Sharing is Caring

Imagine this scenario: A major gift officer needs a proposal for a donor who is ready to be asked for a significant gift. She writes the proposal and sends it off. The file sits on her hard drive unbeknownst to her colleagues. Meanwhile, they are writing their own proposals for the same project.

When you don’t share communications internally, bad things happen:

• Time is wasted through duplication of effort

• Program partners are being asked the same information by different people

• Language and quality are inconsistent

• Feedback from donors isn’t being shared to improve future communications

Now, imagine a seamless process in which everyone knows what’s in the major gifts communications toolkit, has access to it, and is working as a team to improve it. It is possible.

• Make communications-sharing a departmental value.

• If you’re a team-leader, model the habit of sharing at every opportunity—in team meetings, on Slack, via email, etc. Have a standing agenda item to allow everyone to share what communications they’ve requested or used recently and what the outcomes were.

• Consider appointing liaisons to different units in your org to avoid redundant information gathering.

• Invest in the technology and learn how to use it. Project management software, Team, Google Drive… it really doesn’t matter which one as long as it’s accessible to all, will notify the team when new communications are created or updated, and fosters collaboration.

And remember to invite others in. It’s important for everyone in donor relations, planned giving, and other areas of advancement to know what their colleagues are sending out. Otherwise, your donors may be confused when they receive multiple communications about the same thing from different arms of your broader team.

• Convene a regular meeting with advancement communicators where they can share recent and upcoming communications.

• Ensure that major gift officers receive the same mass communications that their donors would.

• Foster a culture of appreciation for the work of all throughout advancement.