sk any donor-development guru, and she’ll tell you the only thing predictable about major-donor development is unpredictability. The art of “the ask” is based on relationship and interaction, and so it’s subject to any number of unanticipated factors: personalities, interests, the given day’s lunch menu and so on.
While set materials and plans are essential in meetings with potential donors, it’s the ability to adapt that separates the artist from the practitioner. And at Journey, we believe the Apple iPad is one of the greatest new additions to the artist’s paintbox.
Testing the Waters
We first began working with the iPad in April 2010. The immersive environment that it promised demanded exploration, and so we pursued a beta partnership with Adobe that would allow us to experiment.
Once equipped with Adobe’s suite of tools, we started looking for a client who would let us experiment on their behalf. Seeing the iPad as an excellent device for one-to-one or small-group fund-development presentations, we set our sights on the Curry School of Education at the University of Virginia.
Introducing flexibility
Margaret Ann Bollmeier, executive director for the Curry School of Education Foundation, meets with an average of 20 potential donors each month. Previously, she approached each meeting equipped with one thing: a folder with general information about the school and pages specific to certain areas of interest.
Frustrated by the inflexibility of print brochures and PowerPoints, we hoped the on-the-fly nature of iPad technology would help Margaret Ann and her colleagues home in on particular interests and move someone closer to giving a gift.
We created three different apps to assist with the Foundation’s fund development: a timeline web app, detailing important events and donations that have shaped the school since its founding in 1905; an interactive project app, allowing potential donors to learn more about current major initiatives; and a follow-up presentation (in progress)—using Keynote, Apple’s slideshow tool—that could be easily modified in response to individual interests.
Spontaneous, reactive
storytelling
The iPad allows Margaret Ann and her team to break out of traditional, linear storytelling models and move toward a more spontaneous, reactive presentation style. Each of the three apps is self-guided, so prospective donors can engage with the information at their own pace.
“That’s the problem with the folders we used to use,” Margaret Ann says. “People don’t want to go through those materials with you watching. But with the iPad, they really get to interact with the material themselves, and that makes way for conversation.”
Most recently, Margaret Ann led a Curry School Foundation board member through the interactive project app. “It gave me an entrée to talk specifically with him about one of our newest initiatives in a way that was very sophisticated,” she says. “It piqued his interest, and now he’s going to help us reach out to a large alumni base to seek scholarship funding.”
Screenshots
With the iPad, we’re pleased to have helped the Foundation team anticipate and adapt— to make the unpredictability of major gift work if not predictable, at least more manageable.