Coordinated Constituent Relation Management

Doc. T07-024

Passed by the BoT
3/14/07

UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS
COORDINATED CONSTITUENT RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT POLICY

The President of the University shall see to the development and implementation of guidelines governing a comprehensive constituent relationship management system (CRM) for University alumni, parents and friends, which he may amend from time to time as appropriate or as required by law. If any University policy conflicts with federal or state statute, the applicable statute shall apply.

Such guidelines shall make provision for the design, development, use, and maintenance of the official University CRM database of record for all alumni, parents, friends, and donors. The database may be used only for approved University business. No person or organization shall be allowed to use the University database of record for personal business or financial gain. In cases of dispute about what constitutes an approved activity, the final decision will rest with the President or his designee.

The guidelines issued pursuant to this policy shall also provide appropriate safeguards for the protection of private or confidential information. The trustees designate the president or his designee as the coordinator for all major donor prospects.

Compliance with and implementation of the guidelines shall be a responsibility of any University employee using the University’s CRM resources. The University will ensure that disaster-recovery plans are in place, including routinely storing a backup copy of the files.

Failure to abide by any of the policies stated within this document may result in denial of access to information contained in the CRM or other sanctions.

GUIDELINES ON UNIVERSITY ADVANCEMENT DATA
PURPOSE
The purpose of the guidelines is to ensure that consistent, accurate information about alumni, parents, and friends is readily available to all appropriate constituencies within the University in a timely fashion.

GUIDELINES
I. General
Alumni, parent, and friend data will be administered as a central resource. Campuses will not maintain separate, "shadow" databases of biographical and gift data on University alumni, parents, or friends in electronic format. Campuses will participate in the maintenance of records and will have full access to data required for their advancement activities.

The University will maintain a database of biographical and gift/pledge information about University alumni and friends in accordance with the general needs and expectations of the University community as determined in consultation with the vice chancellors for advancement. The information contained in this database is intended exclusively for purposes related to programs of the University of Massachusetts.

The University will assist campuses, through report-writing and other functions as needed, in providing convenient, timely retrieval of information, including on-line access and the generation of mailing lists and labels, by maintaining the resources required to run a CRM database, and by negotiating vendor contracts required to provide this service.

In order to provide the best possible service to those with legitimate needs for such information, and at the same time maintain the confidentiality of the information entrusted to us by our alumni, parents, and friends, the following policies have been developed.

II. Prospect Management
The default policy is that each campus will have management and assignment responsibility for its pool of alumni, parents, and friends. When two campuses have conferred degrees, the first degree-granting campus will have preference for management, but the second degree-granting campus may petition for management responsibility if they have an established relationship. Parents with children having received degrees from two or more campuses, individuals with other multiple connections, and donor organizations will, by default, be managed by the campus with which there is a documented relationship most developed, but on a case-by-case basis in the event of duplicate records across campuses, the assignment may be reviewed. The review process will include appropriate staff from each campus and the final ruling on management will be made by the President or his designee if agreement cannot be reached.

Once assigned, the pool and prospect managers (usually the vice chancellors) shall have ultimate authority on solicitation or cultivation activity with the donor. After a period of time mutually agreed upon by the vice chancellors for advancement, if progress is not made and evidenced with prospects in the database of record, another advancement officer may petition to be allowed to manage the prospect.

During the transition phase, organizational donors will be reviewed and a determination made as to whether the entity should be considered a single prospect or whether it can be considered as multiple entities (e.g., foundations or companies may have many directorates within their structures). In any event, there will be one primary manager assigned to coordinate timing of approaches to organizational donors when necessary.

