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In This Issue...
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Upcoming Webinars
Where Are They Now? A Step Beyond in Scholarship Reporting
Thursday, November 14
Grief and Transition: How to Support Your Donors
Thursday, December 12
The submission deadline is Nov. 1!
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Regional Events
Help us plan a regional event!
Contact the ADRP Office if you'd like to help plan a Regional Event in your area or to learn more.
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ADRP Resources
Connect with ADRP Online
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In Service: The Column of the ADRP President
Michal Shaw
AVP of Donor Relations
Oklahoma State University Foundation
Greetings ADRP Community:
Thank you for the opportunity to serve as your 2019 – 2020 ADRP President. If you were able to join our immediate Past President, Jen McGrath, and me for the Annual ADRP Membership Meeting Webinar on Friday, September 20, you heard Jen share highlights from the past year and talk about many of the opportunities and new ideas your Board of Directors will pursue in the year ahead. The initiatives Jen emphasized point us toward our “Big Hairy Audacious Goal” (BHAG) of being universally recognized as the authority on donor engagement for the philanthropy profession, and it is my privilege to lead ADRP as we continue that pursuit.
I became a member of ADRP in 2009 and owe much of my professional growth to the Association and to YOU, ADRP’s members. I look forward to using my 15+ years of fundraising experience to lead us through the development of a comprehensive strategic plan that will help us identify common goals, set priorities and agree on intended outcomes and results. If you were unable to join us for the Annual Meeting, I encourage you to listen to the recording on ADRP’s website.
Before I turn my focus to the 2019–2020 year, I want to celebrate the incredible week we spent in Miami with more than 600 donor relations practitioners. WOW. What an incredible team of volunteers, sponsors, keynotes, and professionals! THANK YOU to everyone who made our week in Miami possible. A special thanks to the 37 international attendees who joined us from Australia, Canada, Israel, Japan, and the United Kingdom!
Something I always encourage my squad to do when returning from conferences and attempting to digest all they have learned is to reflect on and summarize their key takeaways. While my takeaways were too numerous to include in one column, I would like to share two themes that resonated with me.
- Embrace AI – The first day of conference, ADRP launched its first-ever Gather@ADRP, a conference-within-a-conference designed by and for executive level donor relations leaders. This one-of-a-kind opportunity brought together qualified senior donor relations professionals and thought leaders from across all sectors, and across the world. Gather@ attendees had the opportunity to hear from Nathan Chappell, President of Futurus Group, who spoke about the impact of Artificial Intelligence on our world and our profession.
We discussed what we, as donor relations professionals, know to be true: people engage because of how they feel. And people give because they are engaged or inspired – or because they want to be. Wealth is only one (very small) giving indicator. The morning was chock-full of ideas on the use of AI and its relationship with the donor experience. It was a fascinating conversation about engagement metrics – one that continued with our members across all experience levels during the Gather@ Insights session on Friday. To read more about Gather@, be sure to check out Mark Lanum’s insights below.
My favorite quote (I’m a quotation junkie) shared during Gather@ was from General Eric Shinseki, former United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs, who said, “If you don’t like change, you are going to like irrelevance even less.” In other words, if you resist or wait to incorporate AI into your fundraising and donor relations shop, you may have a hard time catching up with those that do.
- Vulnerability – In her book, “Daring Greatly,” Brené Brown describes vulnerability as “uncertainty, risk and emotional exposure.” It's the insecurity we experience when we step out of our comfort zone. I had the privilege of attending two sessions with speakers that modeled vulnerability and connected deeply with their audiences, which ignited dozens of small group conversations during and after their sessions.
Among peers, we engaged in discussions about personal limitations, career paths, and teachable moments. Even Friday’s keynote, Robert Osborne Jr., Principal of The Osborne Group, Inc., focused his talk on the idea of being radically transparent with our donors. Generally, we tend to under-report to our donors. Robert explained how this can generate a lack of trust and contribute to an abysmal donor retention rate. Robert went on to share that our donors understand that success isn’t a straight line, and they connect with vulnerability.
This is just a small sampling of what the 2019 conference offered to attendees. We missed those of you unable to join us and hope you will mark your calendars for next year’s 2020 conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico, September 23–25!
I am both humbled and honored to serve as your president for the year ahead and encourage you to stay in touch on LinkedIn and Twitter (@michalmichelle). I look forward to hearing your ideas, insights, and comments (and favorite quotes).
With deep gratitude,
Michal Shaw
Conference Wrap-Up: "Party in the City Where the Heat is On"
Amanda Barbeau
Associate Director of Stewardship
Washington University in St. Louis
As Will Smith sang, we really turned up the HEAT at this year’s ADRP conference in Miami! With over 600 attendees from various non-profit organizations across the globe, we had three high-energy days filled with steamy content, hot trends, and a smoking good time.
Reflecting on Gather@ADRP
Mark Lanum
Director of Donor Relations
University of Washington
Maybe you’ve heard the joke: “Meteorology is the only occupation where you can be wrong all the time and still get paid for it.” Nevertheless, we still expect the local weather person to tell us if we’ll need a raincoat tomorrow, or if we’ll need sunglasses. We rely on their experience and expertise to prevent weather related fashion disasters, event failures, and bad hair days.
Member Spotlight
Krystina Wales
Director of Donor Relations & Stewardship
Greater Baltimore Medical Center (GBMC) Healthcare
ADRP member for two years
How long have you worked in donor relations/stewardship and how did you get involved in this profession?
I have been working at the Greater Baltimore Medical Center (GBMC) for six years, and this will be my fourth in donor relations. I was hired as the events coordinator, but saw a hole that needed filling in our stewardship work. I created a plan and a job description for myself and took it on. I have a journalism background, so the work perfectly blended my skills in writing and communications with service.
2020 Webinar Series Request for Proposals - Deadline is November 1!
The ADRP Webinar Series brings ideas and insights directly to your own offices and conference rooms. Presented by practitioners and consultants from a variety of backgrounds, this series offers education on many aspects of donor relations, from staffing and strategy to events and reporting. Free for members, ADRP webinars provide high-value content for every level of donor relations and stewardship professionals. Stay current on industry trends and invite your colleagues to learn alongside you.
Do you have lessons, skills, and/or best practices to share? New ideas on how to steward your donors, quantify your team's impact, or build diversity and inclusion into the donor relations profession?
The Deadline to Submit is November 1, 2019!
Write for The Hub: We Want to Hear from You!
The Hub is seeking article proposals for new monthly issues!
Do you have a success story you would like to share? How did you handle a particular problem or project that seemed insurmountable? Have you discovered effective tactics that help gain a seat at the table? What are your thoughts on best practices or new, emerging ideas that take a donor relations/stewardship program to the next level?
We want to encourage our members—new and experienced—to share their insights, best practices, and what works (or doesn’t work!) when planning their shop’s programming and responsibilities.
We welcome all submissions related to donor relations and stewardship, but we especially encourage ADRP members to step forward and share their expertise and experiences in the profession.
The submission form is available any time you have an article proposal to submit. We have included the webinar topics for each month, in case you would like to tie your article to a specific webinar topic.
Please submit your article proposal today! We can’t wait to hear what you have to say!
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