Looking for something fun to do Friday night that involves art and free food? Come join Mary Ann Butkovich, wife of John and mom of Annie, at an Artist’s Reception at the Colfax Campus Gallery to see her work, along with two other artists. If you can’t make it Friday night, the show will be there until Friday, December 16th. The gallery is open weekdays 9 am to 7 pm and Saturdays 9 am to 1 pm.
Dear Colleagues,
I am delighted to announce that Craig Sharpe will be joining the Special Events & Stewardship team as the Director of Compliance & Stewardship Programs on Wednesday, December 7.
In this role, Craig will assume primary responsibility for developing a University-wide compliance function for donor-restricted funds, and will oversee the associated annual production of endowed reports. Alongside the other members of the Compliance & Stewardship Programs team, Craig will also play a vital role to strengthen partnerships within the department and across the University towards developing creative and sustainable best practices in stewardship.
For the past six years, Craig has been working within Notre Dame’s Office of General Counsel, most recently exercising oversight and enforcement of the University’s Conflict of Interest policy. Prior to joining the University in 2010, Craig spent a number of years in the mortgage industry and served in the U.S. Coast Guard. With significant experience in the areas of IT, reporting, and business process development and improvement (he is green belt-certified!), we know he will be an exceptional addition to the team!
Best,
Mary Fisher
I am delighted to announce that, effective immediately, Kris Machalleck has been promoted to Program Director, Compliance & Stewardship Programs.
For the past 14 years, Kris has served as an integral member of the Development department, lending her expertise to the annual endowment report effort, partnering with the Office of Gift Planning on donor advised fund reporting, discerning recognition for University benefactors, and leading and assisting with numerous stewardship events, among her many other contributions to the Special Events and Stewardship units.
Please join me in congratulating Kris on this well-deserved promotion!
Best,
Mary Fisher
Sunday marked the beginning of Advent, the four-week season when we ready ourselves for the coming of Jesus, the Prince of Peace. This year, the Notre Dame Alumni Association and FaithND are inviting the ND family to observe 28 Days of Peace. Each day, we will strive to bring peace to the world through a small but meaningful activity, such as a prayer or kind gesture. Most activities can be done in five minutes or so, and each will help facilitate a spirit of peace.
Watch for the daily prompts on our Twitter and Facebook channels or through FaithND’s Daily Gospel Reflection, or visit 28dayspeace.nd.edu. If you want a daily mobile reminder, text ND28Days to 51555.
Euchre Players,
It’s time to sign up for December Euchre! We will gather together Thursday, December 8, 2016 at 5:15pm in the ESC Cafe. We will begin playing at 5:30.
The cost to play is $10. If you have any questions, or would like to join us please contact me at 1-1818 or psmith15@nd.edu. Your entry fee is due to me by 5pm, Wednesday, December 7, 2016.
I look forward to seeing you at the card table!
Patty
Tammy and I are excited to announce that baby Amelia has arrived by natural birth after 5 hours of intense labor, 1 and half push and no epidural or pain meds.
10:22 pm, November 18th, 2016, 8 pounds and 8oz – 20 inches and 3/4
Thank you for all the support you’ve given us during the pregnancy. We look forward to introducing you to our beautiful daughter soon!
PS. We did figure out how to work the baby car seat.
Rod Ambrissi
Train for The Notre Dame Trail by participating in the 3rd Annual Proud to Be ND Virtual Run & Walk! Race Day is November 29! Register to run for ND today!
Not only will you be supporting our ND students (you can even sponsor a student to race for you!) but you will receive a training plan, customized race bib and a finisher’s medal. All participants who register for the Virtual Run/Walk will also be entered for a chance to win free final day of the ND Trail registrations!
We will also be coming together on Race Day, 11/29, starting at 3pm to run/walk as a team and will provide routes for any distance. If you are participating as a team, please email our race director, lindahl.chase@nd.edu
Sign up and join the celebration!
See you on the track!
Annual Giving & Strategic Marketing Team
The Ask Jack session (in conjunction with Ron Powlus giving our guests his “coach’s keys to the game”) begins at 9:45 am in the Jordan Hall of Science Auditorium, and promises to be a great conclusion to our gameday events for the 2016 football season. We hope to see you there with your benefactors.
Thank you.
Dear Colleagues,
Please join me in congratulating Jean Collier for over 8 years of dedicated service to the University. Jean started in Regional Development in 2008 and transitioned to Corporate Relations in 2011. She has been instrumental in cultivating and stewarding many great corporate relationships, including General Electric, Deloitte, and KPMG. Since relocating here full-time for the Corporate Relations role, she and her husband Gary have had to live in separate cities. Jean has made the tough decision to leave the University and start fresh somewhere that she and Gary can be permanently reunited. Let us all thank Jean for her service to our team and wish her and Gary well on their new endeavors.
