Stewardship and Donor Relations Standards and Guidelines
The Stewardship and Donor Relations Task Force (SDRTF) convened in FY18 to do a comprehensive review of stewardship and donor relations across the three universities and the University of Illinois Foundation (UIF). Charged by UIF President Jim Moore and the UIF Executive Operations Team (EOT), they reviewed six areas that broadly represent much of the stewardship and donor relations business function:
- Stewardship and Long-Term Cultivation of Prospects (originally called TED Stewardship Plans and Portfolio Management)
- Impact Reporting
- Donor Recognition
- Gift Acknowledgment
- Stakeholder Integration (originally called Business Manager Training)
- Pledge Administration
The recommendations report is linked in the resources below, as is Illinois Stewardship’s subsequent set of principles designed to provide consistent and proactive experiences for donors. To move forward with these recommended strategies, the Office of Strategic Engagement’s Illinois Stewardship team, in consultation with units across campus, would like to provide the following overarching set of stewardship and donor relations standards and guidelines to act as best practices, along with examples and a framework for many of the recommendations presented by the SDRTF.