Call for Papers

Developing Sophisticated Analytics Programs

Understanding people, collectively and individually, is a pursuit attempted in many domains in the pursue to understanding human behaviors. Fundraising is no different. It is often said that fundraising is a relationship business that requires an understanding of an individual’s passions, affinities, and capacity. For a large organization, many hundreds of these relationships can be developed person-to-person. Individual gift officers can maintain dozens of personal connections with alumni and friends and become effective liaisons connecting donors to institutional priorities in mutually beneficial and fulfilling ways.  

But what happens when you have hundreds of thousands of prospects? How do you come to understand them in meaningful ways without the benefit of person-to-person contact? This is where data science can help. Leveraging the power of advanced analytics against increasingly robust data sets, organizations can begin to tease out the attributes of individual constituents to develop strategies for engaging with them in meaningful ways.

So, what do we consider a sophisticated analytics program? How does a healthy analytics program look like? From creation, to delivery, to adoption, how should the analytics lifecycle unfold? What are the challenges to developing an analytics program? And what are industry leaders doing to improve their ability to discern human behavior and connect their organizations to people with shared purpose and vision?

The Texas Advancement Analytics Symposium invites you to consider these questions and to submit paper proposals in response to the above stated theme. Proposals are due no later than Friday, March 31st, 2023. Accepted submissions will be presented at the virtual symposium in August of 2023 with final papers published in the Journal of Advancement Analytics (JAA), Volume IV. We welcome proposals that address both theoretical and practical applications of analytics in advancement, including case studies.

Submission Criteria

Proposals should be submitted as a .DOCX file. They should contain:

1. An abstract between 250-500 words in length
2. A paper outline 1-2 pages in length

For questions on potential proposal topics and for submission guidance please reach out to TAAS@austin.utexas.edu

Evaluation Criteria

Abstracts will be evaluated based on the following criteria:

• The originality of ideas/approach and level of innovation
• Relevance for advancement analytics and the defined theme
• Presentation: coherence of clarity of structure and thought
• Contribution to advancement analytics theory/solution building

To submit, please email your proposal using the button above or to TAAS@austin.utexas.edu. Submissions must be received no later than Friday, January 21st, 2022 to be considered.

Submissions must NOT have been previously presented, scheduled for presentation, published, accepted for publication, and if under review, must NOT appear in print before the symposium.