This community, led by Savannah Schuermann and Greg Driscoll is charged with engaging UVA alumni, parents, and friends through a recurring and structured platform to:

• Create collaborations for efficient use of resources and an improved alumni experience
• Network with colleagues to harness the collective experience and intellectual resources of engagement professionals across Grounds
• Propose solutions to address community-wide challenges
• Learn from industry experts, both internal and external

Alumni relations and engagement staff across the University are encouraged to participate. Submit a ticket to the Help Desk to join.

This community, led by Megan Poole and Brad Neathery, shares and discusses best practices on a wide array of annual giving topics, including direct mail, donor acknowledgment, and leadership annual giving.

Annual giving staff across the University are encouraged to participate. Submit a ticket to the Help Desk to join.

Resources

• May 30, 2024: Meeting recording | Slides
• November 8, 2023: Meeting recording | Slides
• Slides from September 27, 2023 meeting

This community, led by Ellie Myers, aims to increase corporate and foundation giving across Grounds by:

• Sharing best practices for soliciting and stewarding foundations and corporations
• Solving common problems
• Creating partnerships between the University Advancement Corporate and Foundation Relations team and schools and units
• Collaboration

Fundraisers and others working to solicit gifts from corporations and foundations are encouraged to participate. Contact Ellie Myers to join.

Maximizing Future Gifts

This community, led by Dane Ferre and Elizabeth Hilles, is focused on increasing planned giving performance by helping others learn more about planned giving as it relates to prospecting, blended gift conversations, gift vehicles and assets, legal issues, tax considerations and successful current gift discussions. 

Fundraisers from across the University interested in learning more about planned giving are encouraged to participate.

This community, led by Carrie Jordan, enables increased coordination for our international advancement work across Grounds, and allows our advancement community to hone skills and explore best practices related to development and engagement globally. 

Make the Most of Your Portfolio

Led by Bo Greenwood and Whitney Wilson, this group provides a welcoming intellectual environment for front-line fundraisers to discuss and share best practices for effective and efficient major gift fundraising, develop meaningful professional relationships with partners across Grounds, harness and have access to the collective intellectual capital of the front-line fundraising community at UVA, and propose solutions to community-wide challenges. This group is open to all fundraisers who carry a portfolio.

Improving the Donor Experience

This community, led by Karyn Rader and June Drude, is focused on

• Collaborating for efficient use of resources and an improved donor experience
• Networking with colleagues to harness the collective experience and intellectual resources of donor relations professionals across Grounds
• Proposing solutions to address community-wide challenges
• Learning from industry experts

Development staff across Grounds with an interest in donor relations and stewardship activities are encouraged to participate. Submit a ticket to the Help Desk to join.

Resources

• May 30, 2024: Meeting recording | Slides