University of California Berkeley

The University of California Berkeley is a large, decentralized organization proud of the individuality inherent in its culture. Units within the university have been encouraged to develop their own donor recognition structure and themes, often in keeping with the architectural environment of the iconic campus buildings or representative of the preferences of individual unit’s leadership. 

With the growing number of named spaces on campus and an increase in public scrutiny of the offering of public assets as naming opportunities for fundraising purposes, the university opted to conduct a thorough audit of all existing recognition, to review and update naming policies, and to encourage more similarity in the structure of the donor recognition program without dictating specific design guidelines. .

Outcomes

  • Heurista was engaged to assess current practice, train staff to conduct the audit, lead a review and revision of naming policy, and consult on new systems for tracking donor recognition practice across the university. Operationalization of the plan has been a multi-year process led by a dedicated member of the advancement operations team.

    After goals, priorities and possible impediments were itemized, Heurista conducted training and alignment with other stakeholders, in this case fundraisers, a staff/faculty advisory team, and the campus-wide facilities management team.

  • Strong policies and procedures are necessary to conduct complex work across multiple stakeholders. Heurista’s work with UC Berkeley included review and comment on existing Naming Policy, the introduction of more detail regarding the circumstances that might warrant the removal of a naming, and documented procedures to safeguard the several levels of review and approval required by the University of California Board of Regents as well as on-campus decision-makers.