How is the Changing World of Fundraising Changing the Donor Relations World? 
Thursday
, September 18
9:15 - 10:15 AM


This presentation will touch upon the shift of the donor relations offices from two of the largest fundraising schools at UC Davis (UC Davis Health System and the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences) from a donor driven function, to a hybrid donor- and development officer-supportive function. Through an interactive Powerpoint presentation, we will discuss some UC Davis-wide intended, and unintended, consequences/side effects, challenges and opportunities from the implementation of a fundraiser performance metrics system. Then we will take a case-study approach to look at how in our respective units (UCDHS, CA&ES), we addressed the needs of our fundraisers that aren’t/can’t be met by a centralized office and how we prioritized those in our workload. We will also discuss our approaches to “selling our own value” to increase staffing and resources, as well as developing our own donor relations metrics.

This session will provide details as to how moving to a metrics driven front-line fundraising program (which is the direction most institutions are moving) can have unintended consequences, both positive and negative on the donor relations side of the shop. The increased, unexpected work load and lack of staffing were quickly determined to be a problem that needed remedying right away. While on the reverse side, the opportunities for collaboration, strategy and growth brought a lot of excitement from the donor relations team.

Audience Expertise Level: Suitable for all levels
Shop Size: Suitable for any size shop


Mark Foncannon

Mark Foncannon is the development program administrator for UC Davis’ College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. He started this role in 2012, so is relatively new to the field; but being a part of the oldest college and one of the largest fundraising operations at UC Davis, his learning curve was steep. He and his team manage the college’s gift processing, endowment stewardship, dean’s giving club, business operations, and “other duties as assigned”. Prior to advancement, Mark spent 6 years as manager of undergraduate scholarships and 4 years as coordinator of student recruitment programs for undergraduate admissions at UC Davis.


Christine McGuire

Christine McGuire, Senior Director of Development Services, UC Davis Health System has been an employee with UC Davis since 2001, working in numerous capacities in development. In her current role in Health Sciences Development, she oversees prospect research, annual giving programs, endowment management, gifts processing, policy, donor relations, and outreach and special events. Specialty areas are building, streamlining and implementing systems for process improvement and strategy, and creating comprehensive stewardship plans. Christine has a bachelor’s degree in management from St. Mary’s College, graduate of the Coro Leadership program and a member of CASE, AHP, ADRP and AAMC.