Hello. I'm Michelle Poesy and I'd like to welcome you to the course Annual Campaigns: Building a Case for Support. I'm really excited to have you join me as we explore the best practices for annual giving and building strong annual giving campaigns. But first, a little about me. I've worked in the non-profit world for most of my career and I've been in higher education annual giving for almost 10 years. I received my degree in Communications Advertising with a minor emphasis in marketing from the University of Idaho. My dream at the time was to work at an ad agency and develop really awesome print ads and commercials. The reality was, the market I lived in didn't have any ad agencies so I ended up taking a job out of college at the Chamber of Commerce. It was there that my love and passion for non-profit work was born. I was lucky to be able to spend 12 years of my career working for two chambers. The first four in Moscow, Idaho, and then eight years as Director of Tourism and Special Events in Pullman, Washington. I then took a position with the university relations at Washington State University where I spent a couple of years doing external presidential level events. I traveled across the country in this role and was part of the rollout team for a new president. My next step was the WSU Foundation where I was the Assistant Director for Special Events and I managed all of the events for our donors, from tailgates some pre-game events to black tie galas and even a campaign launch. In 2010, I transitioned to the Director of Annual Giving at WSU. This last transition is where I found the perfect intersection of my education and my passion for non-profits. I get to use my communication skills to raise funds to support students and groundbreaking research that changes the world. In September of 2014, I moved to Davis to become the Senior Director for Annual Special Gifts. Now, enough about me. This course has been divided into four modules developed to give you a comprehensive overview of Annual Giving Programs. We will discuss the science of annual giving, basic terminology and solicitation channels, and how data plays an integral role in annual giving campaigns. The fundamentals of direct mail and e-mail solicitations as well as online giving will be reviewed and we'll talk about how to make these solicitations impactful. Telemarketing and the fundamentals of building scripts, developing strategic ask ladders and implementing a pledge fulfillment process will be covered as well leadership annual giving and the face-to-face visit. In addition, we will be discussing membership organizations and fundraising events and how those may fit into your annual giving efforts. Lastly, we will wrap up the course by learning about multi-channel fundraising and the fundamental approaches to annual giving as well as current trends in the industry. Along the way, you'll be learning to analyze data, write solicitations, develop scripts, plan a solicitation calendar, prepare an elevator speech for a face-to-face visit, and strategically think about benefits associated with membership organizations and gift clubs. I'm glad you've decided to take this course. I think you'll enjoy it and learn a lot about annual giving and successful annual campaigns. We have a lot to cover, so let's get started.
