Chapter 07: Technology and Social Media: Impact on MD Anderson Fundraising

Chapter 07: Technology and Social Media: Impact on MD Anderson Fundraising

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Mr. Mulvey talks about the impact of social media on MD Anderson fundraising efforts. He mentions e-philanthropy, Facebook, and email appeals. He notes that the Development Office must take full advantage of all avenues of communication with donors, but proceed methodically, so that gifts can be properly serviced. He also explains that the institution must establish formal policies for such online activities.

Mr. Mulvey also talks about the impact of computer analyses, not available when he began in the eighties, and which now allow manipulation of data for better targeting of donors.

Identifier

MulveyP_02_20150519_C07

Publication Date

5-19-2015

City

Houston, Texas

Topics Covered

The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center - Building the Institution; MD Anderson History On Philanthropy and Volunteerism; Donations, Gifts, Contributions; MD Anderson History; Building/Transforming the Institution; Growth and/or Change; The MD Anderson Brand, Reputation

Transcript

Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:

Tell me a bit about how technology and social media, for example, have changed the way development operates. Has that—

Patrick Mulvey:

That’s a good question. No, that’s a good question. I mean, we all must employ all of those opportunities now, from—that would be the big umbrella e-philanthropy, from social media to Facebook to all the different type of avenues that you have where people give. And, clearly, this new generation of individuals grew up with all of this technology, if you can think of it. My daughter, who’s twenty-six years old, has never known a world different than with computers. Whereas me—I can’t speak for you, but me—I can’t say that. And so, it is a way of life. And so, an institution like ours and an office like this one needs to—needs to stay fresh and informed and take full advantage of all of those avenues of communication. And we do that. Now, we’ve gone—we’ve done this very deliberately, and have moved into it in not as fast a fashion as some others have, or as some might want. But I always remember that commercial about those young people sitting around the table, and they finally put their website out, and they get one click and two clicks and three, and all of a sudden there’s thousands of clicks and they’re all breathing into paper bags because now they can’t service what they—what they’ve presented out there on the web. And so, we’ve very deliberately gone into it to make sure that as we move into these new avenues, that we’re able to service those avenues, too. Meaning to receive gifts, to thank people for gifts, to communicate, to answer their questions, and do all of those kind of things that I believe are necessary to continue to achieve the credibility that an institution like MD Anderson has and deserves. And so—but we are definitely in that, but we also know that there are still some significant generations out there that do things the old way. And so, we’re going to make sure that what we do is, we have a combination of direct mail, and email, and e-philanthropy, and make it a package, so that we can touch all different kinds. I doubt that an eighty-five-year-old man or woman right now is necessarily waiting for our next email. But they may be waiting for our next direct-mail piece.

Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:

Right.

Patrick Mulvey:

And so, we need to be sensitive to that audience, as well as sensitive to this audience that we’re discussing right now.

Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:

I’ll confess, I’m not familiar with the term e-philanthropy. How is that different from email?

Patrick Mulvey:

Well, see, it—electronic philanthropy. I mean, you know, so any type of activity such as that, where people can donate.

Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:

Directly through a website?

Patrick Mulvey:

Through a website, that’s right. Push the “give now” button, you know? And if you look at Facebook, people are raising monies on Facebook: “Mary Jones is a patient at MD Anderson, and she has a lemonade stand,” and whatever it might be. [laughs] But it’s the electronic means of communication and fundraising.

Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:

So, I mean, with the e-philanthropy, for example, would you say there’s a specific project that needs funding, and so an individual could give specifically to that, or—

Patrick Mulvey:

There’s a—there’s a term out there called crowdfunding, which does exactly that. So—and not that we do it here, but I’m aware of, you know, like a researcher may have a—you could go out on the web and find this—a researcher has a specific project that he needs x amount of dollars for, and he makes an appeal, in just that way, called crowdfunding. And sometimes they get significant responses. Think about the—let’s see. I’ll give you another example. I’m trying to think, what was that one where they did—where you poured the cold water on everybody? I mean, that’s the—still all of that type of thing, there. So, yeah, absolutely.

Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:

Mm-hmm. But MD Anderson hasn’t used those kinds of strategies yet?

Patrick Mulvey:

Very, very rarely have we done that—have we done that. I mean, there’s opportunities there, and there’s opportunities that present themselves that might not present the institution well, too. So, one has to be careful, when you open that door, what we might find. So if you’re going to do something like that, I think there’s got to be some real specific policies and procedures that the institution administratively looks at, and make sure that it’s comfortable with, and that the institution as a whole understands the parameter under which you must work for stuff like that, yeah.

Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:

What are your, kind of, hopes for how that might evolve, and how social media could be used?

Patrick Mulvey:

You know, wouldn’t it be nice one day if we sent something out and everybody in the United States gave a dollar to the institution through e-philanthropy? You know, I think that the idea there—and I’m be a little snip there, but any opportunity that MD Anderson has to create a greater awareness of itself throughout the nation and the world, we should take advantage of that technology. And this is one of those technological opportunities that the institution should take full advantage of. And so, going to the point of where somebody can register themselves online, to learning about MD Anderson and its services online, to what opportunities they have to participate in the philanthropic program, the opportunities are endless in that regard. Absolutely.

Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:

Are there other technologies that have emerged during your time here that have substantially changed how you operate?

Patrick Mulvey:

Well, you know, just the—I mean, just the power of computers. The ability to be able to segment populations that you might want to reach out to with one message or another, and the idea that you can—you can—you can gather so much information in such a quick amount of time, rather than working off index cards like we used to do, you know, is—

Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:

[laughs] Seriously

Patrick Mulvey:

Oh, yes, so all of the—all of that. You know, just like in any business, I mean, the technology is—has made us so much more efficient, and allows us to work smarter rather than, perhaps, harder, yeah.

Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:

That word, efficiency, kind of reminded me of another issue. In the ’90s, I believe, there was a move to make the development office much more efficient. I read that someplace. Is that resonating with you at all? Not—

Patrick Mulvey:

Well, we continually strive [laughter] for greater efficiency, so the ‘80s, the ’90s, the 2000s.

Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:

Okay, all right. I think it might have been part of a, sort of, institution-wide, kind of, focus on streamlining, but I’m not sure.

Patrick Mulvey:

Don’t know [inaudible].

Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:

It doesn’t resonate with you?

Patrick Mulvey:

Uh-uh.

Conditions Governing Access

Open

Chapter 07: Technology and Social Media: Impact on MD Anderson Fundraising

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