BETTER TOGETHER The Development-Communications

Partnership

Hattfields & McCoys

T. Swift and Kanye

Sonny and Cher

Partners?

Han Solo and Chewbacca

Barack and Joe

Andy and Barney

Partners

Why our partnership matters

■ Transfer of wealth

■ Now or never

■ Disinvestment in higher education

■ If not YOU, then WHO?

MISCONCEPTIONS 101

DEVELOPMENT OFFICERS What People Think

Truth

COMMUNICATIONS STAFF What People Think

Truth

Communicators are specialists

■Who did the hiring?

■Who did you hire?

■A creative writer?

■A news person who is also a writer?

■A graphic designer?

■A web designer?

■An IT person who has the keys to your

website?

■Someone else?

Development Officers are also specialists, but often move between these areas:

■Annual Fund

■Director of Development

■Corps and Foundations

■Major Gifts

■Principal Gifts

■Planned Gifts

■Work together from the beginning

■Pre-plan and combine resources

■Identify objectives and goals

■Jointly advocate

WHAT’S YOUR BANDWITH?

■Letters

■Websites

■Brochures

■Case Statements

■Proposals

■Annual Reports

■E-Marketing

■Social Media

Development Communications

vs. General

Communications

Where does Communications report?

■Enrollment?

■Development?

■President?

■Dean?

CAN’T YOU GET A STUDENT TO DO THIS?

Anne’s favorite question!

OK, YOU’RE IN A HURRY

BUT… Please don’t.

PHOTOGRAPHY MATTERS.

This?

Bert and Tillie Hood, Planned Giving Donors

Or

This?

An Endowed Chair

IT TAKES TWO TO MAKE A THING GO “WRITE”

(It takes two to make it outta sight.)

■Development staff can feed impact stories to Communications staff

■Communications staff can strengthen fundraising message

LET’S TALK WEBSITES

The Fight for Space vs.

The Courage to Stand Out

Which do you prefer?

Crowded Site Simplicity

Who is managing your website?

We measure what

matters, right?

Impressions are Impressive. But do they really translate to dollars?

Print is dying, right?

Not yet!

Our readers

don’t want

donor

stories!

Meet Harris Rosen

Meet Red Hat Guy

Hard Hats

and

Heartbreak

Missed Opportunities

■ Powering Pomolong

■ Honors College supplies

a South African

community with electricity

■ Experiential learning as a

fundraising priority

Guiding Principles for Magazines

■Full time editor

■Editor makes final decisions

■Resource it

■Don’t scrimp on design

■It’s not a direct mail piece

VIDEOS FOR DEVELOPMENT

Meet the Professor

Or meet the person she helped

Choose Goosebumps!

Which one for fundraising?

Conveying Data

■Think chunk-able

■Think snack-able

■Think scan-able

A COMPREHENSIVE CAMPAIGN

What People Plan for First

■Fundraising Consultant

■Feasibility Study

■Hiring of Development Staff

■Ramping up on Research

But, wait! What are we raising money for?

■Vision

■Campaign

Communications Plan

■Case Statements

The Challenge

■$500 million

■12 colleges

■64,000 students

■217 funding priorities

Athletics

Building

Faculty

How do we make it all fit?

WE CAN’T. JUST ACCEPT IT.

But, we can create a suite of communications pieces that will address

development needs.

The best case statements have BIG ideas.

CREATING CAMPAIGN COLLATERAL

■What resources do you have?

■Can you hire freelancers?

■Do you have leadership buy-in?

■Can you start small?

■White papers

■FAQs

■One pagers

Best Fundraising Friends

Start small. And grow.

■ White papers

■ Case statements

■ CASE-style summit

■ Briefing book

What goes and what stays?

SHOW ME THE MONEY! Calculate ROI by category

Lapsed and non-donors

To Mail or Not to Mail?

One high-ask proposal? Or hundreds of direct mail letters?

DO’S AND DON’TS

■ Do sweat the small stuff – details

matter

■ Do use freelance writers

■ Do hire professional photographers

■ Do use printed materials as an

enhancement to your visit

■ Don’t overthink it

■ Don’t promise a big cardboard

check

■ Don’t promise a press release

■ Don’t explain – show don’t tell

■ Don’t underestimate the power of a

strong image or video in storytelling

Pick your top 3

Show

staff

what

you’re

doing

■Know your staff’s strengths and weaknesses

■One size does not fit all

■Be prepared to buy your deficits

■Reach out to colleagues in other cities

USE REAL WORDS. Avoid development speak and shop talk.

Most people don’t know what we’re talking about.

■ Endowment

■ Underwater Endowments

■ Corpus

■ Planned Gift

■ Spendable

■ In Perpetuity

■ Unrestricted Gift

■ Principal Gift

■ Transformative Gift

MAKE YOUR MESSAGE CLEAR

Tip: Read it out loud.

CAMPAIGN ROLLOUT Can we do this?

Guiding Principles

■Budget

■Audience

■Task Force

■Shared

Responsibility

■Start Early, Meet

Often

Touch People’s Hearts.

■ Do you have a publicity plan for announcing gifts?

■ Is permission written into the gift agreement?

■ Don’t wait until the gift is already received to make a plan.

■ Don’t promise a press release.

Announcing Gifts

TOO MUCH INFORMATION

Things to keep in mind.

■ Information Overload

– Individuals must sort through more information than ever before

■ Split-Second Decisions

– Appeals for money or attention elicit gut-check responses from

busy consumers

■ Top of Inbox Wins

– Endless influx of communications means focus on the last

organization to reach out

■ Relevance is Paramount

– Donors stay tuned in as long as the organization is engaging

them with the content that is relevant to their lives

IS COMMUNICATIONS AT THE FUNDRAISING TABLE?

.

You know you’re at the table when…

■ Fundraisers include communications at part of a strategy, not just a service provider

■ Fundraisers lose that loving feeling for logos and brochures

IS FUNDRAISING AT THE COMMUNICATIONS TABLE?

.

You know you’re at the table when…

■ Communicators

ask your opinions

and advice

■ Communicators

are checking in

regularly to see

what you are

doing

When in doubt…

QUESTIONS? Anne Botteri

Associate Vice President for Advancement

Communications and Donor Relations

UCF Foundation

407.882.1258

Anne.Botteri@ucf.edu