Jesse Bardo on Ashland University’s Success With EverTrue

Jenna Buckle
03/11/2015

Day in and day out, EverTrue works with advancement teams at primary schools, higher-ed institutions, and nonprofits across the globe to help them meet and exceed their fundraising goals. Not only are our customers excited about the opportunity to easily access clean data when they need it, but they’re also excited to begin connecting the dots between social media and advancement objectives. Ashland University is no exception.

This week, I caught up with EverTrue Customer Success Manager Jesse Bardo for his take on Ashland’s success with GivingTree. Check out our conversation below!

Tell us about why you’re excited to feature Ashland today.

Ashland is an exciting customer success story for us because they’re a team that is really focused on a number of different goals as an organization, but everyone is focused on getting there in their own unique ways. We have the social media team, the advancement data team, the researchers, the gift officers—everyone is working together to achieve these goals, but it’s not so siloed that they’re working in their own buckets. As I work with them, I’m so impressed that they can think of an initiative, go after it, and hit it from all these different angles. GivingTree really helps them do that.

Why do you think Ashland has seen success with GivingTree?

They’re in GivingTree all the time. I don’t think they came to the product with preconceived notions that they were only going to use it for a certain purpose. They looked at the new data, asked questions about what it meant for them, and were open about how GivingTree could be useful and how they could use it to collaborate across their organization. EverTrue isn’t interrupting any of the processes that they already had and are using today… we’re supplementing those processes.

What are you most looking forward to in continuing to work with the team at Ashland?

We’ve just scratched the surface. Everyone on the Ashland side is really revved up by the opportunity GivingTree presents for their data, and we’re going to really hit and exceed our goals together. There’s so much data to look at, and this is a really smart team, so I’m looking forward to seeing how far we can go with this.

Thanks, Jesse! For more, read our case study to learn why Matt Gullatta, Director of Advancement Services at Ashland University, chose EverTrue.

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4. Continue to Steward Donors

Your relationship with the donors who give to your endowment doesn’t end when you secure their gifts. Because your endowment exists to make a difference in the long term, your supporters will want you to keep in touch about its progress. Ongoing stewardship means keeping donors updated about your endowment’s performance and impact. A report that strengthens your relationship with donors should cover:

The fund’s balance at the start and end of the year
Spending amounts and allocations
How the fund’s returns compare to your investment targets
A short narrative detailing the specific impacts the endowment achieved

Create a report for each endowment rather than sending an identical document to everyone. A donor who endowed a scholarship wants to hear about the students it supported, while a donor who endowed a building fund wants updates on construction projects.

5. Upgrade Your Endowment Management Tools

Your endowment management tools should make applying your spending policy across every fund easy. Investing in dedicated software is especially useful as your endowment grows. Handling unitization in spreadsheets might work for a few funds, but as you begin to manage dozens or hundreds of gifts, dedicated software can save your team time spent manually calculating gains and losses for each one.

Why Nonprofits Need Dedicated Endowment Management Software

Dedicated endowment software brings accuracy and consistency to every part of the management process, from tracking individual funds to improving security. See how these solutions compare to a spreadsheet-based approach:

nfographic table outlining the information below.

How These Methods Compare:

In managing your endowment with traditional spreadsheets, you may see:

High administrative burden: Manual entry across disconnected systems
Limited security and audit footprints: Reduced version control and audit trail visibility
Difficulty with donor transparency: Spreadsheets provide only static data that is difficult to turn into custom results.

By using dedicated software, you are likely to find the following improvements:

Lower administrative burden: Automated fund tracking and calculated allocations
Enhanced security and audit footprint: Audit-ready reconciliation with clear tracking
Greater donor transparency: Connects with reporting platforms

Dedicated endowment management software keeps your organization compliant while freeing up the time your team once spent manually managing spreadsheets.

Secure Your Endowment with Balance by EverTrue

Effective endowment management begins with excellent accounting. Balance by EverTrue handles unitization, applies spending rules, and produces audit-ready reports, so your team can spend more time on the donor relationships that built the fund in the first place.

Turn your data into a clear picture of long-term impact. Combine accurate fund accounting with donor reporting that showcases impact.
Connect with the tools you already use. Pair Balance with Impact by EverTrue and ODDER by EverTrue to create and deliver compelling digital endowment reports that you can send to donors with ease.
Know where every fund stands in real time. Check market values, gift history, and available spending for any fund. Then, share view-only versions with your team, so everyone stays informed.

With Balance, your team can stop spending all your time on manual management and instead add balance to your endowment workflow.

Additional Resources

To learn more about managing your endowment and other ways that technology can help your organization, check out these additional resources:

Webinar: Building a Seamless Relationship Between Endowment Finance and Advancement. In this webinar, we cover the keys to un-complicating your institution’s financial endowment reporting process. Explore how building a connection between your finance and advancement teams can lead to happier donors and happier staff.
The Best Alumni Management Software Solutions in 2026. Alumni management software allows your university to maintain an active community that supports your school in a number of ways. Review top software solutions.
Donor Segmentation: How Organizing Donors Boosts Retention. What is donor segmentation, and how can you use it to boost retention? Learn the need-to-know information in this guide from EverTrue’s fundraising experts.

Less stress, higher endowment funds. Discover how Balance provides the organization, security, and accuracy your endowment needs. Request a demo.

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