Recent newsletters included updates on the focus of teams throughout the Office of Advancement over the summer, as well as a variety of priorities for the fall. On behalf of the full Development team, we would now like to share what we are focused on.
As you know, the Development team is an extremely diverse group of advancement professionals. The Development team includes all faculty/unit-based advancement staff teams – including staff devoted to stewardship activities, alumni relations, and fundraising. Development also includes university-wide advancement teams such as the Gift Planning and Principal Giving teams, and university-wide fundraisers.
Updates provided in ALTogether Now this week focus on priorities this fall for several faculty/unit-based advancement teams. It is not an exhaustive list, but it will provide at least a snapshot of some things we are working on.
If you would like to know more, please don’t hesitate to reach out to anyone who wrote a section for the newsletter this week. Everyone would be happy to share more detail about our priorities!
Athletics and Recreation
Written By: Allison Slopack, Director of Advancement
While COVID-19 has changed the way we are all handling fundraising this year, it is also allowing us to focus on developing and enhancing the relationships that will help us be successful. The Advancement team in the Office of Athletics & Recreation has identified the development of a new stewardship plan and the cultivation of relationships through one-on-one meetings as our primary goals.
We are implementing new engagement programs (new booster clubs, parent committees, and the Gaels to Gaels mentorship program) to increase volunteerism, which will provide alumni, donors and parents with opportunities to re/engage with programs. We are also emphasizing impact reporting to demonstrate the importance of donor support to our programs and student-athletes.
As a team, we are developing creative ways to fundraise for our programs through virtual opportunities with a focus on building a proactive fundraising program and program sustainability.
The Isabel and the Agnes
Written By: Anna Samulak, Senior Development Officer
With the successful completion of the inaugural Ballytobin Live from the Isabel Online Summer Music Festival and the Bader and Overton Canadian Cello Competition, we are summarizing the outcomes of these programs in order to seek funding for new virtual initiatives as the Isabel remains closed to the public this fall.
To watch concert videos from the festival and competition please visit the Isabel Digital Concert Hall.
Building the prospect pipeline is one of the strategic priorities of the Isabel. This summer we completed a screening of Isabel patrons using Prospect Research Online’s PROscreen service. We will review the results and begin reaching out to new prospects this fall.
The Agnes is welcoming new its Director, Emelie Chhangur, and new Bader Curator of European Art, Suzanne van de Meerendonk, on Oct. 1. In the fall we will begin introducing both Emelie and Suzanne to top benefactors and prospects.
With the announcement of the $40M (USD) gift from Bader Philanthropies, Inc., we began working with a consultant on a visioning exercise for the revitalized Agnes. We will engage top prospects in this exercise as part of a larger strategy to secure additional funding for the project.
In July, the galleries reopened to the public. Consider visiting the Agnes to see the new season of exhibitions with your friends and family. As always, admission is free.
Faculty of Arts and Science
Written By: Erica McIlquham, Associate Director, Development, Faculty of Arts and Science
The Faculty of Arts and Science advancement team have been in planning mode. We are on the cusp of releasing our three-year strategic plan which will guide all of our work into 2023. During the next three years, we plan to hone our focus in on a variety of areas which include:
- Developing a strategy for principal gifts that supports Advancement’s goal of 70% of revenue generated from gifts of $1M+
- Develop and execute a major gift program that maximizes our philanthropic investment to generate reliable income each year
- Develop and launch a multi-year annual giving plan that generates reliable yearly income and compliments the major and principal gift strategies
- Take targeted action to increase our pipeline with a goal of producing 4:1 ratio of prospects to gifts
- Organize and plan a robust framework for meaningful communications and engagement opportunities that supports future giving/pipeline growth
- Develop and foster a high-performance team culture
- Develop and action a list of other strategic priorities that help contribute to the goals above, as well as the Advancement and Arts & Science multi-year strategic plans that are underway.
As we move into the fall we will be focused on: ramping up assessments and visits with prospects and key benefactors; completing cases for our top fundraising priority areas; continuing and launching our parent and women’s alumnae strategies; rolling out and continuing to plan some new, intentional annual giving initiatives; continually strengthening our team’s engagement and developing strategies to ensure our team continues to feel supported and a sense of purpose during these continually uncertain times; completing and releasing a variety of impact style reports that can be used for stewardship and solicitation purposes, and contributing to a variety of other Advancement and Arts & Science driven initiatives (like Homecoming and Virtual Convocation).
