustain relationships with supporters is as important and crucial to your organization’s mission as asking for a gift. It may be more important since your best prospects are current donors!

ADRP Memory Lane

Do you ever tell people about your early history with ADRP? If yes, what reaction do you get? 

Unless I am speaking with someone who has been in the profession for as long as I have, or longer, I don’t mention my early history with the ADRP.

What was the donor relations profession like when you first started? 

Since 1996, the most significant change in the profession is that there are many more people who are employed in donor relations and stewardship roles across many diverse types of organizations, not just higher education. I think development, writ large, understands that fully engaging and stewarding supporters requires specialists in these areas—professionals who devote their time, experience, and knowledge to keeping donors informed, interested, and involved with the organization’s mission. 

Establishing a professional association is an enormous volunteer contribution. How does it feel to have the creation and early leadership of ADRP as your legacy? 

Founding a new, national association was an enormous task that required a lot of juggling between a full-time job, family, and ensuring that the newly formed association did not falter, especially during the first few years. But I was more than happy to be involved, mostly because of the spirit of community and collegiality other volunteers, especially board members, brought to the table. We were all in it together and we leaned on each other to make certain we could advance the association and the profession as a whole. We wanted to share our personal experiences to further our careers and to help advance the careers of colleagues with fewer resources or who were new to the field. The ADRP will always be a part of my professional DNA. 

Describe your experience in a completely volunteer-driven association before ADRP had professional staff? 

My experience on the board revolved around staying focused and organized, working late nights and weekends on ADRP business—interspersed with lots of shared laughter, many meaningful conversations about how the ADRP could benefit our profession, and creating strategies to grow the association’s membership. 

What is your best memory of the early days of ADRP? 

My fondest memories are of the many kind, caring, and compassionate people I had the pleasure of working alongside, and getting to know personally, during the early days of the ADRP. Our passion for the profession, our respect for each other—and our desire to make donor relations and stewardship a more influential part of development practices—all played key roles in making the ADRP what it is today.