Will Blanchard Email & Phone Number

Oklahoma City, Ok, Us

I serve the students, staff, and families of OCA in our shared effort to assist the family and the Church in providing a Christ-centered education, equipping all our Eagles to contribute to our world.

I served Oklahoma Christian University's teams in Undergraduate Admissions, Graduate Admissions (GRADS), Financial Services, Admissions Records, and Day Six: Calling & Career. My goal was to empower our frontline recruiters and storytellers with a cohesive and relevant strategy for bringing students who need to be at OC to OC.If you or someone you know is looking for a personal, innovative, challenging, and missional college home, then look no further than Oklahoma Christian!

In this role, I co-led one of the largest staff teams on the Oklahoma Christian University (OC) campus. External Relations included approximately 50 employees across several major areas -- Advancement, Alumni Relations, Events, Day Six: Calling & Career, Undergraduate Admissions, Graduate Admissions, Financial Services, and Admissions Records.

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Area

In this role, I served as the Deputy Chief Development Officer for Oklahoma Christian (OC) and oversaw the development of the University's new Day Six: Calling & Career Center.

In this role I serve as a direct advisor and "chief of staff" to Oklahoma Christian's Vice President for Advancement. Helping to coordinate multiple student and professional teams (25+ people), I provide leadership and support to drive the university's vision, mission and strategic plans in Advancement (fundraising and alumni relations). This role is diverse, building on and incorporating many of my previous responsibilities. I'm engaged in team and resource management; staffing and personnel; strategic planning and innovation; project coordination; information tech, analytics, and evaluation; team development, incentives, and training; goal-setting and performance tracking; process development and implementation; annual giving/marketing; copywriting and communication; and executive consultation.I have also had the privilege of collaborating in the development of two Oklahoma Christian fundraising brands: Homeward and Thrive. Homeward doubled our alumni participation, setting a new campus record of 19.7%. Starting at zero and transparent from day one, Thrive recorded $33.9M in pledges and gifts over three years.

As Director, I was responsible for conceptualizing and implementing the University's donor participation strategy. In particular, I oversaw: ● the larger OC Advancement brand and copywriting; ● direct mail appeals; ● the OC Associates Program ($1,000 annual gifts); ● Homeward (alumni participation campaign); ● the OC Student Phonathon; ● grant development; ● annual giving analysis and strategic planning; ● communication and stewardship management; and ● ad hoc mini-campaigns.

During this stage of my career, I collaborated with two directors in my department to achieve their strategies for annual giving (donor participation and broad-based fundraising) and foundation relations (grant development, management, and stewardship). My responsibilities included:● supervising student work teams;● collaborating on fundraising copy;● drafting grant proposals;● researching potential funders and building dossiers; and● acting as a junior advisor to my directors and the VP for Advancement.

This role expanded on my responsibilities as Grants Coordinator and offered me more autonomy as a strategist and fundraiser. In addition to my existing work as coordinator, I also was charged with:● managing a portfolio of foundation and corporate relationships;● managing communication, gift tracking, and stewardship of grants;● personally drafting or collaborating on nearly all major grants;● teaching and overseeing a student intern;● connecting with internal partners, training faculty on grant development, and more.

As an entry level fundraiser, my primary duties were to assist our Director for Foundation Relations and in-house grant-writer on their projects and research. Many of these early duties were clerical in nature, but I did have opportunity to serve in the following unique ways:● lead researcher on potential foundation and corporate prospects;● stewardship coordinator on existing partnerships (including scholarship reporting);● junior writer on major grant proposals;● project lead on TRiO exploration project (coordinated a team that included executive leadership);● lead writer on National Endowment for the Humanities grant (funded in 2011).

Doctor Of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Educational Leadership And Policy Studies (Higher Education)

Activities and Societies: Phi Kappa Phi

Doctoral Studies, Organizational Leadership

Master Of Business Administration (M.B.A.), Organizational Leadership

Bachelor Of Arts (B.A.), English Language And Literature, General