Faculty of Health Sciences
Written By: Bill Leacy, Executive Director, Development and Partnerships
It is not the strongest or the most intelligent who will survive but those who can best manage change. — Charles Darwin
This year is about change, and our team is excited to harness this opportunity and be part of what it will mean for our office and fundraising overall.
On July 1, 2020, the Faculty of Health Sciences (FHS) welcomed Dr. Jane Philpott as our new dean. As such, the next couple of months will focus on onboarding the dean by preparing transition documents and learning about her vision and goals over the next five years. Dean Philpott has already begun exploring how we can better achieve our academic mission from the lens of equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI), and we have secured a $200,000 gift commitment to support this vital work. The dean has also started a Dean’s Research Action Table and our team has been asked to fully participate and offer our advancement expertise; a true testament to her support for the work of advancement.
The COVID-19 pandemic has been challenging. Our team has been hard at work thinking of ways we can manage the changes, and challenges, to better connect with our donors and alumni from all over the world; we are finding new ways to connect and have been encouraged by the alumni and donor response to virtual meetings. We are also exploring ways we can steward existing donors and engage alumni with virtual lectures, online events with the dean, vice-deans, and exciting digital FHS content. We will keep these tools/learnings in mind as we use the Insights Advancement pipeline building tool to help us to identify potential prospects and connect with them.
In light of these two significant changes, the FHS team will be developing updated fundraising and engagement strategies for each of our three schools. We will work with the dean and our vice-deans to find ways we can work together to define faculty priorities, utilize faculty and staff to identify and engage new prospects, and to better communicate the exciting work happening at all three schools.
Smith School of Business
Written By: Jeanette Hepburn, Executive Director, Development and Alumni Engagement
D&AE is working with stakeholders across the school on the actions put forth by the Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Indigeneity Task Force, including alumni communications, staff training, establishing a Smith EDII Fund, EDII Task Force Alumni Working Group, and alumni volunteer management.
The Institute for Sustainable Finance (ISF) remains a top focus for our team with research and funding announcements to come shortly. The team has also been working on alumni metrics, benchmarking, and a dashboard tool, and will soon begin work on a donor stewardship survey with key donors. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, we have encouraged alumni to continue to network and utilize our SmithConnect platform, including the recently launched business directory. Our Smith Business Clubs have also begun planning for virtual and eventual hybrid events. Smith has also partnered with Mitacs to launch an internship program to connect business students with businesses and not-for-profit organizations impacted during the pandemic. Smith is funding their commitment to the Mitacs match through donor contributions to the Dean’s Innovation Fund and relationship managers are following up to encouraging giving to this initiative.
We are working with advancement colleagues to deliver a memorable virtual Homecoming experience and based on the results of our recent survey of our classes, they wish to learn more about EDII at Smith. Our alumni cohort of 5s and 0s and 1s and 6s are looking ahead to Homecoming 2021 and preparing to kick off reunion giving plans and we are continuing class stewardship through emails highlighting their recipients and impact reports. Our Leadership and Annual Giving plan includes class reunion giving campaigns, parents program, pledge renewals, and annual giving asks for Mitacs, QUIC, QUAAF, and EDII fund.
This fall, we will be celebrating five years as Smith School of Business in recognition of Stephen Smith’s transformational gift. As the search for a new dean resumes, we will review the opportunity to restart the Dean’s Chair campaign and begin preparations and planning for the onboarding of a new Dean in Summer 2021.
Faculty of Law
Written By: Paul Marcus and Zabrina Testa
As Dean Walters enters his second year, he continues to make excellent progress in getting to know the alumni base and strengthening relations. Zoom has proven to be an effective vehicle in the circumstances to reach alumni, including those at a far distance. The Queen’s Law advancement team supports and participates in these meetings which will continue on a regular basis in the fall.
We will also focus on prospecting and fundraising for two important initiatives: The Cecil Allan Fraser Bursary to provide bursaries for Black and/or racialized students, and a new professorship in Indigenous law. Alongside these priorities, the team will be engaged in strategic asks, class reunion giving campaigns, planning for a virtual Homecoming, supporting the Dean’s and Regional councils, and the first-ever Alberta Council virtual event in November.
Faculty of Education
Written By: Christie May, Senior Development Officer
Over the last year, the Faculty of Education has made great strides in becoming a fundraising faculty. The Queen’s Advancement Team has supported their efforts by: creating a fundraising plan, organizing Advance training, providing Development Officer training including the RM process along with many “how tos” such as requesting a donor list from ITM, creating an online campaign, or accepting gifts outside of Canada. They have set their fundraising priorities and, with help from Deborah Melman-Clement, they have completed their case for support.
