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Scholarship Task Force Charge
•What are current processes for donor recognition, announcement of scholarship opportunities, the awarding of scholarships, and monitoring scholarship awardees?•How can scholarship information be more effectively shared with prospective awardees?•How do we better communicate with faculty and staff to make certain that all scholarship funding is awarded?•How can we effectively connect scholarship recipients with the donors who have provided this support?
Scholarship Task ForceMembership
Kathy Lake, co-chair, Director, Enrollment ServicesMary Kay MacIver, co-chair, Associate Director-Alumni Relations, UA&MMaude Bigford, Coordinator-Honors Program, University CollegeKevin Dendel, student representativeMatt Eickhoff, Assistant Director, Student Leadership & ActivitiesBrian Kegler, Assistant Athletic Director, Athletics Becky Kowalkoski, Educational Counselor, BusinessRod Larsen, Assistant Dean, PharmacyRon McKean, Associate Dean, TechnologyAngie Mishler, Admissions Counselor, Admissions & RecordsTracy Powers, Assistant Dean, FSU-GRChrista Walker, Advancement Services Assistant, UA&MHeather Youngs, Scholarship Programs Coordinator, Financial Aid
Scholarship Task ForceSubcommittees
•Awarding and Tracking – Kathy Lake, Chair
•Marketing/Application – Maude Bigford, Chair
•Stewardship – Mary Kay MacIver, Chair
Stewardship
stewardship, noun A process whereby an organization seeks to be worthy ofcontinued philanthropic support, including the acknowledgment of gifts, donorrecognition, the honoring of donor intent, prudent investment of gifts, and the effective and efficient use of funds to further the mission of the organization.
Donor Bill of Rights
To receive proper acknowledgement & recognition
Acknowledgement policy
Publicity policy
College recognitions
Individual department recognitions
Annual donor event
Scholarship luncheons
Endowment reports
Current Process
•Financial Aid Website
•Selective advertising
-Torch
-MyFSU
-Crimson & Gold (Legacy)
•Colleges and program marketing varies
Marketing & Application Current Process
Focus Group Notes:
•Students find the current scholarship website difficult and frustrating.
•Hard to find initially and many did not know it existed at all
•Can’t search by major
•Most do not have links for more information
•Don’t know what “need-based” means
Marketing & Application Current Process
Focus Group Notes Continued:
•Categories seem too general and poorly labeled
•Most who called Financial Aid to ask questions about scholarships after visiting the site said the person who answered could not answer any of their questions
Marketing & Application Current Process
Focus Group Notes Continued:
•No suggestions or tips on the site on how to successfully apply
•Students who spent the time to apply, including writing essays, often did not hear back at all. Some were not sure their application was received
•Students visit once and don’t return
Marketing & Application Current Process
Focus Group Notes Continued:
Other Marketing Ideas:
•Utilize Torch•Brochure in orientation packet•FSUS classes•Advertise on Facebook and My Space•Flyers•Encourage professors to announce in class•Targeted announcements that are clear•Scholarship workshops •Scholarship fair
Marketing & Application Current Process
Focus Group Notes Continued:
Students were unanimous in their desire for a unified application system
Marketing & Application Current Process
Scholarship Website at our own
College of Technology!
•Comprehensive
•Applications are available as pdf files
•Detailed information regarding each scholarship
•Great Job!
Marketing Best Practices
Scholarship Web Search at Northern Michigan University
Marketing Best Practices
Title
Scholarship Workshops at University of Washington
Freshman Scholarship 101 – Getting Started in the Search for Scholarships
Scholarship 201, Continuing Students – The Search for Undergraduate Scholarships and Graduate Fellowships
Marketing Best Practices
Ohio State University Scholarship Application
See handout
Unified ApplicationBest Practice
Marketing:
1. Complete overhaul of the scholarship search site to include more detailed information about each scholarship, including an educational piece about the donor.
2. Include a FAQ section, as well as tips on how to apply for scholarships
3. Encourage each college to list scholarships similar to the COT
Recommendations
Marketing:
Timely Torch article
Encourage professors to announce scholarship availability in class
Utilize FSUS classes
Hold scholarship workshops
Investigate scholarship fair
Thoughtful use of MyFSU notices
Utilize Facebook and My Space – this is where our students are on a daily basis!