Nathan Utz
Dear Team:
The Alumni Association has an open position for a Digital Specialist. If you are interested in exploring this position, please visit jobs.nd.edu and/or contact Ann Moran or Bill Gangluff.
Thank you,
Natella
—
Natella Micola
Recruiting Coordinator
Department of Development
Eddy Street Commons at Notre Dame
1251 N. Eddy Street, Suite 300
South Bend, IN 46617-1403
Tel 574-631-8921
Fax 574-631-8325
Dear Colleagues,
An IRA Charitable Rollover communication will be sent this evening via email to ~26,600 entities who are 65 years or older and are not part of an annual recognition society. The email encourages these entities to consider a rollover of their required minimum distribution to Notre Dame. Similar emails will be sent from annual fund owners to Sorin, OSTM, JCOS and Rockne members to encourage renewals to these funds through the IRA distributions these entities are required to take beginning at age 70 1/2 from a qualified IRA account.
These emails will direct recipients to both IRA Rollover and Year-End Tax Strategies landing pages. Please take a moment to review these pages as the information contained may be helpful to you in speaking with your benefactors regarding their year-end giving.
Please let me know if you have any questions regarding this material and Go Irish!
Laura Snell
Associate Director, Badin Guild
Annual Giving & Strategic Marketing
1100 Grace Hall
Notre Dame, IN 46556
T: 574-631-0038
E: lsnell@nd.edu
W: nd.giftplans.org
The 2016 Proud to Be ND Virtual Run & Walk is on November 29th! Where will you run for ND? Register today!
Theresa Fry joined the Law School Advancement team today, November 14, 2016. A native of Elkhart, Theresa is a graduate of Indiana University. She previously worked for Beacon Health as the Sunburst Races coordinator and as the business manager for Augusta RV. She will assist the Dean, Ian Secviar and me in all development efforts related to the Law School. Her office is in 1341 Biolchini Hall and her phone number is 631-7609. Theresa is smart, energetic, thoughtful, and wonderfully over qualified. We are thrilled to have her on our team. Please welcome Theresa when you see her!
John Lloyd
I am pleased to announce two additions to our UR Academic Year Internship Program.
Elisa Villafana, College of Arts and Letters, will work with Andrea Bullock and Chris Wells on marketing communication to undergraduate alumni.
Alexandra Buccilli, Mendoza College of Business, will work with Bryan Reaume and Ann Moran to build and market the UR Internship Program.
As academic year interns, they will A) benefit from investments of mentoring and professional development B) produce meaningful work for the division by completing resume-worthy projects.
Please join me in welcoming them.
For Notre Dame,
Bryan Reaume
UR Internship Program: Description and Project Proposal Form for UR Colleagues
UR Internship Program: Description and Application for Students
Today, we want to say thank you to all of our colleagues who served our country in the military.
An email solicitation was sent this morning from our very own Brian Dean (U.S. Marine Corps) to alumni, parents and friends who have not made a FY17 gift (those individuals with primary solicitors were excluded). The email links to a video sharing the story of current graduate student and veteran, Luis Morales. Please take a moment to listen and share his story.
The Notre Dame Veterans Fund was created to support the 75-100 veterans enrolled at the University of Notre Dame in a given semester. The fund helps to offset tuition and living costs, and provides resources that enable veterans to continue their education.
In Notre Dame,
Andrea Bullock
Dear Team,
I want to share some news about our colleague, Annie Duffy ’06. As most of you know, Annie has been in the Career Advisor role for the last 3+ years and she has recently decided to stay home with her little ones, Danny and Abby. Annie’s decision was not easy as she derives a lot of fulfillment from supporting our alumni, but her desire now is to focus on her family.
Annie’s contributions are many and include serving an average of 700 alumni in each of the last two fiscal years, expertly critiquing 200 resumes last year alone, and developing and delivering 6 Clear-Sighted Career webinars. She has done this and more while enhancing the professionalism of our services and support provided to our alumni in times of transition. Her care and skill were evident in her prior NDAA role as the Clubs Program Director in which she engaged with club leaders from all clubs. Her conscientiousness and work ethic are admirable and I will miss working with her. Annie’s last day will be November 30th.
I am taking this opportunity to review the role in light of expanded services and updates will follow as decisions are made.
For now, please join me in wishing Annie well and thanking her for 6+ years of service within the Alumni Association.
