Business Resource Groups

Early Career Professionals Committee (ECPC)

Over the Early Career Professionals Committee’s second full year in operation, they have grown into a closely connected group of early career professionals across the development community. Moving into FY22, the ECPC hopes to continue this positive momentum, remain flexible, and organically evolve in ways they hadn’t dreamed were possible when they first formed in February 2019.

• Throughout the uncertainties of 2020, they hosted four learning events to strengthen leadership skills and develop stronger capabilities and competencies in resilience, communication, emotional intelligence, gratitude, finance, and advocacy for one’s self and one another.

• The ECPC supported members through quarterly meetings to recognize and embrace their vulnerabilities and tackle tough topics and conversations. They also held monthly Fellowship Friday events to help members stay connected with each other.

Employee Engagement Committee (EEC)

Although the pandemic has prevented the EEC from holding in-person events, the Employee Engagement Committee continues their efforts to bring staff together to celebrate their achievements and practice philanthropy. To this effect, EEC has continued organizing the Small Change for Change program with an increased focus on connecting philanthropy to issues affecting the OUD community. They also partnered with colleagues from other departments for pop-up “Gratitude Walls” that allow colleagues to reflect on their and one another’s achievements and the hard work and kindness of others.

Development Professionals of Color (DPOC)

The Development Professionals of Color (DPOC) is an affinity group composed of campus-wide staff from the development community. DPOC's mission is to foster a community for staff of color in development and, together with allies, advance a racially equitable environment that values the contributions and potential of all its members.

• DPOC hosted four educational events, two in collaboration with the OUD DEI team, attended by more than 300 members of the development community, designed to build and sustain racial equity awareness and develop multicultural competency.

• DPOC supported development community members of color through incidents of racial violence toward the Black and Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities in May 2020 and March 2021 via healing events post the killings of Ahmaud Arbery and George Floyd, as well as the murder of six Asian women in Atlanta. DPOC also released a statement condemning violence directed toward the AAPI community to the U-M development community.

• In partnership with OUD Talent Management, DPOC awarded Tami Castillo a scholarship to attend the 2021 virtual AADO-CASE Conference on Diverse Philanthropy and Leadership, held April 7-10, 2021.

Performance Support Program (PSP)

PSP is a forum of individuals, representing a cross-section of OUD departments, who collaborate to discuss OUD’s technology issues, expand awareness of important technological developments, and understand how to effectively address different teams’ varied business needs.

• PSP built on their proactive efforts to support the transition to fully remote work, continuing to address technology-related concerns: provided drop-in sessions for equipment preparation; helped people get the most out of Zoom and Google Chat; and addressed remote workspace and internet access challenges.

• They met twice monthly to talk about pressing issues like security and data privacy and to support each other in finding solutions for technology challenges.

• They spearheaded the Take Back 10 initiative, defining guidelines to coordinate this change at OUD so that all teams could enjoy the benefits, including reduced stress and easier context transitions. This project grew out of OUD’s 1% change initiative for building a positive organizational culture – that is, identifying small changes we can each make that will collectively have a big impact on our work environment.