What is a DXPM?
Donor Experience Programs by EverTrue are changing the game in shops all over the country, letting you manage thousands of your best, overlooked prospects. What’s our secret ingredient? Our Donor Experience Program Managers.
DXPMs are by your side from day one, helping to build out your team, mentoring new Donor Experience Officers (DXOs), and providing nuanced data-driven reporting to keep your program on track.
Get to know our DX experts, how they got into fundraising, what a typical day is like, and why they’re so excited about the future of advancement.
Meet Teddy!
Your name: Teddy Cook
Location: Ormond Beach, FL
Alma Mater: Georgia State University
Who would play you in a movie? Paul Rudd
What is your favorite part of working at EverTrue? The people I get to work with on a daily basis make working at EverTrue amazing. From my internal colleagues to the different universities I get to work with, everyone is so passionate about what they do. This passion is contagious and pushes me to bring my best self to work every single day. At the end of the day, the work we are doing is truly making a difference in the world. Whether it’s funding research for a new project or funding a scholarship for a first-generation college student, the dollars that are being raised change the world we are living in. And I love that.
Pickup any hobbies during quarantine?
I recently started paddleboarding and working my way up to surfing with a paddleboard. Baby steps but progress is being made.
What’s your signature dish or drink?
I love a good gin and tonic with cucumber and mint. The perfect summer drink!
What did you do before becoming a DXPM? I used to be an Account Executive at SalesLoft. In this role, I was responsible for the full sales cycle, so everything from cold outreach to running a deal to close. I spent most of my day working to secure meetings with decision-makers. I used phone, email, LinkedIn, and even handwritten letters to attempt to connect with the individuals I was reaching out to. That role helped set me up for success as a DXPM because I learned the ins-and-outs of what it takes to not only secure a meeting but also build personal relationships. DXOs work to build long-term relationships with the constituents that they manage so being able to relate to the ebbs and flows of the relationship-building process allows me to understand what a DXO goes through.
How would you describe your role at EverTrue? As a DXPM, it’s my job to work with DXOs on a daily basis to ensure that they are efficiently and effectively working to build lasting relationships with as many individuals as possible in their 1,000-person portfolio. I do this by equipping the DXOs with a suite of technology that allows us to constantly monitor our progress towards goals.
Which customers do you work with? University of Nebraska, University of North Dakota, Florida International University, University of Wyoming, and Boise State University
How does the EverTrue Donor Experience approach different from traditional fundraising? During my time as a student caller at Georgia State University, I quickly realized that the people I was reaching out to were individuals who hadn’t heard from the university in quite some time. This always led to confusion as to why I was reaching out. The DXO approach gives that white-glove experience to more constituents than ever before. With the technology we deploy, DXOs spend far less time trying to remember who to reach out to and when to reach out and more time focused on showing the impact that is meaningful to a donor.
What skills do you find most critical to your role? Change management skills, analytical skills, problem-solving, adaptability, and attention to detail.
What does a standard day look like for you? Typically I start my day by reviewing the previous day’s analytics. I then bounce between team meetings and 1:1s with DXOs where we strategize on creative touchpoints with donors who have engaged with us. I end my day by creating a to-do list for the following day.
Any common observations or results you’re seeing across your DX teams? People make the difference. At the end of the day we can have the best tech, the best portfolio, but if we don’t have passionate people it’s all for nothing.
Also, through our DX work, undocumented planned gifts seem to be popping up all the time.
Any recent DXO wins or stories you’re particularly excited about? A recent win that was an endowed gift a Boise State DXO has been working on. Long story short, the DXO had connected with the donor several times over the last year, and the conversation took many twists and turns. Over time, this DXO built a great relationship with the individual and during a recent conversation the donor mentioned that they wanted to start the process to create an endowed scholarship. The DXO quickly looped in an MGO and began working on a plan for this donor.
What piece of advice would you give someone who is just starting out in a DXO role? My biggest piece of advice for anyone who is just starting out in a DXO role is to connect with as many internal people as possible to learn why giving to the foundation is so important. Find different impact stories that you can then share with a donor you reach out to in order to show how any gift no matter the size is changing the lives of individuals.
Teddy is awesome. Connect with him here.