A case study in sparking donor engagement at all levels

Author's Biography

Kimberly Bernard Karol is Director of Development, Stewardship and Development Communications, at Prairie View A&M University. Previously, she served as director of stewardship and development communications at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth). While at UTHealth, Kimberly’s team won numerous awards, including the 2017 CASE IV District Gold Award in Stewardship/Donor Relations. Before joining UTHealth, Kimberly served as the director of individual giving for Teach For America — Houston, where she improved the region’s individual giving operations by implementing structured stewardship programmes. Kimberly has also served as Executive Director of Donor Relations for Drexel University in Philadelphia. In addition to her fundraising experiences, Kimberly brings diverse nonprofit and forprofit experiences having worked with the Aspen Institute in international human rights, Seedco Financial Services in economic development and Lehman Brothers in public finance. Kimberly earned a bachelor’s degree in international studies from Baylor University and a master’s degree in public administration from New York University.

Liz Lauersdorf serves as Assistant Director of Stewardship and Development Communications with a focus on engaging current-use donors and enhancing endowed donor communications. Using data-driven methods, Liz identifies opportunities to maximise donor reach, works closely with fundraisers to provide donors with personalised reporting and engagement, and partners with multiple teams to leverage content and measure programme success. Liz has specialised in the development and implementation of new programmes at institutions, including the reporting programme at UTHealth. Prior to this role, she developed and implemented three major efforts at the University of Houston, including a communication strategy for the biology and biochemistry department. She also created three programmes in the Office of Annual Giving, including the student philanthropy programme, senior gift campaign and young alumni giving programme. At 14 years old, Liz became a published writer after submitting a poem for a Houston-based publication featuring high school writers. She earned a bachelor’s degree in communications and a master’s degree in public administration from the University of Houston.

Mika Stepankiw serves as Associate Director of Stewardship and Development Communications at UTHealth with a focus on proposal strategy and development. Mika has expanded her work to meet the various writing and design demands of UTHealth’s growing fundraising operations, including developing content for and editing stewardship reports, brochures and other pieces, such as the award-winning Out in Front series. In just a few short years, Mika has helped build a much-needed communications programme to extend the office of development’s reach into the community. A published writer with a breadth of communications experience, Mika has collaborated with researchers and scientists to produce papers for peer-reviewed journals as well as magazines, federal grants, advertisements and other internal and external publications. Mika earned a bachelor’s degree in professional writing and a master’s degree in professional writing and technical communications from the University of Houston.