Dominican University
Rooted in Illinois since 1922, with a main campus in scenic River Forest and a second campus in Chicago, Dominican University is one of the premiere Catholic Hispanic-serving schools in the United States. In 2024, 70% of the freshman class identify as Latinx, and more than 80% identify as students of color. Ranked the number one college in Illinois for social mobility, the school is recognized for its success in enrolling and graduating large proportions of economically under-resourced students.
As a Sinsinawa Dominican–sponsored institution, the school’s mission is to prepare students to “pursue truth, to give compassionate service, and to participate in the creation of a more just and humane world.” Through its rigorous education curriculum, the school equips its students for meaningful careers with more than 50 undergraduate degree options, 25 graduate degree programs, and doctoral degrees, as well as certification and endorsement programs.
“Our advancement services team is small… and two of our team members were taking maternity leave at the same time. As exciting as that was, going from a team of three down to one wasn’t ideal. We had some specialty skills we really needed covered, so we lined up a consultant who could help us with Raiser’s Edge NXT, but they didn’t work out. We needed someone new, quickly.”
Mark Carbonara
Assistant Vice President for Advancement, Dominican University
Finding a Reliable Partner
Critical to fulfilling the school’s mission, Dominican University’s advancement team is small—made up of a director, assistant director, and coordinator. Coincidentally, two of the three were expecting babies, both due on the same day. With a double maternity leave on the horizon, the team needed to find someone who could cover their specialized skills, specifically in Blackbaud’s Raiser’s Edge NXT. After their initial consultant did not meet expectations, the advancement team received two referrals recommending they contact an employee at NPact.
The clock was ticking to find a reliable partner who could offer both expertise and flexible engagement terms. The consultant who was now at NPact had been vetted, but they weren’t certain she was available or how NPact structured their services. The University did not want to enter into a retainer pricing agreement, but found this was a common model when speaking with other consultancies.
“We heard back from NPact immediately.
We appreciated their flexibility and hourly pay structure, which worked better for us to manage our budget. The collaborative and communicative relationship was very important to us, and it was easy to integrate the consultant into our processes and systems. Their approach to this partnership helped us achieve a successful outcome.”
Mark Carbonara
Assistant Vice President for Advancement, Dominican University
Custom Solution
NPact immediately responded to Dominican University’s inquiry and was pleased to confirm the availability of the consultant the advancement team was eager to work with. After defining the scope, which included a flexible hourly pay structure, the contract was signed in April and work began with a hand-off from the mothers-to-be in June. Together, the group created a project calendar for the NPact consultant to follow. Once the maternity leave was underway, the NPact consultant’s responsibilities included running reports in Raiser's Edge NXT for events, invites, and end-of-fiscal-year reporting. Additionally, the consultant fulfilled new requests to support major gifts, donor relations and stewardship, alumni relations, annual giving, and communications.
Not only did the NPact team provide staff coverage, but the consultant proposed efficiencies in the university’s Raiser's Edge NXT system, created training for staff, and kept a list of future recommendations. When the two new mothers returned to work, the consultant presented a report of all work performed, including hours spent on projects, and opportunities moving forward. With some of the purchased hours unused, the advancement team applied the remaining time to address more complex dashboard and data integrity projects to get even more value out of Raiser's Edge NXT.
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