Receiving
approval to increase staff is always difficult, particularly in a small
department where the increase may represent a relatively substantial
increase in budget requirements.
Here's a sample proposal to increase staff with additional backup
information to support the case.
Proposal for
Increasing Annual Giving Staff Size
While we
realize that current budgets are tight and office space is even tighter,
we would like to place into consideration a proposal to increase the
Annual Giving staff as new monies become available in the capital campaign
and a new office location is planned.
One or two more full-time Annual Giving professionals are required to
sufficiently serve an institution of our size and complexity, and such an
expansion would make significant contribution to the office’s effort to
identify new major gift prospects.
In the past
two years, Annual Giving has initiated, been given, or expanded a variety
of efforts, including the Annual Fund gift clubs, electronic funds
transfer, the office Web site, and increased emphasis on faculty/staff
giving.
In addition, we see the need for a parent solicitation program, a student
development and senior pledge campaign, an exploration of e-solicitation
opportunities, and new donor acknowledgment/donor retention efforts.
To even begin to cover these areas properly would require at least one
more staff member, particularly if we follow our campaign consultants
recommendation to triple the size of our calling facility, which will
significantly increase the responsibilities of our Phonathon manager.
(The enlarged facility will not only serve Development efforts directly,
but the Alumni Association is very interested in hiring our callers—when
we have this capacity—to sell memberships, rather than outsourcing this
service to telemarketing firms, a practice that has caused Development
much concern.)
Further, our campaign consultant has advised us that Annual Giving should
take on personal solicitation efforts, which he sees as completely
distinct from—but vital to the success of—the major gifts officers’
efforts. Reviewing an earlier draft of the list of responsibilities, he
said that while he thought the director could handle some personal
solicitation in addition to other projects, he recommended that we hire
another officer to spend full time on it—a staff member who would be hired
at a significantly lower salary than the major gifts officers but who
could meet local, higher level annual fund donors to screen their
potential for larger gifts.
We believe that planning for additional Annual Giving officers as part of
a proposed capital campaign budget is necessary to ensure continued and
growing participation of our alumni base.
Following is a chart showing the Annual Giving staff sizes of our peer
institutions and others.
Annual Giving Staff Sizes
(Includes full-time, professional staff only. Excludes
secretarial and student employees.)
Peer Institutions: |
Annual Giving Staff Size: |
University of Arizona |
2 |
University of California Los Angeles |
20 |
University of Cincinnati |
3 |
University of Colorado at Boulder |
10/0 (see note below) |
University of Florida |
2 |
University of Iowa |
5 |
University of N. Carolina Chapel Hill |
5 |
Purdue |
10 |
University of Virginia |
3 |
University of Washington |
6 |
Other Institutions: |
|
Brigham Young University |
7 |
Georgia Tech* |
8 |
Michigan State* |
8 |
Ohio State* |
5 |
Pittsburgh* |
7 |
Rutgers* |
4 |
UC San Diego* |
4 |
Virginia Tech* |
6 |
*
Information collected by our peer institution, Cincinnati, as part of
their research of other institutions they considered as having comparable
programs.
Note: As a budget cutting measure, UC Boulder recently laid off 40 full
time development officers, including the entire Annual Giving staff.
Their AG program now consists solely of an outsourced Phonathon operation.
Proposed Division of
Annual Giving Office Responsibilities
DIRECTOR
Program Responsibilities
Administration
Planning, strategy
-
Annual Fund marketing and communications
-
Donor acquisition and retention efforts
-
College Annual Fund consultation
Other
-
Database management committee
-
Alumni Association coordination
-
Misc. ad hoc duties (legislature, campus and office committee
assignments, etc.)
-
Representation
on other boards and committees as required
ASSISTANT DIRECTOR, PHONATHON
Program Responsibilities
ASSISTANT DIRECTOR, CAMPUS PROGRAMS
Program Responsibilities
ASSISTANT DIRECTOR, PERSONAL SOLICITATION
Program Responsibilities
-
Personal Solicitations
-
Gift Clubs
|