4 Awesome Alumni Fundraising Strategies

As part of the higher education sector, your university likely depends on social campaigns like peer-to-peer fundraising and crowdfunding to fund its projects and initiatives. ‍While these campaigns have the potential for a wide reach, they require effective promotion to maximize alumni support.

How can you retain alumni support long after they receive their diplomas? Let’s explore the top marketing practices your university should employ when planning your outreach strategy.

1. Actively promote matching gifts

Your alumni may be eager to support your university, but many are unaware of the opportunities available to help them maximize their contributions—namely, matching gifts.

Matching gifts are a type of corporate social responsibility initiative wherein businesses match donations made by their employees. Double the Donation defines corporate social responsibility as “a company’s efforts to improve society” in a multitude of ways, from directly donating to supporting employee giving. Matching gifts combine both of these efforts and represent a major revenue opportunity for universities.

Identify match-eligible alumni by looking into your existing donor base. Specifically, take a look at your alumni and major donors who represent your largest match opportunities. Then, secure matching gifts from alumni by promoting the opportunity to match-eligible individuals through:

• Educational resources for your donors
• A matching gift page on your website
• A matching gift database that conducts automatic email follow-ups to remind donors to submit matching gift requests

As you solicit matched gifts, maintain an open line of communication with major employers who offer matches. Periodically review their policies and ask them to notify you if any changes are made to their matching gift program. Both universities and donors should stay on top of employers’ match guidelines to avoid missing out on matching gift revenue.

2. Market on multiple communication channels

Communication is the foundation of a successful fundraising campaign. While some approaches are more effective than others, the best results come from incorporating multiple channels—especially for larger donor bases.

There are two types of marketing your university can leverage, and each type has a plethora of channels you can use to spread the word about your campaigns:

• Inbound marketing is a method of targeted advertising that involves attracting potential supporters based on their interests in your cause. Inbound marketing includes:
  • Search engine optimization (SEO): Revamp your website to rank more highly on search engine results pages for keywords related to your cause. Many institutions also collaborate with SEO experts like Tanot Solutions, to strengthen their backlink profile and improve domain authority through strategic link-building initiatives.
  • Blogs: Write educational blog content that attracts alumni to your website and inspires them to give.
  • Videos: Create compelling videos that showcase your university’s accomplishments and drive viewers to support your work.
  • Podcasts: Invite faculty and industry experts to discuss relevant topics in a podcast to establish your institution as a thought leader.
  • Organic social media posts: Share original, unsponsored content on your social media channels to keep your school top of mind for alumni who follow you.
• Outbound marketing is a broader advertising strategy that focuses on reaching a wide audience through channels such as:
  • Pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns: Use search engine advertising, like Google Ads, to get your website in front of as many eyes as possible.
  • Direct mail campaigns: Send engaging flyers to a large mailing list to appeal to those who respond more positively to traditional direct mail.
  • TV commercials: Create a TV commercial promoting your university and directing viewers to your website. Incorporate QR codes to simplify access to your website without interrupting their watching.
  • Newspaper ads: Place an advertisement in your local newspaper to capture the attention of community members who may not otherwise hear from your school.
  • Social media ads: Boost your social media posts with paid advertisements so your content appears not just to your existing followers, but in the feed of any user who might engage with the post.

Remember, communication is a two-way street. You won’t just want to send messages to alumni, but to stay in touch with them over time. Ensure that alumni and any volunteer fundraisers feel free to voice their feedback or concerns.

3. Leverage nonprofit storytelling

Effective communication is about more than just an open line of communication—it’s about powerful storytelling, too. Stories encourage alumni to form stronger connections with your university’s mission, students, and impact.

As part of your marketing approach, implement the following storytelling strategies into your content:

• Use powerful imagery. Visual elements like photo galleries or clear infographics quickly capture your audience’s attention.
• Incorporate quotes and testimonials. Let your students and faculty do the talking by incorporating their direct quotes into your content. This will be especially effective for reaching alumni with personal connections to those individuals, such as the former student of a featured professor.
• State campaign goals. Explaining exactly what your university needs and how a donor’s contribution will be used draws a direct connection between the supporter and your work.

Storytelling and powerful imagery compel users to share content with their networks, so it’s crucial that you make your storytelling components shareable. For example, you might place a “Share” button next to the content on your alumni website that makes it easy for viewers to repost an article or video to their social media channels.

