Advancement Program Assessment

The Registry now offers clients the opportunity to assess alumni and development programs and staff for productivity and effectiveness. Utilizing the services of skilled advancement leaders with extensive management experience, increases the impact and results at your institution through best practice evaluation, gap analysis, and identification of program improvement opportunities; through established metric-based goals and program plans for short- and long-term enhancements for revenue and program growth.

Engaging with strategic, analytical thinkers, allows for recommended customized strategies that meet the size, scope, and goals necessary to organizational success.  These detail-oriented professional have demonstrated abilities to assist Presidents, Vice Presidents and Trustees in the following areas:

• Analyzing annual fundraising plans and donor segment strategies to identify gaps, implement best practices, expand donor base and increase revenue; while also recommending opportunities to strengthen relationships between Annual Giving and Major Gift donors/programs, and between engagement and giving.
• Conducting a step-by-step review of individual giving programs and the donor giving cycle; by reviewing designs and implementation of giving societies, including but not limited to annual participation, recognition, leadership annual giving, and major, planned and estate gift pipeline.
• Reviewing individual portfolio management, including engagement, suspect/prospect churn, average time from identification to close, and pipeline strength analysis by gift bands.
• Updating and creating gift acceptance policy review, update and/or creation.
• Performing basic data analysis, by constituency, for engagement and giving over time.
• Additional assessments for other program areas as needed.

 

Donna G. Frithsen

Donna Frithsen is a fundraising professional with extensive leadership and program management experience whose advancement career has primarily focused on liberal arts colleges, comprehensive research universities and academic medicine. A strong advocate of higher education, Donna has deep experience, knowledge, and skills in the building of strong, lasting philanthropic programs based upon best practices, data, analytics, goal setting, rigorous planning and execution across all program areas

She most recently served in 2023 as Interim Vice President for Advancement at Albright College, and previously as Interim Vice President for the Purchase College Foundation from August 2019 until October 2020. 

Donna spent six years at Drexel University, serving as Vice President of Campaign Strategy & Operations, Vice President for Development, Medicine, and Health Affairs and Associate Vice President for Advancement at Drexel College of Medicine.

Donna developed a career niche in helping launch new presidents and in expanding and enhancing alumni and development programs and services, which she did for nearly five years as Chief Development Officer at Bryn Mawr College, and previously as Vice President at Drew University, and at Goucher College.

Early in her career Donna honed her skills in best practices and major and principal gift fundraising at the Fund for Johns Hopkins Medicine, where she served for a decade, first as Director of Development for Psychiatry and the Clinical Neurosciences for five years, and later as Executive Director of Departmental Programs, Her responsibilities included the successful raising of more than $600M for Johns Hopkins Medicine as part of the Johns Hopkins Initiative Campaign, which concluded at $1.2B in June 2000.

She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree Magna Cum Laude in Philosophy and Theology from Boston College and completed a Master of Arts in Communications and Public Relations at Rowan University. 

Donna is currently a member of the board of directors of AFP Long Island.