You're welcome. Thank you for initiating the thread! :)
for the second question, is it one FTE per area? If I'm understanding your question correctly, it's not one FTE per area. Instead, each FTE (or PT staff) manages several core gift processing responsibilities. For example, my role as the Director covers payroll, pledges, checks, special events, and modifications. My PT staff member who oversees Paciolan gifts is truly the only area that requires an FTE. We often have to pull other gift processors in to assist with Paciolan processing because of the significant gift volume spikes that occur numerous times throughout the year. Over time, these assignments may shift as staff are cross-trained on all gift types, but the areas listed represent the current distribution of responsibilities across our existing FTEs and PT staff. We also could really use an FTE to focus on records management (i.e., bio/demo updates)
for the automated items, is it more than 50% of the volume? I would add the caveat that this depends on how you define automated. We don't have any processes fully automated (as in they can be posted immediately). But at least 50% of our gift volume is semi-automated in that the gifts are pre-loaded into batches, and automatching occurs when possible to identify the donor. So the gift processor is reviewing the auto-matched gifts for accuracy and adding the donors when they couldn't be easily identified.
for the event data, is this for all items or just for events? If the event has a gift component, we are processing those gifts in addition to bio/demo updates from that process. Otherwise, we are just managing the bio/demo updates from event registrations. We do process athletics seat contributions (non-tax-deductible) into the CRM. Our Foundation manages the platform for event fundraising efforts that include an auction and tickets that include a gift portion (only 2 or 3 are approved per year) and we process the gifts into the CRM post-event.
Question for you and the thread: What does your batch review process look like before posting gifts to the system?
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Gretchen Armentrout
James Madison University
housergh@jmu.edu------------------------------
Original Message:
Sent: 09-08-2025 09:32 AM
From: Mallory Wiswell
Subject: Gift & Records Staff Benchmarking
Thank you, Gretchen!
for the second question, is it one FTE per area?
for the automated items, is it more than 50% of the volume?
for the event data, is this for all items or just for events?
Here are the answers for City of Hope:
- 125,000
- 10 FTE
- 2 managers
- Blackbaud CRM
- 15% (just lockboxes & one online platform)
- yes, all event registrations, tickets, sponsorships are entered into CRM by my team. We also support the invoicing and collection for any event commitment that isn't paid up front.
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Mallory Wiswell
City of Hope
mwiswell@coh.org
Original Message:
Sent: 09-08-2025 08:22 AM
From: Gretchen Armentrout
Subject: Gift & Records Staff Benchmarking
Hi Mallory,
I'd love to get in on this conversation, too! We're exploring efficiency opportunities and having a benchmark against other schools would be helpful for us too. Here are my responses to your questions:
- # of gifts per year: 46,239 gifts (FY24); we had a 15% increase in gifts between FY23 & FY24; gift volume also increased in FY25, but we switched systems in between, so I haven't been able to easily analyze where we ended FY25 yet.
- # of FTE's for gift processing: Staff has core gift processing responsibilities as well as records management tasks/projects. I have a few new staff members, but by the end of FY26, everyone will be cross-trained on all gift types. Here is the breakdown of core gift processing responsibilities by position (these may shift over time as newer staff become more tenured):
- Director: Payroll, Pledges, Checks, Special Events and Modifications
- Assistant Director: Securities, GIK, Sponsored Programs and manual Credit Cards
- Matching Gifts Manager: Matching Gifts (checks and ACH) and Paciolan (athletics online giving platform)
- Gift Processor/Database Specialist: GiveCampus and ACHs
- PT Gift Processor: Paciolan
- # of managers for gift processing: this is a split responsibility between the Director and Assistant Director
- What CRM: Salesforce/Affinaquest (we went live in April)
- How much of the gift volume is automated/imported? GiveCampus and Paciolan, which are our highest volume.
- Does your team support event data collection? Yes and many bio/demo information update projects.
Maureen - would you be willing to share with me too, please?
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Gretchen Armentrout
James Madison University
housergh@jmu.edu
Original Message:
Sent: 09-05-2025 04:44 PM
From: Mallory Wiswell
Subject: Gift & Records Staff Benchmarking
I am being asked to do some benchmarking for my teams and was hoping some would be willing to share some info with me about gift processing at your shop.
- # of gifts per year
- # of FTE's for gift processing
- # of managers for gift processing
- What CRM
- How much of the gift volume is automated/imported?
- Does your team support event data collection?
I appreciate your time!
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Mallory Wiswell
City of Hope
mwiswell@coh.org
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