Oakland University’s University Relations department developed a training program for unit business managers and other University staff members with financial responsibilities on campus. The program explains the process for reporting gifts and donations, helps answer many of the questions about the process and assists staff in becoming more familiar with University fundraising practices, IRS laws and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) guidelines. Rob Saunders, director of development information services, along with Theresa Allen, gift processing manager, submitted the training program to the CASE’s annual Circle of Excellence award program and received a silver medal.

“We designed the training program to help business managers in the different units throughout the university understand more about fundraising and working with their development officers,” said Saunders.

OU was awarded the silver medal in the Advancement Services Program for “Unit Business Managers and Fund-Raising Issues — Getting Them and Keeping Them Connected.” Eighteen other programs were also presented in the category.

The training program covered areas such as quid pro quo contributions, IRS and university policies and how current daily practices in their units impact the fundraising efforts of the university as a whole.

“We wanted to get them involved in what fundraising really means,” said Saunders. “We wanted to not only get them involved but keep them involved, keep them connected and keep them knowledgeable about OU’s practices.”

While business managers from around the university have been trained using the program, it has also been loaded to the OU Training Web site and anyone with a banner login can access it.

The idea for the training program came because there were a lot of questions being asked by the business managers on the same topics.

“It made the business managers want to ask more questions, which is good,” said Saunders. “It created awareness for what we do. It really helped get us connected. It’s not just University Relations that deals with fundraising, it’s the entire campus community.”

The CASE Circle of Excellence Awards program is open to all 182 CASE member institutions. In 2004, more than 3,100 submissions were received in 40 categories in the alumni relations, fundraising programs, public relations, periodicals, publications, electronic communications, Web design, photography and print publication design areas.