University of Minnesota: New Donor Management Software

Introduction and Audiences:

The University of Minnesota has increased its donors from 500 to almost 4,000, all of which are considered members of the Golden Gopher Fund. The university currently uses the donor database to track gift history, but data also lives elsewhere in other departments because teams maintain their contact data independently. Our donation management system will allow our organization the opportunity to combat a lack of communication, data silos, and the lack of a central archive. Valuable time and energy is wasted chasing information and merging lists, rather than performing work that furthers our mission. By adopting a donor based management system linked with our ticket office software (Audienceview), we will be able to provide a system that serves the entire organization — not just one department. No longer will we not be able to check on the donor’s ticket account status or their donations to other colleges of the university. Another key factor of the system will be that all information will be played in real time so that when a donation is made, it will not take two or three weeks time to retrieve information. Lastly, this system will be able to be used by everyone in the university who has permission and access to the current software system.

Purpose and Goals for the System:

The University has the following goals for our system:

1. Organized data maintenance: All information about a donor (name, address, phone, etc.) and pertinent donation history are easy to access. In addition, you can keep track of the information mailed to the donor, events the donor has attended, the reasons why donations were made to your organization, and other details of the donor’s profile.

2. Improve fundraising efforts with less time and aggravation. Acknowledgements will be organized via the improved system and can be delivered via e-mail with the click of a button. This information will also can be easily tracked. The system can also track the effectiveness of different variations of a mailing, or implementing a new funding program. You will also be able to analyze all of the aforementioned changes.

3. Increase your productivity by tracking fundraising activity in reports (queries, acknowledgement reports etc.). You can also increase your productivity by optimizing the methods of tracking volunteer efforts and major gift officers visits to major donors.

4. Integration of DMS and Audienceview. This will allow users of the DMS software to view ticket information without having to use two different computer towers and two different screens. One will also be able to see if ticket history/information has been updated.

Our system will further strengthen our cultivate donor relationships and achieve better fundraising results and efficiency. The system will be internet based, as it will allow for the real time feature to be implemented. The ticket information will be carried over from the Audienceview system.

Features:

-Contact management

-Donation management

-Pledge management

-Activities (notes, email, phone calls, meetings etc...)

-Campaign management

-Event management

-Opportunity management

-Invoices

-gift transmittals

-Email correspondence (custom email templates and email tracking)

-Letter correspondence (integrates with Microsoft word for easy mail merge letters)

-Reporting and Analysis

-Advanced Quering and Filtering

-Customizations available throughout the software

-Ability to hide functionality you don't use

Benefits Claimed:

Donor Management Software is the solution to balancing the work of accurate record keeping. Fundraising software is an essential tool for the success and growth of any size nonprofit organization. Fundraising software allows users to keep essential administrative records in one central database and eliminates the inefficiency of dealing with multiple spreadsheets and documents on individual computers.

Analysis of Performance:

Building a database often forces departments to work together and see each other in a new light. Building a customized solution requires IT competency, even if an outside consultant does the actual programming. It also requires looking at the larger population that interacts with the organization -- vendors, board members, clients, volunteers, donors, staff members -- and discovering the relationships between them. Lastly, the process of building a solution unearths practices that, left alone, are actually destructive to an organization -- mailing list hoarding, double data entry, and a less-than-optimal level of IT knowledge among staff. It is for these reasons that it is important to carry on with implementing a new and improved system for the university.

Recommendation:

After reviewing the product, we recommend that the University of Minnesota updates its DMS system so that it can take advantage of new improvements that will make its system more efficient. Greater accuracy with its system as well as the opportunity to customize the system to fit each department makes it quite beneficial. Finally, the opportunity to see things in real time will also benefit the organization as a whole.

Sports Communication around the World

Our book states that although mass media cover a multitude of areas and beats such as national and local new, politics and religion, science and entertainment, and business and finance, one of the major roles of mass media is to cover sport (Lucella, Miloch, Pederson, 2007). Sports mass media therefore holds the capability of molding the fans view of the sports they love. The symbiosis of sports and media play on each other, selling newspapers, increasing profits, and improving ratings for papers and television networks. So where does newspaper coverage fit into all of this?