Best,
Sharon
It is with mixed emotions that I share with you the resignation of Sean MacCready from his role as Midwest fundraiser based in our Chicago office.
Sean has accepted a position with the Office of Catholic Schools and Special Initiatives of the Archdiocese of Chicago as their Senior Major Gift Officer. He will transition to his new role on November 11.
Please join me in thanking Sean for his dedication and service to Our Lady’s university. Sean has been an integral and fun-loving part of the Midwest team. We wish Sean nothing but the best in his future endeavors.
In Notre Dame,
Tim Willis
Colleagues,
In the last week, over 1500 reminders were mailed to Recognition Society members with renewal periods between January and October. Members were presented with a range of giving options, including their scheduled renewal amount. Email and phone contact will follow.
To access this list of donors who received a reminder, please click here.
If you have any questions, please contact the appropriate fund owner.
Best,
Jonathan Retartha
Manager, Donor Experience
We’re pleased to announce that Grace Prosniewski has been hired as our new writer on the Storytelling & Engagement Team. Grace’s first day is Monday, November 14th.
Here’s what you’ll want to know about Grace — she’s a talented writer, a very nice person and she graduated from that “school in Ann Arbor.” Please know, going “two for three” in the big leagues gets you into the Hall of Fame!
Grace grew up in the suburbs of Detroit, where she graduated from Ladywood High School in Livonia — an all-girl Catholic prep school. Her 88 year-old Grandmother — a life-long Notre Dame fan — admitted to the family last week; “my prayers have been answered” — when she learned Grace got this job.
The family is looking forward to bringing Grandma to campus real soon — we’ll make that a special visit!
I had the honor of hosting Grace, Pam (mom) and Paul (dad) for breakfast this Saturday and a tour of campus. I learned Paul’s brother worked at Notre Dame in the late 70’s and Pam recalls coming to a ND football game with her brother in the 80’s. Grace has two older sisters — the oldest is a lawyer and her middle sister is a teacher. The Prosniewski’s are good people!
We are very excited about the talent, personality and humility Grace will bring to our team. You’re going to love her. Please be sure to stop by and welcome this “Michigan Wolverine” to the Notre Dame family!
Jim Small
Many thanks to Andrea Bullock, Tom Molnar, Ron Linczer, Mary Bueno, and Aaron Wall for powerfully sharing about their families at ND Shares. They blessed all in attendance.
It is a privilege to work A) alongside all colleagues who care so well for their families B) in a mission that deeply affirms, values, and supports families.
Per many follow-up requests, note:
As always, feel free to contact me about presenter ideas for future sessions of ND Shares.
For Notre Dame,
Bryan Reaume
Colleagues,
I’m very happy to announce the newest member of the NDAA team! Dan Allen has been hired as the new Spirituality Program Director. Dan is no stranger to campus, earning B.A. in Psychology and Philosophy in 2007 and a Masters of Divinity in 2011. Additionally, Dan has been the Assistant Director of Summer Housing and Off-Campus Student Services since 2014. Prior to returning to Notre Dame in that role, Dan served as the Director of Religious Education at St. Pius X Catholic Church in Granger, IN for three years. Dan and his wife currently reside in South Bend with their three children, Benjamin (5), Mark (3) and Nicholas (2).
Dan’s first day with us will be December 1st. Please join me in welcoming Dan!
My best,
Mike Sullivan
I’m pleased to announce some exciting changes in the Alumni Association’s Marketing Communications team that will allow us to elevate engagement with our alumni and friends digitally and increasingly embrace a group that is growing in importance, our young alumni. These changes will involve shifts in positions and growth in the team and I wanted to make sure you were aware of these changing roles.
Bill Gangluff is being promoted to Senior Director of Marketing Communications. In addition to his outstanding leadership on the marketing front, Bill has increasingly taken on senior level responsibilities within the association, and I’m pleased to be able to acknowledge his contributions.
Kevin Brennan will assume a new role as Associate Director of Marketing Communications, continuing to report to Bill. Kevin will lead the execution of all digital communications with our alumni and friends through social media channels and our website. He will have the following three direct reports.
Josh Stowe will move from his role as a Digital Specialist into Kevin’s vacated role as Writer and Content Editor. In this role, Josh will provide the majority of the day-to-day marketing writing needs and partner with Kevin to provide feature writing for Echoes. He will also become the alumni editor of Notre Dame Magazine, overseeing the Class Notes section.
Josh’s current position, Digital Specialist, will be posted in coming days. This position manages all of our social media channels and web content.
