About the entry

Fundraising organizations often promote the best fundraisers into leadership positions, but fail to equip them with the skills necessary to build high functioning teams. Many leaders know what great leadership looks like but struggle with how to individually accomplish it. Additionally, leadership often plays second chair to individual productivity, which can create frustration for both leaders and front line fundraisers. The University of Iowa created a leadership development program that included leader onboarding, a leadership certificate program, and a leader engagement toolkit for leaders with a minimal budget. The programs included actionable items on how to create lasting and meaningful relationships with their employees; thereby increasing employee engagement with the ultimate goal of increased donor/alumni engagement.

From the Judges' Report

In reviewing the entries for the Professional and Staff Development category, The University of Iowa’s entry rose to top because of the thorough and effective content, minimal budget requirement, applicability to a wide-ranging audience, the relative ease of replicating it at other institutions, and its creative use of macro and micro learning resources. Iowa’s entry tackles professional development with a trickle down approach that makes it worthy of a silver award. By equipping managers with relevant and digestible content based on best practices and actionable examples, their leadership program positively impacts employees across all levels of their organization. The program strengthens leaders by giving them the tools to lead, prepares them to manage their team, and helps their team members grow professionally as well. We were especially impressed with the reductions in regrettable and two-year turnover. University of Iowa’s ability to identify this need, create a program with a minimal budget, and see measurable positive results in a short timeframe is remarkable.