4. Link to your fundraising page

In all your digital marketing materials, make it easy for viewers to take action by directing them to your donation page. Make the most of clear calls to action, prominent buttons, and QR codes across all the channels you use. To ensure shareability, use an effective social campaigning platform and the right social media platforms.

Additionally, when alumni land on your fundraising page, they should be able to take action easily. Check to ensure your donation form can be quickly completed and doesn’t require any unnecessary steps. With a compelling marketing strategy and simple form, your university can seamlessly convert alumni into dedicated supporters.

Now that you know the best marketing practices, share this information with your fundraising team, and plan your best campaign yet! Then, as donations start to roll in, be sure to show your appreciation for donors’ support and continue to engage them by offering additional involvement opportunities. The more active your donors are in your university’s activities, the more likely they’ll be to continue their support.

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About the author

Adam Weinger is the President of Double the Donation, the leading provider of tools to nonprofits to help them raise more money from corporate matching gift and volunteer grant programs.

Double the Donation's robust solution, 360MatchPro, provides nonprofits with automated tools to identify match-eligible donors, drive matches to completion, and gain actionable insights. 360MatchPro integrates directly into donation forms, CRMs, social fundraising software, and other nonprofit technology solutions to capture employment information and follow up appropriately with donors about matching gifts.

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Last year, countless fields witnessed tremendous shifts in trend in the wake of a global pandemic. While most of them were not on the positive side, fields like Philanthropy thrived as more and more people donated to help others in need. Blackbaud’s Charitable Report tracks donations in the United States, amounting to over $40 Billion in charitable giving; needless to say, it stands as one of the most reliable sources on fundraising trends.

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Fundraising trends are imperative to understand what is working with donors and what’s not. Online Giving Trends, in particular, are undeniably crucial for advancement professionals, owing to the digital shift of 2020. So what are some online trends from FY 2020 that are here to stay, and how do they affect your fundraising and engagement strategies? Let’s find out.
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1. Online Giving Grew By 21%

Online Giving continued to bloom with a 21% year-on-year growth in FY 2020. This number stands as a 32% increase over the last three years. It comes as no surprise, owing to the digital shift of 2020 during the pandemic. What is remarkable is the fact that donors are growing more comfortable with the online medium. Now that things are easing back to normal, online engagement still stands as a pivotal gear in alumni engagement strategies - virtual events, clubs, and reunions will continue to play a massive role in engaging alumni.

Many experts in the advancement field believe that the digital shift of 2020 will have a significant impact on the industry for years to come - Advancement Offices have realized the power of online engagement to motivate donors. From acting as fillers between the major in-person fundraising events planned for the year to engaging international and young alumni who would otherwise stay severed from their alma mater, virtual solicitations & online giving campaigns will undoubtedly lead the way.

The takeaway: Online Giving will continue to grow in years to come, thanks to online engagement that is thriving and helping offices connect with alumni far and wide. Aligning your alumni engagement strategies to these numbers are a must - having a robust online engagement plan, and an active online presence are sure to pay off.

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2. Nearly 30% of the Online Gifts were made through mobile devices

Numbers show that 28% of online donations were made through mobile devices in FY 2020. This growth is not sudden, but surely steady - since 2014, Mobile Giving has grown more than 3X and will only continue to increase. Donors are now using their mobile phones to make donations more readily than ever. The growth in Mobile Giving further substantiates the shift to online platforms in 2020.
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The takeaway: Overcoming the barrier of accessibility, Mobile Giving is unfolding to be a major source of donations. Institutions should maintain websites that are not only mobile-friendly but also support frictionless mobile donations. Regularly test your platform to ensure that the user experience is seamless for your donors. If your institution doesn’t already support gifts via mobile device, it’s high time you look into adding it as a medium for donation.
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3. Online Donor Retention is at an all time high

Online Donor Retention measures how well your institution is connected to your donors - whether or not your engagement strategies are facilitating continuous support from your donors. These numbers are essential to track in order to benchmark the growth of various giving channels. In FY 2020, 25% of the first-year, online-only donors were retained, whereas, for multi-year, online-only donors, the retention stood at 66%.

The takeaway: Online engagement is certainly gaining momentum, leading to high Online Donor Retention. Blackbaud also infers in the report that Sustainer Programs have helped achieve these numbers. Sustainer Programs provide more control to the donors with gradual bite-size increments on their donations. They keep your alumni engaged from the very beginning - turning small gifts into bigger ones over the years without losing your donors. Look into how you create these programs at your institution and reap the benefits of the same.

