From the Nominator

The pivot to digital fundraising interactions this past year presented an opportunity for Georgetown University’s Office of Advancement to get creative about the way we share collateral with donors. Unable to hand over and contextualize a collection of print materials in person, our development officers were eager to partner with the communications team on a new kind of digital, donor-facing engagement tool—one that supports donor cultivation, showcases our best content, and feels personalized. 

To meet this need, we developed a self-service “digital donor toolkit” tool—built in WordPress—that allows our development officers to quickly select a few assets to share, add in a little context and personalization, and generate a personal philanthropy website for their donor. The resulting webpage is digestible and engaging; it conveys the same quality, look, and feel donors have come to expect from Georgetown University. 

What would otherwise be multiple PDF attachments and links in an email is now a single, high-impact page, with a custom password, that allows the user to play videos and page through documents without navigating elsewhere. Each page also includes a short, context-setting letter at the top and cues that plant the seed for further conversation.

The format has proven highly flexible—equally effective for a quick, precise follow-up to a conversation, a high-level re-introduction to the university’s priorities, and a re-engagement prompt for stalled conversations.

 

Polished but still personal, these sites give donors a glimpse into “their Georgetown” from the comfort of their homes.

From the Judges

Within the category of giving microsites, there are a range of audiences and content types. UCSF and Georgetown created microsites for completely different purposes, both exceptionally well. UCSF’s campaign wrap-up site features excellent design, great photography, and clear and concise content. We were especially impressed with its ability to evoke emotion, not just convey information, and we really appreciated the gentle way in which the site positions the school for its next campaign. Georgetown’s site, on the other hand, is a highly customizable toolkit for individual donors. Staff are invested in the process by being able to add to and choose from a content library for each donor, and donors have password protected access to the simple, easy-to-use, and attractive platform with information curated just for them.