Iowa State University Foundation Keeps Donors Happy with Adobe Sign

With the level of government funding for public universities hard to predict, higher learning institutions rely increasingly on donors to provide important infusions of funds to construct new buildings, expand educational programs, support scholarships, and more—all crucial factors to enhancing learning and keeping a school competitive.

At the Iowa State University Foundation, the focus is on providing donors with ready access to information, support, and tools to make every interaction positive. An easy and rewarding donation process helps donors feel valued and can translate into greater giving. The Foundation’s team recognizes that fundraising is really about making connections and building relationships to enable donors to channel their generosity into meaningful improvements for students and faculty at Iowa State University.

With that in mind, the Foundation set out to streamline previously administrative-intensive steps for processing donation compliance agreements. By building a foundation for e-signatures on Adobe Sign integrated with business-critical Microsoft solutions, the university can now process agreements 13 days faster on average. The streamlined e-signature workflows allow foundation executives, program heads, college deans, and donors to sign off on agreements in minutes, avoiding previous scenarios where printed documents might sit on someone’s desk for days.

At the Foundation, Adobe Sign is integrated with Microsoft SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, and Microsoft Flow tools to create streamlined workflows that give staff a clear view of the status of each agreement—with automated alerts to keep things moving. Instead of constantly following up on paperwork, staff s can be more attentive to the everyday needs and questions of donors to be sure they’re delivering the best experience possible. For Iowa State University, that translates into a thriving environment for higher education.

“We couldn’t have predicted that Adobe Sign was going to be so successful in our organization,” says Dave Thalacker, Ph.D., Senior Director of IT Operations and Network Security at Iowa State University Foundation. “By integrating Adobe Sign into existing Microsoft workflows, we’re making peoples’ jobs much easier so that we can process donations quickly and start making an impact for the people at Iowa State University much faster.”

_Iowa State University Foundation uses Adobe Document Cloud and its e-signature and PDF solutions to deliver a better donor experience. Learn more here.
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