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Brian Dowling, Principal and Founder, SupportingAdvancement.Com

Brian Dowling has invested more than 20 years working in Advancement and Development Services managing systems, gift processing, records, web sites, research, and operations.

Brian joined the VGH & UBC Hospital Foundation in 2008 as Senior Vice President for Finance and Information Systems and is responsible for deploying creative information technology solutions to help the Foundation achieve its fundraising and engagement goals.

Brian worked previously at the University of Michigan and was responsible for managing the technological infrastructure, gift processing and records administration for the Office of University Development in support of a $3.1 billion campaign. The database contained over 1,000,000 entities and average revenue was $250-$370 million representing approximately 184,000 gift transactions.

Prior to that, Brian worked at The University of Toronto. The university’s $1 billion campaign was Canada’s largest and most successful philanthropic effort in higher education. The database of over 700,000 entities supported a large scale advancement operation.

Brian has also worked at a number of institutions in both the United States and Canada, where he gained understanding, knowledge and perspectives of managing in small, medium and large shops. This experience included multiple system conversions, web site development, budgetary and financial responsibilities, operations management and more. He has consulted in the United States, Canada and Australia, written numerous articles and presents regularly at conferences.

He invests his spare time in SupportingAdvancement.Com and is an amateur musician.

About SupportingAdvancement.Com

SupportingAdvancement.Com is currently one of the highest traffic, resource focused web properties in the higher education and non-profit spaces. The site is focused towards people working in advancement and development services, annual fund and operations but includes a substantial array of resources for fundraising and constituent engagement.

We learn from others. Site content is often contributed from professionals working across the broad spectrum of fundraising and constituent engagement throughout the world. Resources on the site are provided freely to the community through contributions, strategic partners and sponsorships.

Employment

Professional development. Strategies to help you manage your professional development.

More With Less

Effective Technology Planning.

Resources. Presentation on resources to help you with your career. SWOT analysis.

What are some strategies to help in selling your budget?

Potpourri

Customer Service. Presentation on delivering memorable customer service experiences.

Listserv Etiquette. It is important to observe guidelines to keep everyone productive on listservs.

Rankings Up and Down. Comments on rankings.
Resources. Presentation on some resources that are available to help you with your career.
The Devil is in the Details. (Customer Service.)
Tomorrow Made Possible. Presentation and podcast on what we need to do in advancement and development services to meet the future needs of our organizations.

Vocation = Avocation. General thoughts, musings and other information on advancement services.

Records

Community Outreach and Other Hidden Data Gems. Ideas for building your database.

Creative Information Strategies. Presentation on creative information acquisition strategies. Podcast.

Data Challenges. What are some of the data challenges related to fundraising that you are facing in the healthcare sector?
Data to Information - Part 1. Presentation done at APRA International Conference on strategies for changing your data to information. Part 1 looks at data challenges and opportunities, inventorying and then measuring your data to determine how effective your data management is.
Data to Information - Part 2. Part 2 of presentation done at APRA International Conference on strategies for changing your data to information. Part 2 looks at creative data acquisition strategies and some of the newer tools for managing data.

Data Management - Overarching. An encompassing approach to data management is critical to fundraising success.

Electronic Content Management Systems (ECM). Some considerations on implementing ECM.

Reporting

Data Analytics and Reporting. Presentation - Building Your Data Warehouse - Session 1. Associated Podcast.

Data Analytics and Reporting. Presentation - Building Your Data Warehouse - Session 2. Associated Podcast.

Data Warehouse - Driving Performance With Information.
Data Warehouse Strategies - 1 - Part 1 of a presentation on data warehouse strategies presented at an AASP (Association of Advancement Services Professionals) regional workshop. Associated Podcast (WMA format).
Data Warehouse Strategies - 2 - Part 2 of a presentation on data warehouse strategies presented at an AASP (Association of Advancement Services Professionals) regional workshop. Associated Podcast (WMA format).

Effective Information. Concepts of Information Leverage.

Final Campaign Report. Final campaign reports require a number of special considerations. By providing direction and ideas to management on format and structure, you can be instrumental in developing these important strategic documents.

