Advancement Operations

University Advancement Services

Advancement Services supports Advancement’s gift and data administration and information flow into and out of Advancement’s database of record. This is managed through data governance, provision of enterprise technologies and software applications, and through the provision of on-demand reporting ecosystem. Currently UA is converting its database from Ellucian Advance to Salesforce CRM. This project will continue through the end of the campaign and will roll-out in phases.

Advancement Technology

The Advancement Technology team offers best-in-class technology solutions supporting UVA’s fundraising needs with an eye on providing seamless data integration across multiple platforms. These technologies include the database of record, development tools, event management, online giving forms, marketing tools, and reporting.

Learn more about available technology tools. 

Business Intelligence

The Business Intelligence team is the official reporting corps for institutional research, analysis, and reporting for advancement business at the University of Virginia. They provide services essential to the stability of our fundraising program, including support related to data management, data integrity, campaign and gift reporting, research, data analysis, and digital innovation, including the following core services:

Official, University-wide Reporting

• Campaign & gift reports
• Performance metrics (individuals & units, major & annual giving, engagement)
• Management dashboards
• Desktop and mobile applications & tools
• Official and/or annual institutional reporting (VSE, GG+A, BOV)

Data Security

• Access to and maintenance of donor data and tools (Advance, Cognos, Perceptive Content, EverTrue, Eventbrite)
• Database management, technology support

Research & Analysis

• Unit-specific impact reports (major and annual giving, engagement)
• Analysis of ROI for initiatives (mailings, campaign challenges)
• Prospect identification and research
• Assessment of portfolio health
• Prospect management support
• Data mining, predictive modeling, and scoring projects

Digital Communications Support

• Marketing analytics (efficacy of electronic communications, blast emails)
• Project coordination and consultation

Members of UVA’s Advancement Community may use these services, with the level of access dependent on demonstrated business needs and meeting of security and training requirements. For more details, read the Advancement Operations Data & Service Memo of Understanding.

The Finance office oversees the administration of UA’s budget to ensure expenses are consistent with UA’s spending plan and policies. This office liaises with UVA’s HR and finance offices, and is responsible for providing accounting and forecasts of annual gift revenues, BOV campaign reporting, and allocating campaign matches.

This team manages provides the following services:

Gift Accounting

• Access the Gift Accounting Fundraising Reports on UVA Box.
• Process all requests for new allocation creation (except AA/UVa Fund, McIntire, and Batten) in Advance Web
• Monthly reconciliation of all R&V gifts in Advance vs. cash received in the financial system (Workday)
• Reconciliation of giving data feeds from Law and Athletics
• Daily reconciliation and depositing of previous day's cash gifts received at UAS 
• Reconciliation of bank and brokerage accounts 
• Deposit and book transfer wires from foundations in Workday
• Record private grants into Advance Web
• Generate monthly Giving Reports on annual fundraising progress
• Provide expertise on gift policy and acceptance rules and guidelines
• Determine and reconcile the Strategic Investment Fund (SIF) match amounts for the ongoing donor matching fund initiatives, including Bicentennial Scholarships, Fellowships, and Professorships
• Continual reviews of giving data to ensure accuracy and completeness of donor records

Finance

• Develop, maintain, forecast, and report on the expenditure budget for University Advancement
• Act as subject matter experts on travel and entertainment expense credit cards, policy, and reconciliations
• Monthly reconciliation of all expense accounts
• Review and approve all expense reports for UA
• Liaison with central finance on budgeting, travel, and expensing issues and concerns

Analytics & Decision Support includes Prospect Management, Research, and Analytics for UA and endeavors to provide data-driven understanding to support the giving lifecycle of alumni and donors to UVA. 

Prospect Management & Research

The Prospect Development department provides insight and information management services to help identify and qualify potential major donors to the University. This team helps staff across Grounds achieve their fundraising goals in order to ensure UVA's continued success in education, research, patient care, and service through:

• Prospect research
• Prospect data analysis
• Prospect and portfolio management
• Prospect records management
• Support Areas

Capacity Ratings and Propensity Scores
There are several criteria to take into consideration when evaluating each prospect in your portfolio, including the prospect’s capacity and propensity to give. Individual prospects are assigned a rating in Advance to reflect the prospect’s overall philanthropic capacity. This is an estimate of the maximum dollar amount a prospect could give to all of their philanthropic interests over a hypothetical five-year pledge period. You will be able to determine your prospects’ propensity to give as you develop those relationships. When working with prospects you do not know well, the Propensity Model Score and the Affinity Score may help. Learn more: Understanding Ratings and Scores

Contact Reports
Accurate records are critical to our successful collaboration and ability to provide a seamless experience for donors. Detailed and timely contact reports allow us to share and track information, build institutional memory, and deepen relationships across the UVA philanthropic community. Learn more: Contact Reports Best Practices, Contact Report Types & Purposes

Prospect Management
Development officers across the UVA development community—including annual, major, planned, principal, corporate and foundation gift officers—work together to develop an agreed-upon strategy for moving relationships forward. Each staff role has equal responsibility for communicating with the others. Coordination of strategy and activity is essential to the prospect management program, and collegial communication among development staff is expected at all times. When communications are relevant to prospect management strategies or actions, development staff should call, e-mail, or copy colleagues who also have a relationship with, or interest in, a particular prospect. Learn more: Prospect Management Policy

Prospect Movement Through the Donor Cycle
Development officers are responsible for moving prospects through the donor cycle in a timely fashion and for updating the program stage for each prospect in Advance. This enables everyone on the prospect management team to know where development officers and their programs are in the development cycle, enables senior development officers and University leaders to better predict the pipeline of potential gifts, and is part of how we measure fundraiser performance. Learn more: Prospect Movement Through the Donor Cycle

Records Management
The Advancement Records & Information team of the Advancement Operations division maintains records related to UVA donors and prospects and a repository of prospect research and other relevant records not maintained in Advance. These records are sometimes referred to by our colleagues as the “central files.” It's to our benefit to keep key documents that inform our work, yet it's critical to not save everything. Learn more: Advancement Records Management

Research Requests
Advance queries and Advancement Performance reports fulfill many development officer research needs. If you need to take a deeper dive, plan ahead and request the research you need from the Prospect Development department following the Research Request Guidelines. Complete the research request form.
 

The People Operations team provides a wide array of services including: Week of Learning and Day of Learning conferences, onboarding and offboarding for University Advancement staff, the Advancement Hub and Take 5 e-newsletter, Old Ivy Building space and furnishings management, listserv maintenance, University Advancement payroll processing and cell phone administration, Communities of Practice management, Introduction to Advancement program, Administrative Professionals Certificate program, and other professional development opportunities and resources.

Visit the Learning Library for resources and learning opportunities provided by this team.