Following a full and final review of the annual plans for the Office of Advancement and all faculties, the Advancement Leadership Team (ALT) is thrilled to report that the 2022-23 plan is almost final.
Still outstanding is the confirmation of some common elements between the plans. It was heartening to see common elements amongst the tactics related to dashboards, annual giving, stewardship, surveys, newsletters, and templates.
With the increased clarity that plan submissions provided, final plans for 2022-23 will be confirmed for each of those elements in the coming months. If you haven’t done so already, please work with your managers to finalize your individual 2022-23 objectives.
Move toward a steady state of $75 million raised
• Finalize a first round of the priority setting process by July 2022 and roll out a second round of priority setting by January 2023; develop and execute an external communications strategy to support these priorities by the end of the fiscal year
• Implement Driving Development key projects
• Conduct an external comprehensive review of Donor Relations, including resources, systems, processes, tools, and programs (by end of Q2) and begin to execute on the recommendations (by end of Q4)
• Finalize and implement a new donor-centric university gift acceptance process
• Create a procedural framework and the tools to support the identification, development, and execution of fundraising proposals
• Raise $7 million in annual and leadership gifts in partnership with faculties and units across campus
In addition to our objectives, the Office of Advancement continues to focus on our core work of fundraising. The fundraising targets for 2022-2023 are confirmed as follows:
Total fundraising target (cash and pledges): $62.1 million
Total gift planning confirmations: $20 million
See a full breakdown by fundraising program and the benefiting unit on QUIRC.
Alumni engagement
• Co-ordinate, execute, and evaluate the signature alumni event of the year in-person with virtual/hybrid elements, drawing attendance from 3,000 alumni, including hosting 90 different reunion celebrations and attracting registration from more than 300 Major Gift donors/prospects
• Develop a co-ordinated, integrated approach to alumni engagement between Advancement and our campus partners (such as the faculties and other partner units)
• Strengthen Queen’s presence and reputation in Toronto by increasing the number of alumni engaged in philanthropy by 1% and the overall number of alumni engaged 3%, positioning the market to become a key engagement hub for Queen’s
• Develop and deliver a comprehensive and consultative young alumni engagement and giving strategy that will increase our number of young alumni engaged by 1% (from 15% to 16%) and increase philanthropic support overall by 1% (from 3% to 4%) in the 22/23 fiscal year
Internal operations
• Act on Advancement’s aspirations to adopt a new Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system to support enhanced constituent engagement and operational effectiveness and efficiency. Continue to build our technology ecosystem with a focus on tools and processes that support the transition, and work in complement with, our desired future state
• Monitor Advancement’s hybrid pilot and deploy a series of surveys and track desk usage throughout the year to assist with the evaluation of the pilot in March/April 2023
• Develop a professional development program for fundraising
• Initiate preparations for a possible campaign
The full plan, including tactics, is available on the I:Drive at: I:\ADV Common\2020-2025 Advancement\2022-23 Planning\2022-23 Operational Plan - calendar view.xlsx (please be sure to log into the Queen’s VPN to access).
Summerhill employee activity
It's been almost two months since Summerhill officially opened for business on April 11, and I wanted to give everyone a snapshot of Office of Advancement activity on-campus.
According to the booking tool, the average number of staff on any given day is seven (with a high of 15), which is a desk occupancy of 13% (seven staff, 55 desks). In terms of meeting rooms, 11 groups have booked time.
We got off to a slow start, but it is encouraging to see people using our spaces on-campus and we know there will be variable usage over time. We will continue to monitor over the coming months as this data will inform any permanent space decisions ALT will make at the end of the hybrid pilot.
Hybrid meeting guidelines
By Ruth Dunley, Associate Director, Editorial Strategy
Virtual meetings were rare prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. For the Office of Advancement, the pandemic triggered a reversal of that norm, making in-person meetings impossible and virtual meetings a necessity. Now, as we move into a new phase of the post-pandemic workplace, we are taking a new approach to meetings that combines elements of both in-person collaboration and virtual tools: the hybrid meeting.
The Office of Advancement is committed to providing hybrid meeting options for all its employees, providing inclusive options for those working at home, in the office, or anywhere in the world.
After our March on-campus days, a small Hybrid Meeting Committee was formed to identify guidelines for hybrid meetings. We had some excellent discussions and developed Hybrid Meeting Guidelines to provide a starting point for best practices for hybrid meetings. The guidelines can be found on the I:Drive at I:\ADV Common\Policies and Procedures\Hybrid Meeting Guidelines.pdf.