Its simple. They know that the bottom line is to create hype around certain sports topics. By using the internet to find information and interview people through e-mail, the internet has changed the way in which we receive news. For example, take today's issue of cyclist Landis has been all over digital papers such as the New York Times, while papers in London such as the Daily Mirror are more concerned with the Barcelona, Liverpool, and the start of the World Cup. So why the change in sports coverage although both sports are known worldwide? I believe that it's the power of those who report the news and what sports are important to the audience. In America we are trying to appeal to the fan that is more focused on scandal and the athlete who has tarnished its image. If you think about the news that has been reported lately, we see the fallen athletes of Tiger Woods, Lawrence Taylor, Santonio Holmes, and Ben Roethlisberger. While some of these scandals take place across the world, there just aren't that many athletes to focus on. In America, we have the luxury of not only being the melting pot of people, but also the melting pot of sport due to our own diversity. While not every sport is always in the limelight, opening any American paper shows that almost every major sport will get its time to shine. The main factor however, is that the sports writers are posting what the fans want, if soccer coverage or the latest scandal, its what is shown. Even so, with these limitations, only time will tell where sports coverage will go five or ten years from now.

Twitter's impact on the Sport's Industry

The impact of social media on the Internet has been interesting the past couple of years. With the additions of myspace, twitter, and facebook, it seems that the way in which we view media has forever changed. With the rise of Twitter, the Internet is perhaps more interactive than it’s ever been. The divide between you and star athletes across the world are slimmer than ever before. Athletes can use Twitter to speak directly to their fans, without the middleman operating a video camera and learn what is exactly on their mind. A prime example that has been used in the sporting community are the tweets of Toronto Raptor's player Chris Bosh. He tweeted to his fans whether or not he should stay in Toronoto. In turn, the fans feel like they are actually a "friend" of the athlete. While I have never experienced the twitter world, I have ventured to the facebook fan pages of Chad OchoCinco and have seen fans comment on personal family pictures as if they are truly friends of the star athlete. The potential to increase a player's or team's image then, seem to be infinite. In the case of college athletics, where there is an ongoing battle to get top recruits social media Web sites have also been beneficial tools. By being personal with potential student-athletes, coaches are able to show their coaching style or philosophy as well as portraying the intangible experiences of attending their respective institution. I have also attached a link where COSIDA has teamed up with a media challenge to show secrets of getting the best out of social media by Kathleen Hessert. I think the video does a really good job of explaining the power of social media and twitter and the power of doing things in real time. She explains that the power of the brands image is now in the hands of the fan, which to me, is a very important change in communication. Furthermore, the key is to express personality so that the fans will be engaged. It will be interesting to see what changes will come in the next five years with the use of twitter.

About Keiana Mitchell

Someone once said that sport serves society by providing vivid examples of excellence. Sports have taught me not only to achieve excellence but also to encompass the passion, creativity and discipline needed to positively affect the growing sports industry. Sports have always been an important part of my life. Playing sports has allowed me to do and dream things I never thought possible. I never could have imagined the impact that it would have on not only my life but also my future career goals. It provided me with the opportunity to receive a great education and the opportunity to attend The Ohio State University as a first generation college student. As a student-athlete I learned first hand the importance of having an institution built upon the tradition and excellence of a successful athletic program. My participation in varsity athletics allowed me to understand and appreciate, the value of an effectively marketed and organized athletic department, the balance that is needed to be a high performing student and athlete, and the value in ensuring that administrative systems and processes are effectively integrated. It also has taught me the value of teamwork, time management, and dedication, which I believe are crucial to a successful career in sports management. I also sought to further develop in my career path by volunteering and contributing to the growth of sports through organizations like the Big Brother/Big Sister program, Girl Scouts of America’s Clinics, The Ohio State University’s Sports Camps and obtaining internships with the Women’s Sports Foundation and the University of Minnesota’s Athletic Department. All of these experiences I believe will allow me to further my practical experience in both administration and management. These experiences placed me at a crossroads in my career path as I decided whether to attend law school or receive my masters in sports management. After some time and consideration and meeting with administrators, I appreciated the passion that they had for their job. I then realized that I wanted to continue their work and ensure that other student-athletes would have the same opportunities that I had. It is for these reasons that I decided to continue my studies in sports management and to give back and contribute to the growth of college athletics. It is for these reasons that I continue to seek a career as an athletic director.