Understanding Initiatives

In general, before you set up initiatives in the system, consider these questions:

• What type of goals does the institution track for initiatives?

  Goal types will differ, depending on the initiative type, but may be number of attendees, volunteers, or members, or percent increase over the previous year.

• What types of audiences do you appeal to for each initiative that the institution runs?

  Create a spreadsheet of attributes and audiences for each of the initiatives to help you plan the setup. An attribute is the system field or view containing the information that you use to segment the audience.

• What communication methods do you use to evoke participation in the initiatives?

  Examples of methods are letters, emails, and personal visits, which are set up as communication methods.

• What types of appeals do you use to reach constituents during initiatives?

  Appeal types are categories of appeals such as direct mail, phonathons, and personal solicitations. What specific appeals does the institution use for each type of initiative? Create a spreadsheet of each appeal and its type to use when you go live and as part of the conversion of gifts and pledges. Appeals can be linked to all types of initiatives and to gifts and pledges, depending on the check boxes selected on the Setup Appeal Code page.

• What categories of expenses do you track for the initiative budgets?

  These are set up as budget categories.

• What aspects of actions do you want to track?

  You can track four aspects of actions with the system. These action components are used for both initiatives and prospect management. You must set them up carefully. Create a spreadsheet of all four action components. Make sure that each action type can be linked to appropriate action contact types, statuses, and results.

  • Action types are the general kinds of actions that you use when tracking initiatives and prospects, such as an ask or cultivation.

  • Action contact types are the specific actions that the initiative staff engages in for initiatives, such as mass mailings, phonathon calls, and personal visits.

  • Action status and action results are necessary for each action type and action contact type.

• What types of contact does your staff have with constituents, and for what purposes?

  Create a spreadsheet of all four action components.

• What types of communications does the institution engage in for each initiative?

  Much setup is necessary to produce communications from the system that are tailored to the needs of the company. Communications is part of PeopleSoft Campus Community, which is shared by all areas on campus. You might establish some naming conventions for each office that uses communications, to make communications more manageable.

In addition to the questions above, which are prerequisites for setting up any type of initiative, you should consider additional questions for each major type of initiative.

Before you set up the system to manage a campaign, consider this question: What phases, such as leadership gifts, major gifts, and general campaign gifts, do your campaigns encompass?

Before you set up the system to manage memberships, consider these questions:

• How are setIDs, record groups, and business units set up at your institution?

  Membership types and membership categories are defined by setID. When you set up membership organizations and view information by business unit, the values that you see depend upon the values that you define for the setID and the setID that you associate with the AV01_MBR record group.

  See Defining and Securing PeopleSoft Contributor Relations Business Units and SetIDs.

• Does your institution allow gift entry to be completed when membership dues are processed?

  You specify this information on the Institution Installation page.

• How many days before a membership period ends do you need to roll dues over to the following year's membership period?

  You specify this information on the Institution Installation page.

• What types of memberships can constituents have with a member organization?

  Examples of membership types are life, annual, and sustaining.

• What are the various categories for membership in an organization?

  Examples of membership categories are single, joint, family, and complimentary.

Before you set up the system to manage volunteers, consider the following:

• What phases do your volunteer initiatives encompass?

• What specific appeals does your institution use for volunteer recruitment?

  Examples of volunteer appeals are an invitation to participate in a career network or a request to help with the annual alumni phonathon. Create a spreadsheet of each appeal and its type. You can link appeals to all types of initiatives.

• What responsibilities does your institution assign to volunteers?

  These are set up as areas of responsibility. Responsibilities include programs, food, and entertainment.

• What areas of responsibility do you want to categorize?

  For instance, event logistics might be an assignment type that comprises registration, entertainment, food, and program.

• What volunteer structures does your institution use to accomplish its goals?

  You can set up leadership types that act as templates. When you create a new leadership structure for an initiative or member organization, you can import the volunteer structure. Examples of leadership types are Board of Directors, Reunion Committee, and Fund Raising Team.

Before you set up the system to manage events, consider this question: What phases do your event initiatives encompass?

When developing a strategic plan for Contributor Relations, an institution must identify the initiatives that will be the basis from which the plan will be carried out. An initiative is any organized effort with an expressed purpose. It can be a campaign, a membership initiative, an organized volunteer effort, an event initiative, or any other type of initiative defined by the institution. Initiatives can consist of multiple parts with other initiatives related to them, enabling the institution to track individual parts or the initiative as a whole.

To create an initiative, regardless of its type, you:

• Define a time frame.

• Define participation and financial goals.

• Assign responsible resources.

• Define the target audiences.

• Determine how this function relates to others at the institution.

• Develop a communications or public relations plan to reach the target audiences.

The four main initiative types are:

• Campaign

  An organized institutional effort targeted to a specific constituency that occurs over a specified period of time, with specific purposes and goals.

• Membership initiative

  A campaign focused primarily on membership.

• Volunteer effort

  After you create an initiative or define a membership organization, you can create the volunteer structure necessary for the effort to succeed. You then assign volunteers to the positions within the volunteer structure and assign additional volunteers to perform specific tasks.

• Event

  Any occurrence that you set up to achieve a particular result.

  Events are one of the most effective ways for the institution to reach both existing and new constituents.

A campaign is an organized institutional effort targeted to a specific constituency that occurs over a specified period of time, with specific purposes and goals. Although all initiatives in Contributor Relations share common setup pages, a campaign initiative has its own audience, resources, related initiatives, and PR plan. Some initiatives, such as campaigns, require additional setup that is specific to their purpose.

A membership initiative is a campaign focused primarily on membership. Although all initiatives in Contributor Relations share common setup pages, a membership initiative has its own audience, resources, related initiatives, and PR plan. Some initiatives, such as membership initiatives, require additional setup that is specific to their purpose.

After you create an initiative or define a membership organization, you can create the volunteer structure necessary for the effort to succeed. You then assign volunteers to the positions within the volunteer structure and assign additional volunteers to perform specific tasks. Volunteer efforts are associated with both volunteer initiatives and member organizations, and are set up as initiatives. Although all initiatives in Contributor Relations share some common setup pages, a volunteer effort has its own audience, resources, related initiatives, and PR plan. Some initiatives, such as volunteer efforts, require additional setup that is specific to their purpose. The volunteer-specific setup is covered in this topic; overview information for all types of initiatives is discussed elsewhere.

An event initiative is any occurrence that you set up to achieve a particular result. It is a combination of processes. Events are one of the most effective ways for the institution to reach both existing and new constituents.

Although all initiatives in Contributor Relations share some common setup pages, an event initiative has its own audience, resources, related initiatives, and PR plan. Some initiatives, such as events, require additional setup that is specific to their purpose. The event-specific setup is covered in this topic; overview information applicable to all initiatives is located elsewhere in this PeopleBook.

Other-type initiatives refer to initiatives that do not fall within the boundaries of a campaign, event initiative, membership initiative, or volunteer effort. Although all initiatives in Contributor Relations share some common setup pages, other-type initiatives have their own audiences, resources, related initiatives, and PR plans. Setup information applicable to all initiatives is located elsewhere in this PeopleBook.