Hybrid Meeting Committee – Callum Linden, Corrine Beckner, Jodi Snowdon, Josh Adler, Kate Bearse, Lesley Kelly, Madelaine Johnson, Melanie McEwen, Peggy Shanks, Ruth Dunley, Simon Labbett, Sophia Bouris
RIM Awareness Month celebrations continue
By Cheyenne Litt, Data Stewardship Specialist
Thank you to all who participated in the first activity for Records and Information Management (RIM) Awareness Month. It’s encouraging to see that so many of you are thinking about how you handle records while working remotely.
This week, we will testing your knowledge with a short quiz and a throw back to the DG101 presentations. Don’t worry if you missed the original presentation, though, you can still view the slide deck on the I:Drive: \\wfs.queensu.ca\adv\Workgroups\ADV Common\Data Governance and Data Quality\DG101\DG101DistributionCopy-2021-09-09.pptx
Please complete the DG101 Quiz by end of day Friday, June 10 for an entry into the draw for the first place prize of a $50 Wharf and Feather gift card and a second place prize of a $10 Tim Hortons gift card (for Office of Advancement employees only). No matter your score on the quiz, you will still earn an entry just for participating.
Reunite at Advancement Enhancement Day
Advancement Enhancement Day is an annual event to reunite and reconnect with colleagues, enjoy a day outside of the office, and enhance our knowledge of Queen's University and our community. It is a day planned by staff for staff!
This year it is happening Wednesday, June 15, 2022. After 27 months, and two virtual Enhancement Days, we are excited to reunite on-campus for this special day. Of course, its optional and we know not everyone will be able to make it so we are working with Baldwin Audio Visual Solutions to assist us in providing virtual attendees a great experience.
The theme for the day is “Reunited.” The main location is Ban Righ Dining Hall for both the morning presentations and lunch. We have partnered with Queen’s Staff Wellness Centre who will host our opening presentation on “Learning to Recharge: Explore techniques to energize, calm your mind, or relax your body."
We have the Kingston Tour Trolley, Athletics & Recreation classes, guided tours of the Agnes and Miller Museum of Geology and a bunch of self-guided and virtual activities.
Registration will be available tomorrow, Tuesday, June 7.
If you have any questions, please contact any member of the planning committee:
Andrew Lubowitz, Deanna Theander, Jessica McCarthy, Kymberly Cook, Lisa McInerney, Rachel Castellano and Sarah Blaney Lew (Chair).
Hybrid travel and expense reimbursement guidelines
We have been getting a lot of questions about travel and expense reimbursement when staff travel back to campus. With our second on-campus meet up weeks away, we wanted to provide guidelines to provide clarification on travel and expense reimbursement in a hybrid work environment.
In summary, an employee with an approved Remote Work Arrangement (RWA) agreement is not entitled to reimbursement for travel to and from campus as they are considered to live within a reasonable commute to campus. Office of Advancement staff who do not have a reasonable commute fall outside the RWA pilot and we will allow for reasonable expense reimbursement as per the Travel and Expense Reimbursement Policy.
You can find the full guideline on the I:Drive: I:\ADV Common\Policies and Procedures\Hybrid Travel and Expense Reimbursement Guidelines - 06 03 2022.pdf.
Please note that requesting changes to working location outlined in the offer of employment or RWA agreement must be pre-approved by the manager, documented in writing through Advancement Human Resources, and added to the employee’s file. This includes moving addresses, altering the agreed to percentage on campus versus remote, etc. Failure to do so may have an impact on the terms and conditions of your employment with respect to remote work and an RWA. If you have any questions, please discuss with your manager, ALT member, Advancement HR, or Advancement Finance.
Employee spotlight
The Employee Spotlight celebrates the arrival of our new staff by profiling responses they share through a fun and informal survey that will help us get to know them better. Be sure to review these profiles and use these fun facts and tidbits to find commonalities, embrace differences and spark a conversation!
A few weeks ago, we welcomed one new member to Advancement:
Paul Carl in the position of Gift Administrator, Gift Services. Learn more about Paul and what song you would find him singing at karaoke night.
One of the recommendations coming out of our Building a better Workplace was to showcase not only new employees, but also current employees in our ALTogether Now newsletter.
If you have not been featured and have some free time, participate in our Employee Spotlight questionnaire. Please answer only those questions you feel comfortable responding to – there are a lot to choose from.