What Is The True Meaning Of Stewardship

Phil's Careers Blog What is The True Meaning of Stewardship? By Jane Potentier, CFRE Recently, not lengthy after I moved into my new position, I was asked by my VP if we had ready a report for one of our major ($1million +) donors from the previous yr. He was rightly very concerned that the report be delivered on time based on the present settlement. However, I had a problem. The question was not truly whether we could we ship a report inside the timeline. It was “had we actually carried out what we stated we would do with the reward within that first year?” As it turned out the division that had benefitted from the present had not applied the reward as quickly as we had envisaged and this had not been communicated to anyone. We had been capable of resolve this quickly and get back on observe and proceed our constructive relationship with the donor, but it was a reminder of the problem of stewardship. If we go back to the dictionary definition of stewardship we learn it contains “the cautious and accountable management of something entrusted to one’s care”. Karen Osborne,(Osborne Group) describes it as “Delivering on the Promise”. So earlier than we will move to CASE’s definition of stewardship “Activities designed to maintain donors knowledgeable and concerned regarding the use and benefits of their past items” we've to ensure we are delivering the promise and managing the donor’s gift. The starting point for stewardship, due to this fact, is to have a transparent understanding of the intent of the present and to make sure that the details are communicated to all stakeholders. In a posh group corresponding to a University many individuals are responsible for executing a present and guaranteeing we are all working collectively and perceive our roles and duties is usually a problem. So what are a few of the tools in our stewardship toolkit? Jane Potentier, CFRE is a senior growth skilled with a strong monitor record in integrated development, distinctive manag ement abilities and expertise working with diverse organizations and in complex environments. Jane loved an eleven 12 months profession in fundraising for UK charities before moving to Canada in 2001. She has worked at the University of Alberta in Edmonton since January 2002 in quite a lot of progressively senior development roles. Since August 2013 has been the Director of Advancement for the Faculty of Arts, the place she works collaboratively with the Dean and other tutorial leaders to build and advance sturdy private and professional relationships that end in philanthropic contributions from alumni and associates. Post navigation Fill in your details under or click on an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. (Log Out/ Change) You are commenting utilizing your Google account. (Log Out/ Change) You are commenting utilizing your Twitter account. (Log Out/ Change) You are commenting utilizing your Facebook account. (Log Out/ Change) Connecting to %s Notify me of latest feedback through email. Notify me of new posts through e-mail. Email Subscription Enter your e-mail handle to follow my NEW blog and stay on high of the latest career alternatives and fundraising news. Sign me up! Follow On Twitter