EP 78: Building a Loyalty Program That Celebrates Every Gift with Carly Plate and Dominika McLean

In this episode of The Responsive Lab, Carly and Scott sit down with Carly Plate and Dominika McLean from the University of South Florida to talk about building a consecutive giving recognition program that celebrates loyalty over gift size.

Their core belief? The donor who gives $25 every year for 30 years deserves just as much recognition as someone who writes one large check.

You'll hear about:

• Why USF created Loyalty Herd to close the gap between major giving programs and unrecognized lower-level consecutive donors
• How the program defines eligibility: any dollar amount, three or more consecutive fiscal years
• How USF scaled stewardship across 20,000 donors using milestone touch points, in-house design, and creative campus partnerships
• Why they chose not to offer a buyback option, and how that decision strengthened the program's intent
• How to approach data, communications, and development teams before launching a program like this
• The real ROI of recognizing giving behavior over giving amount
• Practical advice for teams with small budgets who want to start something meaningful now

Links from the episode:

• Connect with Carly on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carly-plate-a8373b2b/
• Connect with Dominika on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dominikamclean/
• Learn more about the USF Foundation: https://giving.usf.edu/about/about-usf-foundation

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