Milestone: Kindsight Selected as the University’s Donor & Engagement Experience Platform
Cornell has selected Kindsight as the technology platform and Huron Consulting Group as the implementation partner for unifying the university’s constituent engagement and fundraising software ecosystems in Ithaca, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, and Weill Cornell Medicine. These selections mark an important milestone in the Cornell Experience Modernization Initiative (CEMI) and Donor and Engagement Experience Project (DEEP).
People and Priorities Drive the Decisions
A comprehensive evaluation that involved over 150 constituent engagement and fundraising staff—from Cornell’s Ithaca campus, the Lab of Ornithology, and Weill Cornell Medicine—led to the identification of partners best suited to support Cornell’s long-term goals in creating a seamless, integrated Customer Relationship Management system that shows the collective journeys of Cornellians throughout their life cycle with Cornell.
The constituent engagement and fundraising stakeholders contributed deep insight into system needs, process considerations, and opportunities for simplification and improvement. These stakeholders understand the importance of selecting a platform that supports the people who use these systems and processes every day.
Several priorities guided the decision:
- Unified Solution: Kindsight brings substantial experience in purpose-built Customer Relationship Management systems that corral all donor information and campaign tracking into one place. Their expertise will help accelerate efforts to build a unified system aligned with Cornell’s strategic priorities.
- Seamless Experience: Kindsight’s expertise also includes donor prospect research tools that offer proactive insights and real-time donor intel, and Kindsight will collaborate closely with Cornell teams to design an approach that strengthens data consistency, enhances operational efficiency, and supports a more seamless experience for staff and partners.
- Salesforce Leverage: Kindsight’s platform runs on top of Salesforce, a Customer Relationship Management platform already in use at Cornell.
- Implementation Partnership: Huron brings extensive experience in complex technology implementations for higher education, medical centers, and other nonprofits. Huron is also supporting CEMI as Cornell’s implementation partner for the Workday Enterprise Resource Planning system.
Embracing and Advancing the One Cornell Vision
The selection of Kindsight represents a meaningful step toward realizing Cornell’s long‑standing One Cornell vision—an environment where shared processes, integrated systems, and consistent tools support connected and transparent work across campuses.
By adopting a unified donor and engagement platform, Cornell is laying the groundwork for:
- more coordinated engagement strategies,
- clearer insight into the experiences of alumni, donors, and partners,
- stronger alignment across units, and
- a modern, sustainable foundation for long‑term relationship stewardship.
Kindsight will help create a more cohesive ecosystem that honors the distinct needs of Cornell’s campuses while enabling greater efficiency, collaboration, and insight across the entire institution.
Thank You
The CEMI-DEEP team extends heartfelt appreciation to the many community members who contributed to the evaluation process. Your input and expertise were essential to identifying the platform that will help guide this important transformation.
