1. MARK KOENIG
Assistant Vice-President, Advancement Services
Oregon State University
DAN PETERSON
Associate Director, Advancement
Foster School of Business, University of Washington
WHAT IS A DISCOVERY
OFFICER AND HOW DO I
GET A GOOD ONE?

2. 2
DISCOVERY
PROGRAMS
Alumni Relations
Major Gift
Annual Giving
Electronic
Volunteer
Hybrid

3. HYBRID DISCOVERY
Discovery
Pool
Major
Gift
Officers
Discovery
Officers
Volunteers
Tech

4. 4
STAFFING
Is a discovery officer
warranted or not?
Potential pool of prospects
prospects

5. Building Capacity:
Doubling the Pipeline
2,765
251 130
6,300
720
336
11,772
1,562
686
0
1000
2000
3000
4000
5000
6000
7000
8000
9000
10000
11000
12000
13000
Major Leadership Principal
We are here
Where we need to be
How we are going to get there
Managed Prospects & Qualified Leads *
Major Gifts = $25k—$1M / Leadership Gifts = $1M—$5M / Principal Gifts =
$5M+
*Annual Gifts not included

6. Determining Outcomes:
The Pipeline
Early
Engagement
Digital &
Social Media
Communications
Annual
Giving
Mid-level
Giving
Major Giving Planned
Giving
Ultimate Gift

7. 7
STAFFING
Is a discovery officer
warranted or not?
Potential pool of
prospects
Cost of discovery

8. 8
METRICS
Fundamental goal
Specific metrics
Expected return on
discovery

9. Return of discovery
2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 Totals
New Frontier 5yr 1000 1750 2000 2250 2250 8500
Qualified MGO 1000 1000 1000 1000 1000 5000
Qualified DiscO #1 0 250 250 250 250 1000
Qualified DiscO #2 0 250 250 250 250 1000
Qualified DiscO #3 0 250 250 250 250 750
Qualified DiscO #4 0 0 250 250 250 750
Qualified DiscO #5 0 0 0 250 250 500

10. 10
METRICS
Fundamental goal
Specific metrics
Expected return on
discovery
Other considerations

11. 11
METRICS
Fundamental goal
Specific metrics
Expected return on
discovery
Other considerations
PEOPLE
ASSETS
PLANS
PASSION
ADVISORS
“DISCOVERY
OF
INFORMATION”
P
A
P
P
A

12. 12
COMPETENCIES
What type of
individual are you
looking for?
Position specific
competencies
Industries to consider
hiring from

13. 13
ONBOARDING
Introductory internal
meetings
Utilizing central
advancement
resources
On-going training
Discovery to MGO

14. 14
KEY
TAKEAWAYS
Determine what kind
of discovery program
works for your
institution
Hire the right people-
cognizant of key
competencies
Use of technology to
maximize output

15. QUESTIONS
OR
COMMENTS
?

16. THANK
YOU
!
MARK KOENIG
DAN PETERSON
Mark.Koenig@OregonState.edu
linkedin.com/in/markckoenig
Djpete@uw.edu
linkedin.com/in/djpeterson1