History of the Association of Donor Relations Professionals

The founding of the Association of Donor Relations Professionals in 2004 can be traced back to the first New England Stewardship Conference held fourteen years before. A small group of stewardship professionals — in those days there were far fewer advancement officers involved in stewardship — recognized then the unique aspects of their profession that could and should be shared with peers from other institutions; they pulled their resources together and staged the first conference. Since then, the thousands of donor relations professionals who followed the first conference organizers have maintained a strong yet informal community of practice with peers around the globe. The New England Stewardship Conference, organized each year by a volunteer host institution, grew to attract registrants from all over the country, and world.

Electronic services offered another unifying channel to donor relations professionals in the 1990's. Currently maintained by Toni Robinson at the University of Hartford, the Stewardship Listserv offers a free electronic service and provides a forum for communication among professionals with an interest in the field of stewardship and donor relations in not-for-profit advancement.

The 2002 New England Stewardship Conference marked the final and most significant turning point in the creation of the Association of Donor Relations Professionals. The conference was organized and held at a non-institutional site for the first time. The lack of sponsorship by any one institution held new legal implications. Recognizing the need for a formal organization and the added benefits that such a network could provide to the profession, the conference co-chairs, Bonnie Palmer and Jaime Porter, facilitated the first discussion about a donor relations organization that would meet the ongoing needs of the already strong network and that would provide additional services that were not centralized at the time.

Bonnie recruited stewardship representatives from other institutions to join her in forming an organization. The founders (and their then employing institutions) include:

• Bonnie Palmer, Phillips Exeter Academy
• Jaime Porter, Colby College
• Jenny Hertig, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Joe Donnelly, Northeastern University
• Michelle Robertson, Dartmouth College
• Kati Mann, Tufts University School of Medicine

The founders considered joining forces with other existing organizations including the Association of Professional Researchers for Advancement (APRA), the New England Development Research Association (NEDRA), the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE), or even smaller, regional communities of practice. Ultimately though, the importance of bringing increased visibility to the donor relations profession and the goal to include donor relations professionals from all organizations (not just higher education institutions) led the founders to create an entirely new international organization.

The Association of Donor Relations Professionals (ADRP) is a non-profit business league organized under the laws of the State of New Hampshire. Its goals are to offer professional development opportunities, to promote the donor relations and stewardship professions and to foster networking. Its board of directors follows the organization's bylaws and is comprised of a president, vice president, secretary, treasurer, and nine directors representing various regions and types of institutions. Board members hold staggered one- or two-year terms of office running January 1-December 31.