With great enthusiasm, I am happy to report their recent success of announcing they have enough funds to create a Chair in Student Success. The next time you see Dean Luce-Kapler, please congratulate her, as this was her number one goal she hoped to accomplish as her legacy.
Looking ahead, over the coming weeks and months, both Allison Slopack and I will be focusing on engaging their alumni, making introductions, completing assessments that we hope will lead to successful solicitations to support their fundraising priorities. The university-wide research team has provided tremendous support outlining a list of MG prospects including individuals, corporations, and foundations. A special thank you goes out to all of the RMs who share some of these relationships on such lists and who have offered clearance and support.
Land Acknowledgement Initiative for the Office of Advancement
Written By: Erica McIlquham, Associate Director, Development, Faculty of Arts and Science
At this week’s quarterly staff meeting, members of the Advancing IDEAs committee will be presenting their journey thus far on creating personalized land acknowledgement statements for the Office of Advancement. They will be sharing how you can learn and get involved in land acknowledgements as an intentional step toward reconciliation.
Did you know that land acknowledgements are to be facilitated, written, and shared by settlers and not by Indigenous Peoples themselves? The experience of the working group throughout this process has been eye-opening and exploratory. Having to confront your own privilege and be open to learning the unspoken history of our land is a process that we all need to partake in. This will help break down barriers that often unknowingly exist between those with privilege and marginalized populations.
The Office of Indigenous Initiatives has recently launched a new website where you can watch a video of Kanonhsyonne Janice Hill, Associate Vice-Principal (Indigenous Initiatives and Reconciliation), speaking frankly about why land acknowledgements are important. We encourage you to check it out before the staff meeting.
The committee members look forward to sharing their journey, personal statements, and path forward with you later this week.
Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE)
In case you didn’t know we, Queen's Advancement, are members of CASE, "the global non-profit association dedicated to educational advancement—alumni relations, communications, development, marketing, and advancement services—who share the goal of championing education to transform lives and society." The U.S. and Canada are divided into eight districts to support members, and we are in CASE District II/Mid-Atlantic which is the largest.
This year all CASE districts are working together to develop a single comprehensive online district conference program, rather than the traditional eight separate conferences, to be held February 16–18, 2021. CASE has launched a call for sessions for the conference with a proposal deadline of this Friday, September 4th. If you have a suggestion for session content please let your manager or ALT member know!
CASE is also accepting submissions for the annual District II Accolades Awards. Check out this year’s categories, and if you think you have a winning initiative, contact Ellen Babb or Deborah Melman-Clement.
Jobs with Advancement
We need your recruitment help. Know great talent that would be a good addition to our team? If so, please promote the vacancy below with your networks and let’s find some amazing new team members.
Applications (including a cover letter and resume) must be submitted through CareerQ. For additional information on this posting, please reach out to either Katelyn, Carla, or the hiring manager for the position you are interested in.
Available Position:
| POSITION | UNIT AND DEPARTMENT | CLOSING DATE | GRADE |
|---|---|---|---|
| Finance and Special Projects Analyst | Gift Services, Advancement Services | September 10, 2020 | 8 |
|
Relationship Manager, Development & Stewardship |
Smith Development & AR | September 15, 2020 | 8 |
| Associate Vice-Principal (Development) | Development | September 21, 2020 |
Did you know?
Elizabeth Smith (1859-1949)
A member of Queen's first class of female medical students and later one of Canada's foremost feminists, Smith is also significant for leaving a fascinating diary of her experiences at Queen's in the late 19th century. Born in Winona, Ontario, Smith entered Queen's in 1880 as one of three members of the university's first class of female medical students.
Throughout her stay, she kept a diary of her experiences that provides invaluable insights into medical studies in the 19th century and into the extraordinary battles women had to fight for the right to study medicine. The most dramatic part of the diary involves the banning of women from the medical college in 1882 and the subsequent creation of the Women's Medical College in Kingston.
Smith married Queen's graduate Adam Shortt, later a prominent politics professor at the university and a founder of the Canadian public service. She taught at the Women's Medical College in the 1880s and 1890s and, after moving to Ottawa with Shortt, became one of Canada's leading feminists, active in the Women's Canadian Club and in campaigns for such causes as mothers' allowances and mothers' pensions. Her diaries for the years 1872-1884 are published under the title A Woman with a Purpose (University of Toronto Press, 1980).