From scholarships to building projects, University Development plans, organizes and manages systematic programs to obtain private support for the academic needs of the University of South Carolina. It formulates fundraising policies and procedures, assists leadership in determining fundraising objectives and priorities and implements focused operations (including full-scale capital campaigns) to secure charitable contributions.
In order to present a consistent and precise case for private support to prospective donors and, thereby, maximize gift potential, University Development centrally coordinates all university fundraising programs.
Focused on a variety of constituencies, the fundraising programs of this division share a fundamental cycle of activity: identification of prospective donors; researching information about these prospective donors; establishing relationships to discover or confirm prospective donors’ interests at UofSC; cultivation of these interests by involving prospective donors in related university programs with private support needs; solicitation of prospective donors to strengthen these programs; and proper recognition and stewardship to help ensure continued donor interest and involvement that may lead to future donations.
With the exception of the Carolina Callers program, development services are financed
through administrative fees levied on managed funds.
The development office engages in continual process improvement. The current focus is on:
- improved accuracy of alumni/donor data
- better response time for reporting and data analysis
- improved segmentation of comprehensive campus calling sessions
- better caller preparation
- development of additional webinar training sessions
- improved endowment reporting for campuses
Services
Records for all alumni, friends, donors and prospects are managed centrally. This includes maintenance, upgrades, customization, reporting and data integrity.
Central gift processing staff are responsible for the accurate deposit, recording, receipting and reporting of private gifts for all campuses and the coordination of this activity with the USC Foundations.
All campuses follow central policies and procedures for approaches to prospects and solicitation of new gifts and for recording development officer activity with prospects and donors against annual goals.
Central resources are devoted to wealth screening and other research projects that improve everyone’s ability to identify potential major gift donors.
Student callers based in Columbia call alumni and friends on behalf of each campus. System campuses pay for this service through a percentage-based fee on results.
Provides fundraising services for direct mail and email communications. Works with advancement services, creative services and Communications to develop and execute annual giving solicitations.
Central staff provides coordination, guidance and strategy as needed around organizations that support our system campuses.
Central staff provide calculations, gift illustrations and guidance to system campuses in order to bring best practices and maximum results with donors seeking to make complex or deferred gifts.
In order to protect the university and the interests of our donors, central staff reviews and approves all new gift agreements for consistency, adherence to policy and conformance to CASE counting and IRS regulations.
Each campus benefits from presence on the university’s giving.sc.edu website, and donors visiting the site have an opportunity to support any program on any campus. Campus-specific websites are linked to the central online-giving site in order to take advantage of safety, security and PCI compliance issues related to online commerce of this type.
This centrally managed committee reviews all campus requests to name physical facilities or spaces in recognition of private support. The committee reviews and maintains the approved list of opportunities for all campuses. Committee actions are referred to the Buildings and Grounds Committee and the full Board of Trustees for final approval.
Central development manages the system major donor recognition society (Horseshoe Society) and planned gift recognition society (Guardian Society), holding recognition events and other activities. This central unit also coordinates donor stories for publication in various venues. Previous efforts include a comprehensive “finish strong” and post-campaign communications campaign, post-campaign donor survey and execution of a major recognition event open to all donors of $100,000. The office has also undertaken an audit of endowments to provide improved stewardship for endowment donors through general and personalized reporting.
Development officers at system campuses are invited to attend monthly development meetings. All materials and meeting notes are sent to development staff throughout the system at the end of each monthly meeting. Every campus staff members is invited to attend quarterly all-staff meetings in Columbia.
Central development arranges and pays for outside expert speakers, with the goal of providing training and education for development staff. All campuses are invited to attend.