Advice: What Can I Share?
Q: I just started working in university fundraising. In my previous job, we cultivated a donor whom my new institution is also working with. I have information about the donor from my previous job that would impress my boss and might help our relationship with the donor. Is it ethical for me to share this?
A: It is definitely not ethical. Other than what you can learn from public sources such as Google, Facebook, and LinkedIn, you must consider confidential what you know about the donor from your prior position. This is true even if you learned what you did in a social setting, where people talk, often unguardedly, about their lives. Some people in this situation might think it would be just fine to share what they know, perhaps because they might sense that no one is harmed. But that is not the point. You know this information because the donor shared it with you in your capacity as a representative of a specific organization, one you no longer represent. Fundraisers have a responsibility to be discreet and respectful. I hope you will be able to impress your boss in other, more substantive ways.
—Doug White, philanthropic adviser and former director of the master's program in fundraising management at Columbia University in New York
Inquiring Minds: What App Has Changed Your Life?
Channel your inner travel agent
$4.99
Availability: App Store, Google Play
What it does: Keeps track of flight information for you and your friends and family, alerts you of a delay or cancellation, displays terminal maps and gate information
Free, upgrade to Tripit Pro for $49/year
Availability: App Store, Google Play
What it does: Creates a full itinerary for travel, including transportation, lodging, and directions
"It also lets me save a PDF of my itinerary to circulate to the office-a requirement for our department," says Jennifer Hammond, director of alumni and parent engagement at Massachusetts' Deerfield Academy.
Shhh! Don't tell them you're not a designer
Free, in-app purchases.
Availability: App Store, desktop
What it does: Helps you create social media graphics, documents, postcards, book covers, and more
"We can easily edit designs on the go and instantly share to social media without lugging around a laptop," says Katherine Hamilton, communications manager at Point University in Georgia.
C'est bien!
Free
Availability: App Store, Google Play, desktop
What it does: Helps you learn foreign languages
"It has fun competition aspects and rewards," says Emma Rowan, assistant director of annual giving at the William Penn Charter School in Pennsylvania. "You can unlock cute outfits for the mascot, an owl named Duo, and learn how to flirt in the language you're studying."
New use for an old favorite
Stopwatch and Timer
Free
"I have a tendency to go down rabbit holes on research requests," says Dianna Heim, a prospect researcher for Wilson College in Pennsylvania. "When beginning any request, I start my stopwatch, and after an hour, I stop, step back from the screen, and see if I really have what I need. It keeps me on task for other projects and gives me perspective about answering the gift officer's question and not satisfying my sometimes insatiable curiosity."