Everything you need to know

All questions related to nomination for 50U50

Am I eligible to join #The50?

50U50 campaign is meant to celebrate the efforts of advancement professionals from educational institutions across the U.S. To keep the nominations as diverse as possible, we’ve kept the nomination criteria super simple:
✅ You are below 50 years of age (we're not super strict about this – we won't tell if you won't tell, promise 😉)
✅ You have been a part of our industry (alumni relations/advancement space) for at least 12 months.
✅ You are currently a part of an advancement team/alumni association/foundation of a U.S.-based school/college/university.
✅ Your work revolves around your institution’s alumni and creating value-driven relationships with them.
✅ You have a proud achievement (or achievements!) in the advancement space that you want to showcase to the world.

…and that’s about it! If you tick all the boxes above, you’re qualified to get yourself nominated to become one of the coveted 50 Under 50 🎉

🎉 What achievements under alumni programming count?

If you’re from alumni programming, and -

✅ You’ve put together an incredible event (or events) that your alumni absolutely LOVED
✅ You helped put together successful events for important causes (for instance, raising awareness about DEI, workshops for career support after graduation, and so on)
✅ Your events have seen some incredible registrations and participation from alumni
✅ Your events feature some out-of-the-box ideas that your alumni can’t stop talking about
✅ You have built powerful alumni communities that are buzzing with engagement
✅ You’ve worked on some amazing marketing campaigns for your events or campaigns that went viral in no time

…and anything else that might make your programming stand out!

💵 What achievements under fundraising count?

If you work with fundraising, and -

✅ You’ve put together an incredible campaign (or campaigns) that has helped raise a lot of dollars from your alumni
✅ Your campaign (or campaigns) have raised funds for important causes that you’re proud of (for instance, raising funds for the education of underprivileged students, and so on)
✅ Your campaign broke some record(s) for your institution (for instance, $X raised within 24 hours, and so on)
✅ You have ingenious and effective ways to engage with new donors, major donors, LYBUNTS, or SYBUNTS
✅ You have developed, cultivated, and secured a MAJOR gift (or gifts!) for your institution

…and anything else that might make your giving campaigns stand out!

🖥️ What achievements under advancement services count?

If you’re with advancement services, and -

✅ You’ve made invaluable contributions to enrich your alumni database
✅ You’re a data-centric pro, and you’ve created amazing custom data reports/dashboards
✅ You’ve found innovative ways to measure alumni engagement (beyond the conventional metrics like email open rates, event participation, etc.)
✅ You’ve created automated processes within the team to replace manual efforts from your team members

…and anything else that makes you an expert on all things alumni data!

📣 Do other achievements count?

In case your achievements don’t belong to any of the categories mentioned above (or if they belong to multiple categories), we’d still love to hear all about it. As long as you qualify under our nomination criteria, we encourage you to get nominated today!

Have any doubts?