Defining Ownership Across Fund Management & Stewardship

Why Ownership Clarity Matters More Than Ever

As fundraising teams become more complex, one challenge continues to surface across institutions: no one fully agrees who owns fund management.

Is it stewardship? Compliance? Finance? Donor relations?

It’s often all the above, and that ambiguity can create risk, inefficiencies, and missed opportunities to serve donors well.

In this fireside conversation, industry leaders Lynne Wester (Donor Relations Group), Shannon Knapp (George Washington University), and Lasserina Dowell (The Ohio State University Foundation) explored why responsibility lines blur so easily, and what organizations can do to address it.

The good news is there is still time to reduce these bottlenecks before spring giving ramps up. By chipping away at manual processes and adopting more integrated tools, fundraising organizations can cut the effort required to produce accurate, timely, donor-ready reports.

Below is a practical three-step process you can take to help your team prepare for a smoother spring season.

Fund Management Isn’t One Function, It’s an Ecosystem

One of the first insights shared was that fund management isn’t a single job or department.

It exists at the intersection of multiple teams, each responsible for a different part of the donor lifecycle.

Fund management touches:

• Gift agreements and compliance
• Financial oversight and spending
• Stewardship reporting and donor communication
• Fund usage monitoring and accountability

Because it sits across these areas, it naturally creates overlap, and sometimes confusion, about ownership.

As one panelist noted, fund management is not defined by a title or department. It’s defined by the responsibility to ensure donor intent is honored from gift to impact.

Where Responsibility Breakdowns Usually Happen

While overlap can be healthy, it becomes problematic when ownership is unclear.

The panelists highlighted several common breakdown points:

Siloed workflows
Teams often operate independently, without shared visibility into fund status, compliance issues, or donor expectations.

Assumptions about “who handles it”
Many responsibilities fall into gray areas, where everyone believes someone else is managing them.

Lack of documented processes
Without defined ownership structures, institutions rely on informal knowledge, which becomes fragile during staffing changes.

Technology limitations
Systems that separate financial, stewardship, and donor data make collaboration difficult and slow down decision-making.

These gaps don’t just create operational inefficiencies, they can lead to compliance risks and damage donor trust.

A Framework for Clarifying Ownership

The panelists emphasized that solving ownership confusion doesn’t require creating entirely new roles. Instead, it requires clarity and alignment.

They suggested a simple framework for institutions:

• Define responsibilities at the process level, not just by department
• Establish shared accountability across finance, stewardship, and development
• Document workflows to prevent knowledge gaps during staff transitions
• Create consistent communication channels between teams
• Ensure leadership recognizes fund management as a strategic function

When teams shift from “Who owns this?” to “How do we own this together?” collaboration improves significantly.

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The Real Impact: Stronger Donor Trust

Ultimately, the conversation returned to what’s at stake: donor confidence.

Fund management is not just operational work, it is central to demonstrating accountability and impact.

When responsibilities are clear, institutions can:

• Respond to donor questions faster
• Reduce compliance risks
• Provide more meaningful reporting
• Strengthen internal collaboration
• Scale stewardship efforts more effectively

Clear ownership enables teams to move from reactive problem-solving to proactive donor engagement.

Stewardship Begins with Structure

The biggest takeaway from the discussion is that fund management success doesn’t come from a single department or tool.

It comes from intentional structure, clear roles, shared accountability, and strong communication across teams.

As the panelists emphasized, honoring donor intent is not the responsibility of one office. It is a shared institutional commitment.

When organizations build clarity around ownership, they don’t just improve operations, they strengthen the foundation of donor trust.

Continue the Conversation

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