The Role of GIS The Role of GIS in in

Institutional Institutional AdvancementAdvancement

Cynthia MayCynthia MayMGIS GraduateMGIS Graduate

Assistant Professor of GISAssistant Professor of GISNorthland CollegeNorthland College

Ashland, WisconsinAshland, Wisconsin

Common missions of institutional advancement

• Expand institution’s financial resources

• Identify funding opportunities

• Develop external relationships so new sources of revenue are secured

Objectives

1. Understand whether institutional advancement (IA) offices are using GIS to support their fundraising efforts.

2. Identify which GIS software programs IA use and how.

3. Learn which specific activities IA use GIS for.4. Understand whether IA staff feel that GIS is

important and has been effective in their work.5. Identify how best to assist Northland College’s IA

office in starting to use GIS.

Common methods of fundraising

• Identify individuals capable of a charitable gift

• Qualify an individual’s charitable intent in relationship to the needs and mission of the institution

• Maintain and continue a history of charitable giving

Geography of philanthropy

• Nature of charitable behavior is complex

• Need to better understand donors

• Become more knowledgeable about social, economic & geographic environment of donors– Geopsychodemographic

researchWI example - Directions Magazine - Nov. 1999

Applying GIS in fundraising

• Geocode every address at the most refined level

• Create donor and/or non-donor profiles from secondary data linked to the geography from which the donor comes

• Identify geography that contains individuals similar to those who match the donor profile

Understand whether IA Understand whether IA offices are using GIS to offices are using GIS to

support their fundraising support their fundraising efforts.efforts.

Objective 1

Web questionnaire

• Invitation sent to several UW system Advancement Offices

• Invitation issued on listserv for the Association of Institutional Researchers

• http://www.ncfaculty.net/cmay/questionnaire.html

• Results– Sample size – 36 replies out of 140 (25%)– Survey still available for more responses

Using GIS in IA

One sample reply…

Number of responses to GIS survey

Number using GIS in IA

How long GIS has been used in IA

Identify which GIS Identify which GIS software programs IA software programs IA

use and how.use and how.

Objective 2

GIS software

Database management

ESRI - BusinessMAP 4.5

• Calculate routes • Perform call planning • Plan trips • Create territories &

regions • Create & provide

reports from maps • Create graphs and

charts

Microsoft - MapPoint 2006

• Find addresses• Plan trips• Turn data into maps• Import data and

contact information• Customize maps• Use Real-Time GPS

support

MapPointMapPoint data mapping wizard

Map Types

Connect Map to Windows Live Local & GPS

Another option: ESRI - StreetMap USA

• Comes with ArcGIS Desktop package– Map document & complete dataset

• Find addresses anywhere on a street network

• Perform simple point-to-point or optimized routing across nationwide street networks

Interactively or batch geocode

Point to point routing

Learn which specific Learn which specific activities IA use GIS activities IA use GIS

for.for.

Objective 3

GIS activities

Challenges facing IA use of GIS

Sample donor database

Understand whether IA staff Understand whether IA staff feel that using GIS is feel that using GIS is

important and has been important and has been effective in their work.effective in their work.

Objective 4

Identify how best to Identify how best to assist Northland assist Northland

College’s IA office College’s IA office to start using GISto start using GIS..

Objective 5

A Plan

• Identify type of database used in IA• Standardize database attributes for

compatibility with GIS query functions• Download ArcGIS software and dataset• Provide one-on-one training with

tutorials so IA staff can get started using GIS

• Train IA staff how to use GPS in conjunction with MapPoint software

Training options

• BusinessMAP – No ESRI virtual campus course; ESRI

online support forum; special customer training

• MapPoint 2006– Software instruction manual is user-

friendly; explains everything the software can do

• StreetMap USA

ConclusioConclusionsns

Conclusions

1. There doesn’t appear to be any enterprise-wide GIS systems used in institutional advancement. Most IA are just starting to use GIS. IA offices currently using GIS are in the minority.

2. GIS programs most often chosen for use in Advancement are ESRI’s ArcGIS/ArcView, BusinessMap, and Microsoft’s MapPoint.

Conclusions3. IA use GIS primarily to analyze data, create

maps and graphs, and plan business travel. A few use GIS for data management; most use MS Access and Excel for their databases.

4. A majority of IA feel maps and geographically-referenced data are important in their work, GIS has been effective in supporting their work, and that GIS technology will play an important part in their IA research in the future.

Conclusions

5. Working first-hand with Northland College’s IA staff will enable a better understanding of how GIS can best be used to support Advancement’s mission. • Training IA staff how to use GIS

software will be an important priority.

Questions?Questions?

Thank you for your attention.