Summary
Major gift stewardship serves a crucial role in engaging donors and encouraging future gifts but stewardship offices typically operate with limited staff resources. This brief examines the annual reporting process for major endowed funds. It describes report content and format, major gift and reporting thresholds, and stewardship staff structure.
Key observations from our research:1. Donor reports combine stock elements with gift beneficiary information for individual donors’ funds.
2. Endowed-funds donors receive annual reports; expendable-fund donors typically receive one-time acknowledgements.
3. Stewardship staff direct schools and administrative units to supply fund impact information and solicit beneficiary information from faculty and students.
4. Automated processes combine financial information with donor and beneficiary information to expedite report production.
5. Contacts report that unawareness of the source of received financial aid limits student participation in stewardship activities