Kicked off in September, 2016 with Board approval, this project was initiated to develop a comprehensive advancement system that will meet the needs of Development and Alumni Relations and its partners across campus. The solution will:

• Maximize coordinated opportunities for Rice constituents to make a difference through their engagement and philanthropy
• Capture data and information on all constituents and their activities, including giving, volunteering, and most touch points with Rice University
• Reflect Rice University’s core values of responsibility, integrity, community and excellence
• Facilitate strategic planning through powerful system capabilities

The project went live in July, 2018 combining data from Development & Alumni Relations (Millennium), the Jones School (Flatbridge) and the Baker Institute (Salesforce).  Members of these organizations put in tremendous effort in designing the system, validating / fixing the data that was brought over, and testing functionality.

 About Our Partners:  Blackbaud, Precision Partners, and Zuri Group

1. Blackbaud

The system that was selected for this project is Blackbaud CRM.  Blackbaud was founded in 1981 and focuses solely on the not-for-profit sector, with over 30,000 customers in 60 countries.  Blackbaud CRM helps organizations improve constituent engagement, build stronger relationships, and meet fundraising challenges by providing a complete supporter view and an organization-wide toolset for managing the constituent base.

Blackbaud brochures about the CRM system and its capabilities:

• General CRM Brochure
• CRM Brochure – Alumni Management
• CRM Brochure – Direct Marketing
• CRM Brochure – Major Giving
• CRM Brochure – Blackbaud Internet Solutions
• CRM Brochure – Higher Ed Solutions

2. Precision Partners

Precision Partners has been engaged to support the change management and conversion efforts for the OwlConnect project.  With extensive experience in change management and the implementation of higher education solutions, their role is to facilitate the campus-wide adoption of the OwlConnect solution.

3. Zuri Group

Zuri Group joined the project in February, 2018 to support conversion and test scripting.  Many of the Zuri Group employees are former Blackbaud employees with extensive implementation experience.  For more information and bios of the resources on this project, go to their site:   http://zurigroup.com/.