And the Award Goes to . . . Dania Beck

“This is a big deal!”  So said George Maynard, Vice President of Institutional Advancement at Greenville Hospital System University Medical Center about the Best Practitioner in Donor Recognition Award bestowed on Dania Beck, Annual Giving Manager for the hospital system.

Dania has been a leader there in the development of a comprehensive donor relations program that integrates new media for donor cultivation, stewardship and recognition. Moving to the Office of Philanthropy and Partnership from the hospital’s marketing team, Dania’s first responsibilities were centered specifically on e-Philanthropy.  In that capacity she initiated the Virtual Toy Drive for their Children’s Hospital and other e-philanthropy programs that continue to raise awareness as well as funds for much needed patient support items.  Dania’s creativity and dedication to using new media to drive her program have been instrumental in building a rapidly expanding donor base for the hospital system. Continue reading »

Filed under Best Practices for Donor Recognition, Donor Communications, Donor Recognition Programs, Social Media, Stewardship, Think Before You Thank | Tags: annual giving, Best Practices for Donor Recognition, Best Practitioner, Communications, Donor Recognition, online giving, Stewardship, Think Before You Thank | Comments Off

A Call for Truly Successful Online Donor Recognition

Fundraising organizations are actively seeking effective means for communicating with donors through online tools. More importantly, donors expect the most efficient and timely means of communication.  Web-based technologies have the potential to create a new paradigm where donors co-create an engaging online experience that strengthens existing donor relationships and facilitates greater giving. Continue reading »

Filed under Best Practices for Donor Recognition, Donor Communications, Philanthropy, Stewardship, Think Before You Thank, multimedia donor recognition | Tags: Donor Recognition, Donor Relations, donor wall, Interactive Displays, new media, online giving, Philanthropy Center, Trends in Fundraising | Comments Off

What Comes Next? TheThanksTank.com™ Roundtable’s Critical Question

Today we sparked out-of-the-box thinking (over boxed lunches) with multimedia donor recognition experts, Harv Mock and James Graham of Planned Legacy and a select group of forward thinking non-profit professionals, discussing the role of new media in donor recognition.  The conversation started with an overview of the “perfect storm” of fundraising and donor communication demands that created the need for more dynamic, engaging communication tactics, leading to the influx of electronic and interactive displays.  Harv and James were able to show examples of multimedia presentations in several formats and demonstrate the versatility of electronic recognition; the slides from today’s presentation are included here. Continue reading »

Filed under Best Practices for Donor Recognition, Donor Communications, Recognition Environments, Social Media, Stewardship, multimedia donor recognition | Tags: Capital Campaign, donor wall, electronic displays, electronic donor recognition, Interactive Displays, multimedia donor recognition, online giving, Stewardship, Trends in Fundraising, virtual donor recognition | Comments Off

I Found a “Great” Online Experience!

In searching for examples of high quality donor recognition media on line, I came across this absolute J-E-W-E-L from Texas A&M Commerce! It meets all the qualifications we recommend for an engaging online experience: it is dynamic (video), creative (what a great concept… the metaphorical “lift” a scholarship provides), it includes donors and scholarship recipients speaking directly to the audience, and it’s well worth forwarding (taking advantage of social media’s viral communication spread). Kudos to the producers of these videos. They get an A++ in my book! (click continue reading to see the videos) Continue reading »

Filed under Best Practices for Donor Recognition, Donor Communications, Social Media | Tags: Communications, Development, new media, online giving, Social Media, Stewardship, Think Before You Thank, Trends in Fundraising | Comments Off

Experiential Stewardship: The “Must Know” Guidelines for Top Tier Donors

Robin Good recently posted a series of questions on the ADRP Listserv, basically asking this: what are you doing for your top tier donors, and have you standardized those activities in any way?  In further conversation with her, I was impressed with her application of a seldom-used term, experiential stewardship, to the work involved in donor relations.  In a nutshell, she used it to refer to the all-important act of providing meaningful experiences for your donors, ones that go beyond the routine checklist of stewardship activities. Continue reading »

Filed under Best Practices for Donor Recognition, Donor Communications, Stewardship, Think Before You Thank | Tags: ADRP, Best Practices for Donor Recognition, Communications, Development, Donor Recognition, Fundraising, Naming Opportunities, online giving, Stewardship, Think Before You Thank, Trends in Fundraising | Comments Off