The Donor and Alumni Relationship Tool (DART) is the constituent relationship management system used for fundraising efforts at the university. It is the single source for managing information about relationships and interactions that the university has with its donors, alumni, colleagues, friends, foundations and corporations. The system shares information with the Office of University Development, Development staff across the administrative and academic units on all three U-M campuses as well as Michigan Medicine, and the Alumni Association.
Development staff here at the university are individuals whose mission is to fundraise and maximize private support for the university through collaboration with people who have a passion for U-M. The Office of University Development is the group which provides central services for a variety of the university's fundraising operations. Staff in the Office of University Development, as well as Development staff throughout the schools, colleges, and units, use the abundance of information stored in the DART system to access a holistic view of an individual's history with U-M, including biographical data, contact data, educational data, university affiliations, communications, donations, and prospect plans.
Building productive and lifelong relationships with people is of utmost importance to successful fundraising, and DART is the tool for providing that 360° view of constituents. Gift Officers play an important role in building and maintaining these relationships. Gift Officers are Development staff who work closely with people who have an interest in helping to support U-M. They focus on building close connections with donors to better understand how to correlate a person's gifts/donations with what they have a passion for at U-M (to support that cause/effort).