Case Study: University of Iowa Center for Advancement achieves faster, simplified gift giving with DocuSign

University of Iowa Center for Advancement Simplifies Gift Giving By Digitizing the Donor Experience

The University of Iowa Center for Advancement, the independent fundraising arm that raises millions annually for research and student support, faced a major challenge when the pandemic forced work and donor engagement online. Legacy, paper‑based donor intent agreements involved multiple systems and stakeholders, creating slow processing, limited visibility and a heavy administrative burden that hampered remote operations.

The center implemented DocuSign Contract Lifecycle Management and eSignature to automate agreement creation, approvals, reminders and storage, with future CRM integration planned for full donor visibility. The change streamlined about 500 donor intent agreements a year, saved roughly 35 minutes per execution, improved donor and employee experience, freed staff for strategic relationship work, and helped the organization finish FY2020 strong while opening a roadmap to digitize other contracts.

University of Iowa Center for Advancement

Sherri Furman

Vice President and Chief Financial Officer