How to manage portfolios of 1,000+ like a Donor Experience Officer

Day in the Life of a DXO

Donor Experience Officers partner with EverTrue to manage prospects of 1,000 high-potential, previously-overlooked donors. Here’s how they do it.

An FAQ about DXOs

A lot of you are familiar with our EverTrue Donor Experience programs at a high-level. (You know… portfolios of 1,000, a top-notch tech suite, and hands-on coaching from EverTrue DXPMs.) 

But we get this question all the time from folks who want to “double click” on DXOs: What exactly does a Donor Experience Office do, and how does their day differ from a traditional fundraiser’s 9-5?

We asked one of our star Donor Experience Officers from Tufts University to take us on a tour of a “Day in the Life of a DXO.” Take it away, Jessica!

What does a DXO do?

Donor Experience Officers manage portfolios of 1,000 digitally-engaged, high-capacity, previously overlooked donors. 

They contact alums who have given loyally for decades, but have never heard from a real-live-person at their alma mater.

They send short, personalized videos to introduce themselves to 5-figure donors who have fallen off the radar due to gift officer turnover.

They hold introductory meetings during which they outline the donor’s giving and impact history at their alma mater.

They conduct their outreach and hold most of their meetings remotely, saving lots of time and big money on travel. 

They have hourly wins like these. (Click here for a live feed of #dxowins from our Donor Experience partners across the country.)

#dxowins
Read More
A DXO sent a “breakup email” to a non-responsive donor. The alum eventually responded and they spoke for an hour at 4:30pm on a Friday. The next week, the alum documented a $1.5MM estate gift.
#dxowins
Read More
“The donor told me that he recently re-wrote his will, and in doing so he decided to rearrange his charitable giving and give more since he attributes the success of his career to us. He also allocated 20% of his estate to us and will document that!”
#dxowins
Read More
A DXO just closed a $12,000 scholarship gift.
#dxowins
Read More
A DXO has been working with a donor with a total lifetime giving of $935. After practicing polite persistence, the donor just requested paperwork to document a $250,000 planned gift.
#dxowins
Read More
An unhappy alumnus responded to DXO outreach. After just a few meetings, the alum made a $150,000 gift.
#dxowins
Read More
A DXO held 11 meetings in one week, and 19 in one month.
#dxowins
Read More
A DXO’s introduction email to previously unresponsive alums received an 8% click rate and a 13% reply rate.
#dxowins
Read More
A DXO booked a $50k gift after adding a prospect to the Introduction Cadence.
#DXOwins
Read More
A DXO added a prospect to the Introduction Cadence on November 12th. The donor hadn’t received any personal outreach after making a $14k gift. The donor accepted a meeting with the DXO, and subsequently documented a $1.2MM planned gift.
#dxowins
Read More
Within two months on the job, a DXO secured a $100,000 cash gift to start an endowed fund.
#dxowins
Read More
A donor responded to DXO’s 3rd touchpoint and booked a meeting. Eventually, the alumna committed to give $20,000/year for life, and to give an additional estate gift of $1MM+ after her passing to establish a scholarship for kids exiting the foster care system.
#dxowins
Read More
A DXO practiced #politepersistence with an alum for 8 months. On Thanksgiving, the donor wrote the DXO a note, saying “I have named [institution] as a beneficiary of my trust which owns my summer house on Martha’s Vineyard. Happy Thanksgiving.”
#dxowins
Read More
The last week of each month the DXO team sits down with prospect research to discuss 30-40 new “hot” prospects. Each DXO chooses 10 prospects and reaches out. All DXOs have uncovered at least one major or planned gift from these “hot” new prospects each month.
#dxowins
Read More
A DXO secured a $10k renewal and is discussing an additional $10k gift to a new program.
#dxowins
Read More
Last year, a donor gave $2k in December. A DXO reached out for a year (#politepersistence!). This year, the donor committed to a $10,000 year-end gift.
#dxowins
Read More
A donor’s response to a DXO’s introduction video: “"This is so creative and made me want to book a meeting with you!"
#dxowins
Read More
A DXO just booked her first donor meeting, after two days on the job.
#dxowins
Read More
After two weeks on the job, a DXO has two verbal gift commitments.
#dxowins
Read More
A high-net-worth alum had never gotten 1:1 outreach before the DXO program. Now, through DXO outreach, the alum donated an in-kind gift of her father’s entire art collection; a $100k endowed gift to create a designated space to house the collection, and a bequest gift of 50% of her estate to support the exhibit in perpetuity.
#dxowins
Read More
A DXO held two donor meetings in their first week on the job.
#dxowins
Read More
A DXO just booked his first meeting with a donor who's household net worth is $4.5MM.
#dxowins
Read More
By leveraging digital technology through the DX program, an institution will see a 300 percent increase in the number of supporters they are able to connect with on a one-to-one, personalized basis.
#dxowins
Read More
A DXO facilitated an introduction between a donor and an MGO. The donor’s annual gift just came in at 300% higher than last year.
#dxowins
Read More
SXDOs (Student Donor Experience Officers) share their favorite emoji via slack whenever they close a new gift.
#dxowins
Read More
“I was blown away by the personal message and felt compelled to reply after reading it. I get a lot of email outreach most days but this one was so individual to me. Thank you for making such an effort like that. I would be happy to book a call with you next week.” - an alum’s response to a DXO’s introduction video
#dxowins
Read More
“How unique. Over the many years and numerous donations, I’ve never received a personal thank you like yours. It’s great to put a face to the institution where my donation was sent.” - an alum’s response to a DXO’s introduction video
#dxowins
Read More
A DXO just secured her first major gift of $25k to support co-curricular learning. The donor is now talking about making an endowed gift.
#dxowins
Read More
A DXO booked two meetings this week, and is now working out details on a $100K planned gift for the Library and a $53K planned gift for the Aerospace program.
Previous
Next

These DXOs are busy. But, what’s the ROI?

As we love to shout from the rooftops of EverTrue: Activity -> meetings -> dollars. So, DXOs start with the basics (more outreach) and the rest of the equation takes care of itself. #AdvancementMath

Over the course of a year, Donor Experience Officers manage portfolios of 1,000 donors. They average 30 daily touch points, and over 6,000 touch points annually. 

Their activity is off the charts. 

Boise State - DXO - Activity
An example of DXO activity at Boise State.

Across the board, DXOs hold over 120 donor meeting every year. (For reference, an average major gift officer holds about 81 donor meetings each year.)

Boise State - DXO - meetings
Here’s an example of DXO annual meetings at Boise State.

And, across all of our Donor Experience partner institutions, alums in a DXO portfolio increased their lifetime giving by an average of 430% after meeting with a Donor Experience Officer.

Boise State - DXO - revenue
Here’s an example of gift revenue from prospects within DXO portfolios at Boise State.

Donor Experience Officers spend their days showing alums that they matter. They practice the Golden Rule, at scale. And they raise more money to solve problems and enact transformational change.

Want to learn more about partnering with EverTrue to launch a Donor Experience program? We’re ready for ya here.

5 1 vote
Article Rating
Subscribe
Notify of
guest
0 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments