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Changes to VSE Report

  • 1.  Changes to VSE Report

    Posted 06-14-2022 04:17 PM

    Good Evening Friends.
    I've been reviewing the changes to the VSE Report and am concerned at how much more complicated it's become. So much so, that I'm considering asking my VP if we can stop submitting the report this year and going forward. To be honest, no one at my organization is really sure why we complete the survey (beyond "we always have"), and we have rarely used the information provided in the report. Is anyone else out there thinking the same thing, or can you share why my organization should continue to have me spend so many days pulling the information to complete the survey.
    Thanks for any insight you may have.



    ------------------------------
    Robyn Smith
    Director of Advancement Services
    Randolph College
    rsmith@randolphcollege.edu
    ------------------------------


  • 2.  RE: Changes to VSE Report

    Posted 06-14-2022 04:23 PM
    Robyn, are you aware that there is a "minimal" version of the VSE that's only a third of the questions?  Talk to Ann Kaplan if you want to save yourself a ton of time.

    John

    John H. Taylor
    Principal
    John H. Taylor Consulting, LLC
    2604 Sevier St.
    Durham, NC   27705
    919.816.5903 (cell/text)

    Serving the Advancement Community Since 1987






  • 3.  RE: Changes to VSE Report

    Posted 06-15-2022 12:57 PM

    What changes? Was I napping?

     

     

    Aaron Forrest CPA

    Senior Director Gift and Donor Services

    University of Rochester Office of Advancement

    585.275.2799 | aaron.forrest@rochester.edu

     




    Original Message


  • 4.  RE: Changes to VSE Report

    Posted 06-15-2022 12:59 PM
    Just added a few optional things.

    John H. Taylor 
    919.816.5903 (Cell/Text)

    Big Ideas; Small Keyboard



    Original Message


  • 5.  RE: Changes to VSE Report

    Posted 06-15-2022 01:13 PM

    Thanks! No need to panic in June! Enough is broken already. J

     

     

    Aaron Forrest CPA

    Senior Director Gift and Donor Services

    University of Rochester Office of Advancement

    585.275.2799 | aaron.forrest@rochester.edu

     




    Original Message


  • 6.  RE: Changes to VSE Report

    Posted 06-15-2022 01:38 PM
    Hi Aaron,
    You might want to check before your FY ends. I do the VSE report by dumping out a couple of huge spreadsheets with all the gifts and codes. I then use a pivot table to get to the numbers. It's the only way I can get everything to balance. If I'm going to do the 2022 Report, I'm going to have to start by doing a lot of recoding before the new FY. 
    Robyn

    ------------------------------
    Robyn Smith
    Director of Advancement Services
    Randolph College
    rsmith@randolphcollege.edu
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 7.  RE: Changes to VSE Report

    Posted 06-15-2022 01:39 PM
    I should have been clearer.  There are no new NEW changes since the changes were announced LAST YEAR when the new Standards came out in March 2021.  Here is a summary of those changes already reflected in the VSE:
    • Total New Funds Committed Without Bequests
    • Total New Funds Committed With Bequests
    • Under Advancement Investment, there is no longer a separate column for communications and marketing
    • In 3a, Faculty/Staff Compensation has been added BACK - It had been rolled into "Academic Divisions: but too many institutions complained about that
    • In "Giving by Alumni Graduation Cohort (4bA3) the 10 Years Out cohort has been split into 0-5 and 6-10.
    • In "Gift Bands Funds Received" & "Gift Bands Number of Donors," additional gift bands have been added below the $2,500 level
    • "Purposes of Gifts to Endowment with Income Restricted" has, like the above, re-split Faculty/Staff Compensation out from Academic Divisions
    That's it.

    John H. Taylor
    Principal
    John H. Taylor Consulting, LLC
    2604 Sevier St.
    Durham, NC   27705
    919.816.5903 (cell/text)

    Serving the Advancement Community Since 1987





    Original Message


  • 8.  RE: Changes to VSE Report

    Posted 06-15-2022 03:53 PM
    Now I'm very confused. Maybe it's a good thing I'm taking a couple of days off starting tomorrow. I downloaded the Overview of Changes document from April and am seeing a ton of changes to the survey when compared to the 2021 one. Some of the changes include:
    • Changes in constituencies
    • Changes in VSE categories
    • Expansion of alumni type
    • New DAF donor category
    • Having to break-out soft credits and hard credits by alumni type
    • Having to break-out soft credits and hard credits by other donor type (even though these donor types are elsewhere consolidated to one type)
    • 15 gift bands that have to be calculated by number of donors 
    • 15 gift bands that have to be calculated by total funds received
    • 8 graduation year cohort bands for alumni 
    • Addition of "Student Affairs/Life" as a fund purpose with no explanation of how the report wants that to be defined.
    I'm thinking this new version of the report is going to add days to a process that is already very time consuming. I'm wondering is it worth it? What's the downside to not doing it.

    Robyn

    ------------------------------
    Robyn Smith
    Director of Advancement Services
    Randolph College
    rsmith@randolphcollege.edu
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 9.  RE: Changes to VSE Report

    Posted 06-15-2022 03:59 PM
    If you do not complete the survey your institution is no longer eligible for CASE Corcle of Excellence fundraising awards.

    Of course, it would also make it impossible to compare your institution to peers or aspirational institutions.

    John

    John H. Taylor 
    919.816.5903 (Cell/Text)

    Big Ideas; Small Keyboard



    Original Message


  • 10.  RE: Changes to VSE Report

    Posted 06-15-2022 04:14 PM

    Are these mandatory or optional changes? Not that I will have time to look at them until July. Our VSE info comes from a yearend report that is older than me. It surely won't be rewritten before I retire. The only change I can recall in recent years was the gift bands and constituencies info which was fairly easy to accommodate.

     

     

    Aaron Forrest CPA

    Senior Director Gift and Donor Services

    University of Rochester Office of Advancement

    585.275.2799 | aaron.forrest@rochester.edu

     




    Original Message


  • 11.  RE: Changes to VSE Report

    Posted 06-15-2022 04:32 PM
    I do not know what is mandatory.  But I do know that the "minimal" version (you have to ask Ann for access to that) has to remain pretty darn consistent as the CASE awards look at the last three years to do trends.

    John

    John H. Taylor 
    919.816.5903 (Cell/Text)

    Big Ideas; Small Keyboard



    Original Message


  • 12.  RE: Changes to VSE Report

    Posted 06-15-2022 01:40 PM
    Thanks for the reply, John. I'll email Ann. But from what I'm looking at, it's more than a few changes, even in the minimal version. But I could be looking at it incorrectly.

    ------------------------------
    Robyn Smith
    Director of Advancement Services
    Randolph College
    rsmith@randolphcollege.edu
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


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