Initiatives to Diversify Donor Base

Screen capture of Raise participants on a Zoom call

The Raise: Generations of Black Excellence


In 2017, U-M alumna Brandi Hudson (AB ’01) accepted her invitation to the Bay Area Campaign Council and Bay Area NextGen Council with the caveat that OUD work with her to “find a way to engage more donors that look like me at Michigan.” The vision to diversify our donor base with greater representation of African American and Black donors has driven Hudson’s volunteer engagement. With Kat Walsh, Executive Director of DEI, and Ryan Robinson, Sr. Director of Major Gifts as staff co-leads, the University of Michigan formally launched The Raise: Generations of Black Excellence in January of 2021. Vice President for Development Tom Baird, Vice Provost for Equity and Inclusion Rob Sellers, and Hudson explored how this committee can engage Black and African American donors to drive impact through U-M. Seventeen participants attended the launch; half of those participants made their first major gift to Michigan as members of The Raise’s Executive Council.

THE CAUSE:

  • The Raise is a network of donors who advance Black philanthropy and are looking to make an impact at the University of Michigan that is most meaningful for the alum or friend. Gifts can be directed to anywhere on campus.

  • This national network brings together alumni and friends passionate about supporting the University of Michigan as donors and volunteers. Our hope is that volunteers will help instill a sense of intergenerational responsibility in Michigan students and alumni and diversify representation on boards across campus.

To learn more about the Raise, see the Executive Council Roster and Volunteer Description.

*The Raise is open to individuals of any racial identity interested in advancing Black philanthropy.

Women’s Philanthropy Committee


The Women’s Philanthropy Committee (WPC) began as a planning group for the Major Gifts Strategy event in December of 2019. Following this meeting, a group of colleagues from OUD and the development community continued to strategize around addressing bias and advancing gender equity in our fundraising practices. While the WPC specifically focuses on women, this work supports our community’s diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts and serves as a complement to increasing gender equity (non-binary, gender non-conforming, and two-spirited individuals).


Led by Rachel Brandell-Mayers, Jennifer Howard, and Matt Kirinovic, the Women’s Philanthropy Committee is advancing the following engagement strategies:

  • Reviewed volunteer boards across U-M for gender disparities in representation and produced a report of the findings with recommendations to address disparities. The WPC released the volunteer/board survey analysis. This analysis includes survey data from the development community, strategies, best practices, and recommendations for increasing gender diversity on volunteer boards and committees.

  • Study the value and feasibility of creating a women’s council for the next campaign. This effort is in progress.

  • Prepared communication around DART best practices to better represent our engagement with women. The WPC published the DART Best Practices for Engaging Partners. This guide offers considerations to ensure that we mitigate bias and capture donor engagement accurately and properly in DART.

  • Met with OUD Events and Communications teams to ensure aligned best practices to engage women. The WPC created a guide for Marketing, Communications, and Events as a tool to ensure inclusive representation of diverse women voices, perspectives, and identities in development publications, solicitations, stewardship pieces, events, and event materials.

WEBINARS

  • In September 2020, the WPC held a webinar focused on marketing and events. Colleagues from across campus spoke about their successes in intentionally thinking about gender inclusivity when planning marketing and communication efforts along with events. Seventy-three colleagues across all units attended the webinar. The recording can be viewed here.

  • In February 2021, the WPC held a webinar focused on volunteer engagement. Colleagues spoke about their successes: the Mott and Von Voightlander team's Women's Health Leadership Board, the Western States team's women's events and strategy, and LSA Economics Advisory Board’s efforts to increase representation of women on their Economics Leadership Council (ELC). One hundred and eighty-nine colleagues across all units attended the webinar. The recording can be viewed here.

  • In April 2021, the WPC held a webinar where they released the Women’s Philanthropy Progress Report which is a Tableau tool that enables us to track our engagement of women in almost real time (*the data is one day behind DART). The Progress Report is the first tool of its kind to help us see how we presently engage women donors and identify areas of opportunity to better engage women donors. One hundred and thirty-six colleagues across all units attended the webinar. The recording can be viewed here.

WOMEN’S PHILANTHROPY COMMITTEE

Rachel Brandell Mayers, OUD

Marissa Day, OUD

Jason Gilmore, ROSS

Jennifer Howard, LSA

Matthew Kirinovic, OUD

Alicia Marting, CEW

Sophia Moeller, OUD

Michael Reed, LSA

Jackie Rink, MiMED

NextGen Committee

The NextGen Committee began as a planning group for the Major Gifts Strategy event in December 2019. The group, composed of development colleagues from units across the university, put together a half-day’s program examining the current NextGen constituency as well as research and benchmarking from other institutions. During that session, the group shared examples of NextGen work already happening at U-M. From there, the NextGen committee went on to establish long-term engagement strategies.


  • Spearheaded by Kelli North, Emily Godbold, and Rich Porter, along with committee members from OUD and the development community, NextGen is developing the following engagement strategies:

  • NextGen collaborated with colleagues to create a new event series for NextGen donors of $50K+ called Emerging Victors. They held the first session on leadership on February 9 which was well-received by the NextGen donor population. The second session held in May focused on sustainability.

  • NextGen recently launched a series of Lunch & Learns. The first focused on the successes of our campus colleagues; the second on current efforts to envision a Founders’ Pledge program at U-M; and the third on NextGen Family Wealth featuring special guest Mike Hilliard.

  • NextGen created the NextGen-focused tags to enhance our ability to track our engagement with NextGen donors in DART. Associated tags include NextGen Constituent, Generational Family Member, and Future Prospect (not new but relevant to NextGen). Following the creation and implementation of the tags, the committee started a NextGen Quarterly Review Group to focus on tracking and monitoring the high capacity NextGen prospect pipeline, as well as making referrals when appropriate.

  • The following remain in progress:

      • Explore with OUD the investment opportunities available to enhance the donor digital experience for this demographic (including platforms, tools, and skill sets).

      • Prepare a toolkit to help the development community identify and engage NextGen prospects in their pipeline.

      • Meet with OUD Events and Communications teams to ensure aligned best practices to engage NextGen constituents.

NEXTGEN PHILANTHROPY

Charlie Coon, ATH

Melissa Cox, ROSS

Marissa Day, OUD

Tess Eastment, SMTD

Emily Godbold, MiMED

Sara Michaels, OUD

Kelli North, OUD

Bob Pierce, ENG

Rich Porter, OUD

Nan Pozios, STAMPS

Ryan Robinson, OUD