Case Study: Iowa State University Foundation achieves 13-day faster approvals and 30% reduction in printing with Adobe Sign

Iowa State University Foundation organizes life-changing funding for future innovators using Adobe Sign and Microsoft solutions

The Iowa State University Foundation (est. 1958; independent from ISU since 2002; 140 employees in Ames, Iowa) raises private gifts to support students, faculty and programs at Iowa State. Its donor gift approval process was paper‑heavy and slow—averaging an 81‑day turnaround—creating administrative burdens, delays in getting funds to recipients and the risk of losing donor momentum. The foundation wanted a painless deployment that reduced manual work and fit into familiar Microsoft workflows.

The foundation implemented Adobe Document Cloud—primarily Adobe Sign and Acrobat—integrated with Microsoft SharePoint, Teams and Flow to send, track and archive electronic agreements and automate status updates. Deployment was fast and lowered the learning curve; approvals now close 13 days faster, staff time and errors have been reduced, and printing dropped 30%, cutting costs and paper waste.

Iowa State University Foundation

Dave Thalacker

Senior Director of IT Operations and Network Security