Virginia: Great point about leadership. I do think the head of this department must play a leadership role in guiding policies, procedures, technical projects, and priorities.

All: Your additions are great. Thank you!

You list is a good starting point. It details many of the day-to-day tasks and responsibilities; however, I have to agree with several of the others who have mentioned the need to highlight leadership more.

The most effective shops will have a leader who not only directs his/her team but also helps shape institutional policies and procedures. The AS leader must be fully versed in Development in order to provide the best services for what Development is doing now and what it will and can do in the future. Many times, especially in small shops, Development doesn’t really know what data, processes, etc. are needed to do a better job of fundraising.

In order to do so, the AS leader needs to have a seat at the sr. management table. Campaigns are a great time to initiate such a strategy; however, any time is good.

All the best,

Virginia

I’m not sure I see anything in the current list about being good managers of the department’s relationships with other departments, particularly IT and Finance, and the business tasks related to those relationships.

With today’s emphasis on security, I would suggest that explicit reference to protecting and securing the data in the department is the primary responsibility of AS.

I agree with others’ comments that training on the database should be reflected as a proactive responsibility of AS.

Similarly, I would like to see reflected a more proactive responsibility for creating policy and procedures and documenting them (actually two different roles).

Perhaps your original and my additional comments capture the sentiment, but I would like to believe there is also the responsibility to support the other members of the department in their data entry responsibilities and work (not just AS’s entry) and ensure its accuracy.

Finally, from my more specialized perspective I’d like to see them do more than just “understand” their software–secure, appropriately use, etc.

Thanks again for putting this together! Bill

This is an amazing start to a much needed discussion. I will add a disclaimer up front that I am a computer geek by default. Over the course of my career, I’ve found that the majority of my colleagues don’t know and don’t about the technology. Most aren’t sure how things work. Therefore they rely heavily on me and my staff to interpret what they need to be more effective in their jobs. As AS professionals we need to provide our advancement colleagues with tools that are creative and useful. Help them find new prospects as well as manage the prospects they already know. Find affinity patterns they might not have thought of. We also listen, teach, listen, advise, listen, encourage, listen …

All of this challenges the left brained of us to stretch our right brain.

I am blessed to have worked in a small shop early in my career during its major growth period. I was in on the ground floor of this incredible organization. Because of this, I was involved in more than “just data”. I was part of the 5 member management team that made decisions that fueled the growth. In addition to the technical area, I had my hands in everything from direct mail and mail piece design, list rentals, acknowledgment letter writing and processing, to setting up a call center, volunteer management, mail processing, field projects, and coordinating the in house printing of 30,000+ appeal letters a month.

This broad background has served me well. I can easily see the importance of each of your points. I agree with Charlie that in order to elevate this career path to upper level management, there could/should be more “initiates”, “leads”, “creates”, etc. in a list what AS does. We generally do all of those things … it’s just that no one knows. That’s where marketing the department services comes in!

Thanks for doing this!

Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts.

I think informed fundraising leaders are THE most critical component of a High Performing Advancement Services Shop. Here’s why…

I was formerly a DoD and Major Gift Officer at a major University that raised over $3 Billion in its last campaign. Five years ago, a healthcare organization recruited me to the Northwest as an MGO for their capital campaign. Very early on, I realized that there was absolutely NO major gifts pipeline. I went from six figure + solicitations to four figure ones.
In addition, there was no prospect management system, no policies or requirements for data entry, and absolutely no standards for using any of the organization’s 10 separate donor databases. Fundraising infrastructure had been completely ignored by development leaders. Not because they were negligent, but because they were COMPLETELY ignorant about AS and how critical it is for supporting all front-line fundraising efforts. They never connected the dots.

Realizing that I’d taken a HUGE step backwards in terms of my major gifts career AND because I am equal parts sales woman, computer geek (and damn proud of it), data-head and systems addict, I was happy to come over to the “Dark Side” and use my skills to begin building elements of a functional AS department.

After beating my head against the wall for over two years, I have come to realize how critical informed leadership is to a High Performing Advancement Services Shop. Unless development executives truly understand that AS is an integral part of a well-functioning fundraising organization, they are not likely to appropriately invest in VP level AS leaders or departments.

So, after speaking with other colleagues in the community (fundraisers & AS
professionals) and the local AFP president, I’ve decided to begin an AS educational track in 2010 that will be marketed to AFP chapter members. My plan is to engage local leaders/members of AASP & APRA to present executive-level summaries on various AS programs/topics AND provide examples of the positive impact these programs have on direct fundraising. The recent AASP survey results will provide a great overview of AS and could be a good way to kick off the track. My hope is that by filling the AS knowledge gap among AFP members, the next generation of leaders will elevate the status and importance of AS and invest in it appropriately. Not because we’re asking them to, but because they know that their direct fundraising programs will flourish when the AS machine is well resourced and professionally managed.

I’d welcome any words of wisdom, reality checks or tools from you and others that might be useful.

Thanks for generating good discussion around this chronic AS challenge.

Lori A. Slaughter, CFRE

Thank you for compiling this information which is pretty interesting, as you know I majored in computer science so the geek inside me prompts me to add some technical/information management skills, here are my comments that might or might not be relevant to the position.

Ability to identify information gaps and establish procedures and methods to assure the information flows adequately and seamlessly amongst all areas (Student Records and Alumni records Accounting Department and deposits etc.)

Adaptability to changes in management, business policies, software, governmental regulations etc.

Ability to understand business intelligence and articulate needs and requirements to IT professionals.

Again, thanks for compiling this which is also good because it cheers up the spirits of us advancement services professionals.
Happy New Year!

In general, I’d observe that there are too many “understands” and not enough “provides” or “helps” (and no “leads”, “takes the initiative on”, “creates”, etc.)

I think we need to expect that the A/S group will seek to learn and understand the institutional & divisional objectives, vision, & policies, so that they can develop and document and disseminate their own objectives, vision and policies and then also develop the “how-to” procedures, standards and guidelines for their own operations.

From my experience, another aspect of A/S value is in using their understanding of both advancement functions and the system in use to help set directions and priorities for continuous process and systems improvement.

I’d also like to emphasize/amplify your “be able to train” concept with taking the lead on training and helping to assure that advancement staff are trained.

Robert, once again you’ve identified a great concept for one of our upcoming CASE or AASP conferences. Thanks!

Charlie Hunsaker