III. Statement of Information Release Policies:
1) The following may request information from the database:
a) The Development Council will decide on appropriate intra-institutional usages of data
b) University-affiliated organizations and alumni constituent groups, in support of approved activities. Those organizations include but are not limited to:
i) Advancement offices
ii) Alumni constituent groups as approved by Alumni Affairs offices
iii) University Development offices and the University of Massachusetts Foundation
iv) Administrative units of the University
v) Academic units of the University
vi) Athletic units of the University
vii) Central Administration
viii)Career Development Center(s)
ix) Business Affairs
x) University-sanctioned research and commercialization ventures
xi) Government Relations
c) Other colleges and universities seeking the location of alumni with degrees from both the University and the requesting institution
d) Law enforcement agencies and student loan agencies
e) Agencies that assist Alumni & Development Systems in locating the University's lost alumni (e.g. USPS Locator Service)
f) Requests for public information must be made in writing, stating the reason for the requested information. Staff may, at any time, require a written request from any individual if they feel unsure about the request. A fee may be imposed for extraordinary research, programming, or materials charges. In cases of dispute about whether an organization has a legitimate affiliation with the University, the final decision will rest with the President or his designee.

All requests from anyone else seeking information on another person will be forwarded to that person so that he/she can decide whether or not to contact the requestor. No information will be released for those records coded "Do Not Release" indicating the alumnus or alumna has requested no University contact.

All requests for information from members of the media must be referred to the University Office of Public Affairs or similar campus office.
2) Following is information that may be released from the database:
Information available for release is confined to "public information" which is limited to:
o Full name
o Address and telephone number
o Degree(s) and date of degree(s) awarded by the University of Massachusetts
o School(s) from which degree(s) was/were granted with major field of study
o Employer address and telephone number
o E-mail address
o Fax number(s)

"Public information" will be provided only to those requestors identified in I.A through I.E above.
Federal law severely restricts the amount of information that may be released on current students. No information on students will, therefore, be released based on data maintained in the CRM. All requests for information on current students should be forwarded to the appropriate Registrar's office.
Information provided to volunteer alumni constituent groups will be limited to those alumni who are affiliated with the requesting group. Campus-affiliated groups must request data from their campuses. In addition to "public information," requests from alumni associations, development, administrative, academic, or athletic units of the University or Central Administration, will be provided the following information:
o Employment
o Student activities
o Alumni activities
o Family members
o Degrees obtained from other Schools
o Miscellaneous comments, awards, text, etc...
o Gift/Pledge data

Information maintained in the CRM database is not available for release for non-related commercial or political purposes.

If the information provided will result in the preparation of lists or directories that are to be published in book, magazine, newsletter or other forms for general distribution among alumni groups, prior to publication each individual who might be included must be provided the opportunity to indicate in writing whether he/she wishes to be excluded.

Requestors of data may contract the services of outside vendors (e.g. data processing consultants, direct mail firms, marketing and merchandise firms, etc.) to process and/or distribute information obtained from the CRM data system. In these cases:

i) The vendor must agree to use the information only for the purpose intended by the University client. The sale or transfer of the information by the vendor is strictly prohibited.
ii) If the project in question results in the publication of directories or lists as identified in III.C above, the procedures outlined in III.C must be followed prior to publication.
iii) The vendor must ensure the prompt return of any University owned computer tapes or electronic software provided in fulfillment of the contract.
iv) The University client or the vendor agrees to pay any costs associated with systems programming or special data processing that might be required beyond the normal capabilities of the computer system.
In all cases involving the use of outside vendors or contractors, the absolute confidentiality of the information provided from the alumni database is the responsibility of the requestor.
7. Formats available for distribution of information.
Information may be obtained in the form of lists, labels, computer tapes, diskettes, and downloads by authorized university representatives in support of approved activities as noted in III.A of this document. It is the responsibility of the unit requesting information to maintain the absolute confidentiality of that information as specified in this policy statement.
8. Compliance with the above policy.

Failure to abide by any of the policies stated within this document may result in denial of access to information contained in the CRM database. Request for re-instatement of access to this information must be approved by the President or his designee and must include written assurance of future compliance with these policies. Multiple infractions may constitute grounds for disciplinary action including termination.