The final individual who will report to Kevin is Jackie Thomas, as young alumni program director. Jackie will join Marketing Communications from our Programs team to partner with Kevin and the rest of Marcom to develop a strategic plan to engage young alumni.
If you have any questions about these changes, please don’t hesitate to ask either Bill or me.
All the best,
Dolly
Dear Reader,
You came to our hospital as a patient, in need of help. Thank you for that profound act of trust.
Now we come to you, humbly, to ask for your help in turn. The cause for excellent health care, here in our community, needs you. Will you consider becoming its champion … by making a gift?
WELL, WOULD YOU consider it? Would the opening paragraph of this one page, two-sided letter — personalized and signed by a hospital vice president — compel you to donate to a hospital that had cared for you or someone in your family?
The answer, for about 35,000 recipients, was yes. Over 10 years, that is the number of people who have responded with donations to this letter, which is tweaked and sent annually to former patients of the Sharp HealthCare system’s four main and three specialty hospitals in San Diego. The donations have ranged from $1 to $20,000.
Ten thousand of those responses were from new donors — an often hard-to-convince audience during any fund-raiser.
“It just goes to show you that an effective, well-crafted appeal can make a tremendous difference,” said James Sardina, the annual giving manager for the Sharp HealthCare Foundation.
Tom Ahern, the author of the letter, is one of the country’s most sought-after creators of fund-raising messages. He cites this piece as an example of how the language of giving — the right words, articulating the right appeal aimed at the right audience — can increase response rates.
“You have got to make your donors feel good in order to retain them,” said Mr. Ahern, who is based in Foster, R.I.
All good advertising copywriters know the power of the word “you” to generate a sense of immediacy and connection; Mr. Ahern used it in each of the first five sentences. But in explaining the success of this letter, he also cited the principle of reciprocity — meaning, in essence, we (the hospital) did something good for you (the reader and former patient). So perhaps, the letter suggests, you can do something good for us.
After all, it’s only fair, right? People like to think of themselves as being fair. Indeed, that is one of the nine moral adjectives that the psychologist Jennifer Shang has identified in her research on what motivates people to give. These “describe a core sense of who people actually are, as well as a core sense of who people would ideally like to be,” said Dr. Shang, a professor of philanthropic psychology at Plymouth University in Britain.
The other eight adjectives are kind, compassionate, helpful, caring, friendly, generous, honest and hard-working.
In one study, Dr. Shang found that thanking those who contributed to a public radio station in the United States for being “kind and compassionate” increased giving among female donors by 10 percent.
That said, she added, successful fund-raising is complex. “Randomly injecting these words into the same communication that donors would not otherwise read anyway does not help anybody,” she said in an email. “It is about allowing the donors the opportunity to reflect on who they think they are.”
Yet many charitable organizations “churn out appeals that talk about how fabulous their organizations are and not about the donor’s part of the story,” said Jen Love, co-founder of the fund-raising consultancy Agents of Good. Making appeals more donor-centric, Ms. Love said, is the hallmark of effective fund-raising.
She and Mr. Ahern said the most effective medium to reach donors was one from the past: old-fashioned direct mail.
Older people, belonging to a generation that still prefers print, are the most generous: A 2013 study on generational giving habits commissioned by the software company Blackbaud found that those born in 1945 and earlier tend to give an average of $1,367 a year, surpassing millennials, who average $481 a year.
Because so much messaging has moved online, it’s not only older adults who are attracted by the novelty of delivered mail. “When you get something in your actual mailbox, that’s a thing!” said Ms. Love, whose firm is based in Waterdown, Ontario. “You think it might be an invitation to a wedding or a party.”
Of course, a good fund-raising appeal is just that: an invitation to help an organization that makes donors feel good about doing it, while communicating the urgency of the need.
“We try to get our clients to imagine that it’s 24 hours before your organization was founded,” said Ms. Love, whose clients include Habitat for Humanity, the Y.M.C.A. and Humber College in Toronto. “A group of people stood together that day and said, ‘We have to do something about this.’ Every single appeal now has to resonate with that same core value, that same ‘fist on the table’ insistence and energetic urgency.”
Urgency, and as Mr. Ahern said, the need to “celebrate how wonderful the donor is,” as he did in the windup of his letter for Sharp’s Chula Vista hospital, which is being mailed again in 2017, illustrate how the language of giving can have a huge effect.
“We cannot do great medicine without your help. So please consider Sharp Chula Vista in your decisions about charitable giving.
I know there are many good charities that will seek your help. Please know how honored we are when you choose to make a gift to Sharp HealthCare Foundation.”