Recommendations
Marketing continued:
Use all marketing internal resources, including Bulldog Radio, flyers, Ferris Cable channel
Recommendations
Develop a unified application to be used with all scholarships university-wide
Recommendations
Awarding Process
• Current Process– Endowment status is reviewed in the
Spring– Status memo is sent to the colleges– Dept./Fin Aid start selection process– Dept. sends email to Fin Aid with
recipients information– Fin Aid awards the scholarship– Dept. sends out notification letter to
student
• Awarder Survey Results– No consistent place to get
information – No tracking of whether a
scholarship was awarded or not– Little or no communication exists
Awarding Process
• Penn State – Annual Cycle
Awarding ProcessBest Practice
• Northern Michigan University
Scholarship Committee
Awarding ProcessBest Practice
Recommendations
• Establish a contact person in each College
• Send an email awarding notification form to appropriate contact person in the Spring (already developed)
• Dept contact person forwards the form with selection information to Fin Aid for awarding of scholarship
• Establish a University Committee to award general scholarships
• Create a website for awarders on the Intranet, ie FAQ’s, Annual Cycle
• Create tracking for scholarships that are not awarded or not accepted
• Develop a process to acknowledge applications
• Coordinator is developing a system to ensure that all funds are awarded
Recommendations
Internal Resources
• Programmers– Tracking program for
scholarships– Intranet website for awarders– Website for scholarship searches– Website for donors
Enough with the plaques!
Show me the impact!
Stewardship
Current practice:
Not required
•No process in place to track thank you notes
•Encouraged only at the department/awarding entity level
•No unified message to encourage students to write thank yous
•No guidelines available to assist them
StewardshipThank You Process
University of Memphis:
All student-athletes are required to write up to five thank-you notes to their donors.
They do not receive their books/grant money until they write those five notes.
The student-athletes are given a template to work from
Donors are very appreciative!
StewardshipBest Practice
University of Minnesota
Does not require a thank you for the funds to be released
Creates instead, a “scholarship experience” for students with a packet that contains a congratulatory letter, background information, a note card to write the thank you, tips on what to say, and a return envelope to the development office
StewardshipBest Practice
University of Florida
Requires a thank you note and an information release form before releasing funds
See handout
StewardshipBest Practice
Current practice:
Lunches are selectively coordinated by
•Alumni Office
•Colleges
•Departments
•Major gift officers
StewardshipScholarship Luncheons
FSU College of Pharmacy Honors Convocation
Donors are invited to attend to present awards
Traditional ceremony that donors look forward to each year
Great job!
StewardshipBest Practice
StewardshipEndowment Reports
See example
Reports are sent in the spring with a letter from President Eisler
Contains background, criteria, amount to award, recipient information and contribution information
Stewardship Best Practice
University of Texas at Austin’s
“Donor Connect”
An online reporting system developed by UT Austin that allows donors to check the status of their endowment and connect to recipients via personalized messages with photos that augment traditional thank you notes.
Recommendations
Development of a Comprehensive Stewardship Policy available on the intranet to help educate faculty and staff about the importance of speaking with one voice.
Response from awarding survey regarding donor contact and providing that contact information to UA&M:
“We would if it involved them”
Recommendations
Develop the administrative systems necessary to begin a stepped thank you process:
Begin with thank you notes strongly encouraged and move to a thank you note required system in the future
Provide students with the necessary support to write effective thank you notes
Recommendations
Examples of support:
Online tips for writing thank you notes on our scholarship website
Requests for thank yous attached to the notification letter
Workshops to assist students in writing thank you notes
Providing computer workstations, notecards and postage.
Recommendations
Establish a policy for scholarship luncheon support similar to the acknowledgement policy.
Research indicates that donors appreciate as much personalization as possible for luncheons:
•Private with University representative and student
•Department level
•College level
Recommendations
Research the feasibility of providing online information to donors including a donor survey on estimated usage of such a system
We do some things well
We do some things ok
We do some things very poorly!
We are not alone. Many universities we spoke with want a copy of our report because they face the same challenges!
Breaking new ground!
Scholarship Task ForceWrap - up
•Written report will include a recommendation to establish an Office of Scholarships at Ferris State University.
•Oversee the entire process from Stewardship to Marketing to Awarding
Scholarship Task ForceWrap - up
Questions?