The Full Story:
In 2022, Austin Ice transitioned from her role as a major gift officer to lead pipeline development at KU Endowment. She saw firsthand how many strong prospects were being left untouched – not because of disinterest, but because of time constraints. Only 10% of KU’s prospects had been engaged in a calendar year, making the case for a new approach.
Working with EverTrue, KU Endowment launched a donor experience program that prioritized volume with purpose. Each DXO was assigned a carefully segmented portfolio, populated via saved searches in Signal based on wealth, engagement, location, and recent activity. Rather than trying to force-fit traditional territory management, KU leaned into flexibility – designating “DXO states” where mid-level prospects could be cultivated strategically.
From the start, Austin knew internal buy-in would be crucial. Major gift officers were understandably hesitant about “giving up” donors. But by fencing donor pools based on capacity and recency of contact, reinforcing shared credit on major gifts, and building trust between DXOs and MGOs, KU smoothed the transition and strengthened cross-team partnerships.
Phase two of the program began in FY25, when KU adopted a matrix mindset—embedding DXOs into every corner of donor engagement, not just pipeline building. DXOs now support retention efforts for annual giving, follow up on stewardship touchpoints, and collaborate on campaign-based outreach. A dynamic, tiered portfolio model ensures that donors move fluidly between teams as needs evolve, guided by automation and data surfaced in Signal
On Giving Day, for example, DXOs took the lead on follow-up and challenge-based asks, freeing MGOs to focus on major gifts. The KU Endowment team created ThankView videos highlighting impact stories and faculty voices – then assigned DXOs to follow up with those who watched the videos, prompting conversations and conversions. The result? A 125% increase in new donors that day.
KU also extended ThankView’s reach into major gift strategy. With help from the Communications team, they created cause-specific videos (like the School of Engineering’s “Key” video from Dr. Williams) and added them to a shared ThankView folder. MGOs can now use these in follow-up to deepen donor connection and inspire giving – powered by authentic storytelling from within the university.
KU Endowment’s success story doesn’t stop at immediate ROI. The program fostered a strong internal talent pipeline, with four DXOs promoted to frontline and leadership roles, highlighting how cadence-based training prepares future fundraising leaders.
Ultimately, this isn’t just a program. It’s a cultural shift. Austin and the KU Endowment team are rethinking advancement structures, focusing first on the donor needs – retention, acquisition, upgrade – rather than titles or teams.
The key takeaway? Investing in strategic, scalable donor engagement isn’t just effective – it transforms advancement operations, creating a thriving donor community that sustains long-term philanthropic impact. Bravo, KU Endowment!
