LSU Foundation
Role: Project Manager Committee Lead | Strategic Analysis Contributor
Organization: LSU Foundation
Overview
Our MBA team was tasked with analyzing the LSU Foundation’s donor lifecycle, fundraising operations, and supporting information systems. The project explored how technology, processes, and organizational structure support donor engagement, stewardship, and long-term fundraising effectiveness.
The analysis focused on the donor gift cycle, information system architecture, operational workflows, competitive positioning, and opportunities for process improvement.
The Challenge
The LSU Foundation operates within a complex donor ecosystem that requires coordination across fundraising, stewardship, research, records management, and technology teams. The organization relies on multiple systems to support donor relationships, campaign management, reporting, and operational decision-making.
At the same time, our team faced a challenge of its own. The professor required a single project manager for a seven-person team working across multiple milestones and deliverables. Rather than relying solely on reminders and informal check-ins, I designed a committee-based operating structure that distributed ownership, established accountability, and created a process for managing quality throughout the project.
My Contributions
Project Management & Team Operations
To support project execution, I developed the team’s operating framework, including:
- Designed and drafted the team charter and code of conduct
- Committee-based organizational structure
- Communication and accountability processes
- Milestone planning and tracking
- Quality review procedures
- Weekly project updates and status check-ins
Stakeholder Research & Requirements Gathering
I supported the stakeholder research process through:
- Interview planning
- Interview candidate identification
- Requirements gathering
- Interview question development
Areas of focus included:
- Donor lifecycle management
- Blackbaud CRM implementation
- Jira Service Management workflows
- Reporting and analytics capabilities
- Operational challenges and system limitations
Strategic Analysis
I contributed to several strategic assessment areas, including:
- Porter’s Five Forces
- Final conclusions and recommendations
The analysis examined how information systems support fundraising operations while identifying opportunities to improve donor engagement, reporting, workflow efficiency, and long-term system adoption.
Presentation Audience Engagement Design
As part of the team’s final video presentation, I developed and implemented Tiger Trivia, an interactive presentation component designed to increase audience engagement and break up long-form informational content.
The activity introduced short quizzes and interactive prompts between major presentation sections, creating natural engagement points while reinforcing key project findings. I also recorded and delivered the Tiger Trivia segments used throughout the final presentation.
This included:
- Concept development
- Content creation
- Question design
- Segment scripting
Conclusions & Recommendations
Several themes emerged throughout the project:
Technology Alone Does Not Solve Process Challenges
While the Foundation had invested in modern platforms such as Blackbaud CRM and Jira Service Management, successful outcomes still depended on process design, user adoption, governance, and cross-functional coordination.
Data Has Greater Strategic Potential
The Foundation collects significant donor and fundraising data. Expanding analytics, segmentation, and reporting capabilities could provide stronger decision-making support and improve donor engagement efforts.
Donor Experience Depends on Organizational Alignment
Fundraising effectiveness is not owned by a single department. Successful donor stewardship requires coordination across fundraising, stewardship, research, records management, technology, and operations teams.
Process Design Matters as Much as Technology
Many opportunities for improvement stemmed not from replacing systems, but from improving how information moves through the organization and how teams interact with existing tools.
Skills Demonstrated
Strategy
- Strategic Analysis
- Porter’s Five Forces
Operations
- Process Analysis
- Workflow Evaluation
- Organizational Alignment
- Systems Thinking
Project Management
- Governance Design
- Team Coordination
- Milestone Planning
- Quality Assurance
Business Analysis
- Stakeholder Research
- Requirements Gathering
- Information Systems Evaluation
- Recommendation Development
Supporting Artifacts
Artifacts Created
- Team Charter & Code of Conduct
- Committee Governance Structure
- Milestone Management Process
- Quality Review Framework
- Stakeholder Interview Guide
- Weekly Project Status Communications
Project Deliverables
Home 