The steps to developing and implementing a donor stewardship plan.

1. Creative Stewardship:
Nuts and Bolts of Developing and Implementing
A Stewardship Plan
Vicki Carew
Executive Director
Institutional Advancement and the
GPC Foundation
Georgia Perimeter College
Anne Manner-McLarty
President and Lead Consultant
Heurista, Co.

2. What is a Stewardship Plan?
• Education
• Coordination
• Assignments
• List of Standard Responses
• Individual Stewardship Plans

3. Motivating Factors
• New, growing or changing staff
• Growth and change in the donor base
• Long-lasting, more complex donor
relationships
• More competition for donor commitment
• Campaign on the horizon

4. Need to be…
New
Unique
Meaningful
Realistic
Sustainable
Scalable

5. GPC’s specific directives
• Consistency by giving level and type
• Record-keeping strategy
• “Best donor experience anywhere”
(i.e., donor retention)

6. Realities
• Budget - in time and money
• Staff resources
• Expertise and/or vision for peer
institutions’ best practices
• Leverage

7. Be true to the organization’s
character
• A template will not do
• Beyond “brand”
• Personality
• Style and method
• Maximize your stewardship assets

8. GPC Details
“Georgia Perimeter College is a two year public college
that provides high quality affordable educational options
that are accessible through five campus locations. With a
current student enrollment that is just short of 27,000
students, GPC is the third largest institution in the state of
Georgia. Students range from the traditional high school
graduate to returning professional and other adult
learners.”

10. Process: Questionnaires

11. Process: Review of existing
documents
• Institutional Advancement org chart
• Foundation bylaws, policies and procedures
• Draft Foundation financial polices and procedures
• Gift regulations for endowments, scholarships and
naming opportunities
• Recognition plans
• Communication examples
• Donor lists
• Gift pyramids - current and forecast

12. Process: Draft Stewardship
Guidelines
• Introduction - statement of ownership
• Objective
• Definitions/Principles
• Implementation responsibilities
• Procedures
• Recognition Societies
• Guidelines for Individual Stewardship Plans
• Special circumstances

13. Stewardship Activity Categories
• Required communication
• Routine communication
• Routine listings
• Customized communication
• Tiered event invitations
• Thank you gift items
• Permanent public recognition

14. Stewardship Principles
Acknowledge
Recognize
Report
Engage

15. Clarification….
GPC defined
engagement as access and access as
non-traditional events

16. GPC Details
“Additional recognition activities based on the most
exclusive cumulative and consecutive giving patterns will
be implemented. These include additional events,
meetings, calls and visits. Additional giving societies are
not recommended, as donors engaged at the highest
levels are least likely to respond to titles and sub-divided
distinctions. They are interested in the one-on-one
interaction facilitated by the Individualized Stewardship
Plan.”

18. Individual Stewardship Plan
Minimum Requirements

19. GPC Details
“Individualized Stewardship Plans should take into
consideration donor interests and the precedents
established for other donors with similar giving histories. In
general, corporate and foundation donors will receive
responses matching those for individual donors in the
same annual recognition category. Variations most
appropriate to corporate or foundation entities will be
employed.”

20. GPC Details
“Individual Stewardship Plans are to be developed and
maintained by the development officers. Recordkeeping
and revision/updating should occur in conjunction with
each donor touch. Individualized Stewardship Plans should
be reviewed by the Executive Director of the GPC
Foundation on at least an annual basis.”

21. GPC Details
“Special circumstances – anonymity, development officer
insight, or directives from GPC Foundation or Office of
Institutional Advancement – may indicate an Individual
Stewardship Plan for a donor that has not yet met the
recommended criteria.”

25. Process: Review with staff
• Draft Stewardship Plan
• Board’s retreat
• Approval to proceed
• Review with staff…. and then….

26. Integration in the donor database
• Worksheet is only a “concept” tool
• Information needs to be integrated in other
donor records and data-entry processes
• Eliminate duplication of effort
• Prevent possibility of different information in
different places
• Streamline reporting
• Facilitate performance metrics

27. Anne’s Analogy: the drawers

28. Anne’s Analogy: the drawers

29. Research
Our proposed stewardship data store will house
items specific to our activities while pulling
information from various sources including
Banner, the student award system, the financial
accounting system, etc. I think having a data
store that talks to the other systems is the best
way to go since it minimizes chances for error
and can be fully customized based on
stewardship activities at certain giving levels. -
Daphne Powell, UAB

30. Research
2012 Presentation at ADRP NYC regional
- Perry Liberty, Vassar
Key concept - Filemaker Pro and other databases
receive current, live information from Banner
because interim applications gather and supply it

31. Next steps for GPC
• Update and/or expand procedure manuals for all
Institutional Advancement staff
• Schedule staged implementation of the
Individual Stewardship Plans
• Coordinate database improvements/alternatives
and test with ISP application
• Expand customizable communication plans,
especially via individualized endowment reports
and other donor impact reports

32. How are you managing
individualized stewardship records?
• How much emphasis is placed on individualized
plans at your institution?
• What format are you using for planning and
recording activities?
• Who are your implementation partners?

33. Anne Manner-McLarty
Anne is president and lead consultant for Heurista,
a multi-disciplinary firm dedicated to discovering the
authentic stories that drive an organization’s
mission. This work draws upon Anne’s experience and
reputation as a thought leader in donor recognition
and stewardship program planning.
Before establishing her own company, Anne was
president of Robin E. Williams Incorporated, and she
has been an active participant in ADRP since 2005.
She lives in Asheville, North Carolina where she has
plenty of opportunities to re-engage her creative spirit
and participate in community activities.

34. Vicki Carew
Vicki is the Executive Director of Institutional
Advancement and the Georgia Perimeter College
Foundation, where she is responsible for overseeing the
college’s fund raising efforts. She manages the
Foundation’s assets and is leading efforts to launch the
college’s first comprehensive campaign. While at GPC,
Vicki has established sound donor relations and
stewardship practices to successfully manage a multi-
million dollar asset portfolio and the cultivation and
stewardship that is central to developing and
maintaining key donor relationships. Vicki has over
twenty years’ experience in non-profit and higher
education administration and lends her expertise
serving on several non-profit boards.