The Customer: University of Central Florida Advancement
The University of Central Florida (UCF) Advancement team is responsible for engaging a large and diverse alumni base, driving annual giving, and cultivating donor relationships to support the university’s mission.
Led by Chris Huff, the AVP of Annual Giving, the team faces the dual challenge of managing a constant influx of new hires and frequent internal promotions, resulting in ongoing turnover and a perpetual need for onboarding. This dynamic environment creates pressure to quickly develop both the people and donor pipelines, ensuring that new fundraisers are equipped to build relationships and advance major gifts.
To address these needs, UCF sought a scalable, consistent training solution that could accelerate onboarding, boost fundraiser confidence, and provide actionable coaching insights—ultimately fostering a culture of continuous improvement while allowing leadership to focus on strategic growth.
Many advancement shops are feeling this same squeeze: high expectations, limited coaching time, and fundraisers who are eager but not always confident when stepping into donor meetings. UCF’s approach offers a model for how modern teams can bridge that gap using a blend of human leadership and scalable AI practice.
Confidence That Fuels Fundraising Success
Chris Huff described Practivated as “a great confidence booster,” particularly valuable for new team members who are quickly embracing the platform. They are rapidly building their confidence, which directly translates to proactive outreach efforts.
This illustrates how Practivated swiftly empowers fundraisers, helping them quickly become effective and confident in their outreach from the very start.
Confidence isn’t just a “nice to have.” Research shows that fundraisers who feel prepared are more likely to take bold outreach actions, schedule meetings sooner, and recover more quickly from challenging conversations. It’s the leading indicator of pipeline growth – and UCF is already seeing that play out.
Practice Makes Progress—Even When the Manager’s Not in the Room
With a growing team and limited time for personalized coaching, Chris needed a scalable solution: “As a manager, I don’t have time to role-play individually with everyone. Having Practivated as a practice tool has been tremendous for the team.” He added, “We’re onboarding several new employees soon, and it’s fantastic knowing they’ll continue to train effectively even when I’m not physically present.”
Practivated provides continuous, scalable support, ensuring team members can practice and refine their skills independently, enhancing overall team productivity.
This alone solves one of the biggest pain points for advancement leaders: the expectation to be coach, strategist, manager, and portfolio partner all at once. With Practivated, leaders like Chris can spend less time repeating the same foundational coaching and more time helping fundraisers move strategically through their portfolios.
Turning Team Buy-In into Tangible Success
Chris creatively fostered adoption and integrated Practivated into the team’s daily workflow: “You sent me a bunch of stickers, and I had the team put them all on their computers as a constant reminder.”
He also stressed the significance of early wins. Within just 7 days on Practivated, a team member practiced objection handling and making an effective ask to close a $5,000 gift.
Practivated helps foster a strong team culture by highlighting early successes and creating tangible reminders of ongoing development.
Early visible wins accelerate adoption across any advancement team. When fundraisers see peers succeed—especially within the first week—they’re more willing to jump into practice, try new approaches, and integrate learning habits that stick.
Embedding Practice into Everyday Routines
Chris detailed how seamlessly Practivated integrates into regular team activities: “Each week, team members share their experiences, callbacks, successes, and challenges. Practivated is consistently at the center of these discussions.”
He also highlighted its collaborative nature: “A few times a month, we’ll even start to practice together (even just briefly—to align our skills right before team meetings.”
This integration into daily workflows underscores how Practivated builds sustainable fundraising excellence through routine practice and collaborative learning.
Here are a few ways the team is utilizing AI donor conversation simulations to prepare for meetings:
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Pre-meeting warm-ups before donor visits
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Practicing tough objections before a major gift ask
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Integrating simulations into onboarding checklists
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Weekly “skill of the week” tied to advancement priorities
Real-Time Feedback, Immediate Impact
The UCF team appreciates the instant, actionable feedback Practivated offers: “The team is actively engaging with it. Cody Clark, who works in direct marketing, has started using it creatively to gather ideas and enhance marketing strategies.”
Practivated’s versatility in providing real-time insights drives innovation and strategic thinking across diverse fundraising roles.
Tivy, our AI fundraising coach, will help provide real-time feedback to help fundraisers focus on improvements they can make in their conversations.
Because AI feedback is immediate and repeatable, fundraisers can test new approaches, refine language, and see their progress compound session after session—far faster than traditional coaching cycles allow.
Building Pipelines for Prospects and Fundraisers Alike
Chris views Practivated as instrumental for both fundraising outcomes and professional growth: “I consider team members as pipeline talent, not just prospect pipelines. Tools like Practivated are critical for UCF and valuable for their personal growth as well.”
Practivated uniquely supports dual pipeline development, enhancing fundraising effectiveness while simultaneously cultivating future fundraising leaders.
Customized Support, Measurable Growth
Chris praised Practivated’s capacity for tailored tracking and support: “I want to delve deeper into usage patterns and optimize team distribution, and then continue expanding our user base accordingly.”
He valued its adaptability in terms of adding users and allocating and re-allocating usage capacity across team members on an as-needed basis.
Practivated’s flexibility enables targeted insights, allowing managers to precisely support and measure team performance and growth,including the following areas:
- Skill improvement across 16 fundraising competencies
- Session frequency + engagement
- Top strengths and gaps across a team
- Improvements in donor-centric language
- Performance trends for onboarding cohorts
Results Snapshot
The University of Central Florida Advancement team has seen incredible success across these indicators:
- 11.2% Skill Improvement across all 16 fundraising indicators
- 85.6% goal achievement rate (101/118 goals achieved)
- 100% retention of usage with original users with strong onboarding of new members
- 97% connection sentiment – exceptional donor rapport
- 15.5 average sessions per user with consistent engagement
- +8 point skill improvement in core fundraising competencies
- 10x return on the initial investment in just a few months
These gains directly translate to stronger donor conversations, more confident meeting prep, and higher-quality portfolio movement – key drivers of annual and major gift results.
8. Cultivating Continuous Learning and Collaboration
Chris summarized the team’s proactive learning mindset: “We’re constantly focused on skill improvement,” and Practivated aligns perfectly with their growth mindset. Regarding onboarding, he noted: “Some new hires will need extensive support, but as long as they have entrepreneurial spirit, Practivated will ensure they learn and thrive.”
Practivated promotes a culture of continuous improvement, ensuring that every team member (no matter their experience) receives personalized support to succeed.
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