We all know engaging prospective donors is a constant challenge. The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Development team tackled this challenge head-on during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic through the implementation of a groundbreaking initiative – Pipeline Outreach Day (POD). The team has now executed this initiative multiple times, bringing together a diverse team of gift officers, administrative staff, stewardship, annual giving, alumni relations, and foundation relations colleagues, fostering an "all hands-on deck" atmosphere.

Logging over 2,000 outreach attempts, this proactive approach resulted in over 200 qualification conversations and visits with potential donors, and 50+ gifts and pledges. Leveraging various communication platforms with an eye ever toward innovative new strategies, including using LinkedIn and ThankView, this initiative has now become a regular fixture, serving as a valuable pipeline development and team-building activity for the Bloomberg School. Learn about some of the challenges we encountered in this approach and how we evolved to test new methods and continue to grow and deepen this work.