Metrics, Analytics and the Strategic Plan. How should the data warehouse design relate to the strategic plan?

Star Schema, Dimensions, Facts, Surrogate Keys. There are abundant resources available covering data warehouse concepts. This is a general overview of some of the basics in an attempt to relate these to fundraising data.

Survey on Report Writing.

Understanding Reporting. Understanding advancement/development reporting. Podcast. Podcast 2.

Visual Analytics. We need to understand the use of visual analytics in our fundraising organizations.

Revenue

Matching Gifts - Best Fundraising Practices. Presentation with examples of best fundraising practices for matching gifts.
Matching Gifts Practices. Presentation on matching gifts practices with information from the Matching Gifts Practices Surveys.

Matching Gifts Survey 2006. Results. Print version. Co-contributor Amy Phillips.

Matching Gifts Survey 2007. Results. Presentation of the results of the survey. Co-contributor Amy Phillips.

Matching Gifts Survey 2008. Results. Podcast with Brian Dowling and Amy Phillips. Co-contributor Amy Phillips.

Matching Gifts Survey 2009. Results. Co-contributor Amy Phillips.

Matching Gifts Survey 2010. Results. Print Version. Co-contributor Amy Phillips.

Soliciting Matching Gifts. The Complexities and Some Tips and Tricks on Soliciting Matching Gifts.

Systems

Folder Structures. Good folder structure design is critical to helping you with your productivity. (Video)

Information Systems and Data Management Practices Advisory Group.
New Software, New Business Models, New Fun. Upgrades to a flagship suite of software.

Predicting the future. iPhone Applications for Non Profits.
Site Visit Checklist. Site visits are an important component of a system replacement project. The checklist can be used to help structure these visits so time is productive.
Vendors Help Us. It's not easy to source new software. Vendors can make some simple improvements in how they work with us to help us make these decisions.

Web Sightings

Annual Report. Good example of online annual report. (Video)
Augmented Reality. What is an example of augmented reality, and how might this apply to fundraising? (Video)
Challenge. Good example of a challenge gift at Michigan State University. (Video)
Climbing for Prostate. Discussion of 3rd party events and web site for a mountain climbing theme. (Video)

Developing and Implementing an E-Philanthropy Strategy.
Good Giving Pages. Good example of clarity and simplicity to reinforce messaging. (Video)
Grind for Kids. Overview of a good example of social media activities done by BC Children's Hospital. (Video)

I Am Fresno State. Good example of integration of various social media sites and internal site. (Video)

Improving ePhilanthropy. Presentation on how to implement a plan and integrate best practices into your philanthropy strategy. Class exercise used in presentation for critiquing an ePhilanthropy plan. Associated Podcast.

Internet Strategy. Podcast on creating a comprehensive Internet strategy.

Join the PawPawty. Virtual party using Twitter and other Web 2.0 technology to raise money for animal welfare. (Video)

Micro Sites and Campaigns. Example of using a micro site for targeted annual giving. (Video)

Philanthropy Timeline. Why it's a good addition to your web site. (Video)

Rating Your Web Presence. Comprehensive checklist for rating your ePhilanthropy presence.
Read the Fine Print Carefully. How do you need to re-think the “fine print” when you purchase third party hosted services to build an online community? One often assumes, especially when having worked with “traditional” software such as your own CRM or similar that you’ll have some modicum of control over your data as you build your online community. Nothing may be further from the truth.

Save Our Scholarships. The Save Our Scholarships campaign from Eastern Washington University. (Video)

Search Engine Wars. Brief overview discussion on how various search engines perform. (Video)
Social Networking. Presentation and podcast on ways of doing Social Networking and Media Sharing.
Using New Web Technologies. Using web technologies for both internal and external purposes. Podcast.
Web 2.0, 3.0 and Beyond. Presentation and podcast with examples of what organizations are doing in the web 2.3, 3.0 and beyond environment.
Presentation on Web 2.0, 3.0 and Social Networking.
Web Responsibilities. Presentation on what you need to be responsible for knowing and doing on the web.

What are you doing with Web 2.0 Survey.