Sarah Brickman
Director of Donor Relations
V Foundation for Cancer Research

1. What kind of organization are you doing donor relations in right now?

I am currently collaborating to build a strong donor relations program at a national cancer research foundation. Our donor relations shop is a small but mighty team of two!

2. What’s a donor relations topic you’re always happy to talk about?

I'm always game to chat about how we're using technology, especially artificial intelligence, to help us better understand and reach donors. AI has opened up tremendous opportunities to raise the bar in donor relations and stewardship and deepen philanthropic engagement. It's an exciting time.

3. What donor relations practice did you stop doing, and why?

I spent a good portion of my early career believing that donors care about being part of a giving "society" or "tier" based on their annual or cumulative giving. But research shows that the quality and frequency of communication matter much more than a special lapel pin, group label, or their name on a list. Grouping donors into cohorts provides a convenient structure for organizing stewardship efforts internally, but when it comes to our donor-facing communications, we should focus on targeted, personalized impact sharing, which is far more efficient and effective.

4. What’s one donor relations decision that didn’t work, and what did it teach you?

When I joined the V, I launched an individual stewardship planning process for top donors based on a model I had successfully implemented in previous roles. After a year of deferrals and competing priorities, however, it became clear that our most meaningful donor touchpoints emerged organically—not from detailed plans, but through close collaboration with gift officers to identify timely engagement opportunities. At the V, our strength is in our nimbleness. Flexibility has been far more fruitful than any ISP. I learned that in building an effective DR program, harnessing your unique team dynamic can be as important as experience.