4. Benchmarking and Engagement Metrics are the way to go

Alumni Engagement Metrics (AEM) are beginning to be a vital part of engagement strategies. AEM reflect how connected your alumni are with the institution across four modes - Philanthropic, Volunteer, Experiential, and Communications. These metrics provide a more structured view of many less tangible aspects of your fundraising and engagement strategies, paving the way for a more efficient version of them. Many institutions are reaping the benefits of using AEM and Benchmarking to obtain better results and generate more long-term donors.

The takeaway: If you are on the fence about how to start using Alumni Engagement Metrics and Benchmarking, Blackbaud offers four tips to help you kick-off:

1. Analyzing long-term trends can do wonders for your engagement strategies. Which campaign led to a spike in numbers? Which virtual event gathered traction and why? Many such questions can be answered by looking at your engagement metrics over the years. You can understand your alumni community and their interests, set benchmarks and your goals accordingly.
2. There are no industry-set, standard rules when it comes to benchmarking. It is imperative to share your benchmarks across all the departments at your institution. This makes sure that there is coherence when you set goals - they are shared, holistic, and more achievable.
3. To analyze long-term trends, you must choose a set of metrics that can be measured year-over-year. Be it your annual retention rate or the cumulative attendance of all the campaigns over the span of a year, make sure this data can be collected uniformly for years to come.
4. Lastly, to reap the benefits of these numbers you collect, make sure you listen to the story of these numbers. Make tweaks to your engagement and fundraising strategies and analyze the numbers after the implementation.
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Wrapping up

Fundraising trends can help you understand the orientation of your donors and strategize your campaigns accordingly. The digital platform has equipped Advancement Offices with many tools that will continue to shape the industry in the coming years. Giving trends reflect the growth of the entire industry - contrast them against the numbers at your institution, and you have a more tangible view of many elements of your strategy. If you are looking to improve your engagement and fundraising strategies, understanding fundraising trends are certainly a way to get a head start.

As an alumni association professional, one of your most crucial responsibilities is to secure fundraising revenue. Giving days, such as Giving Tuesday, are a prime opportunity to raise a large amount of funds quickly.

While giving days last just 24 hours, you should begin preparing for Giving Tuesday far in advance. For universities today, attracting attention on Giving Tuesday requires a strong online presence and digital fundraising strategy. Using popular hashtags like #GivingTuesday is a step in the right direction. However, attracting alumni who will continue to give long-term requires developing engaging content, presenting it strategically, and maintaining communication to build a long-term relationship. 

Based on years of experience assisting nonprofits and educational institutions in developing their Giving Tuesday fundraising strategies, here are four key best practices alumni associations can use next Giving Tuesday.

1. Use data to optimize your outreach.

Set your alumni fundraiser up for success by conducting prospect research beforehand.‍ Prospect research is the practice of evaluating your organization’s prospective donors by their capacity and affinity to give.‍

Essentially, prospect research allows your organization to identify alumni who are in the best financial position to donate, and that have the strongest affinity toward your organization. Ask yourself the following when evaluating prospects:

• Does this alumnus participate in alumni association activities, such as events and mentorship programs?
• Has this alumnus given to our university in the past?
• Is this alumnus employed, and do they have secure financial footing?

Use this information to focus your fundraising efforts. However, keep in mind that it can still be worthwhile to contact lower-earning recent graduates and alumni to begin building relationships for future engagements. 

2. Select your marketing channels based on alumni data. 

The more potential supporters you can get in touch with, the more your Giving Day fundraiser will raise. To reach more alumni, your university should take a multi-channel approach by marketing the campaign on a variety of platforms. 

NXUnite’s guide to starting a fundraiser suggests several different outreach channels to market on:

• Email is the most direct way to reach alumni online. Create segmented email lists based on each alumni’s past interactions with your university and the prospect research you conducted in the previous step. Track your email appeals by monitoring open and clickthrough rates, which can provide information about the effectiveness of your subject lines and the body content of your messages, respectively. 

• Your website should host essential information about your Giving Day fundraiser, such as your fundraising goal, what the donations will help your university accomplish, and if there are any matching gift opportunities. Monitor your overall traffic, as well as bounce rate and time-on-page to determine if your website is attracting alumni and interesting them enough to engage them. 

• Peer-to-peer outreach can be useful for attracting supporters outside of your university’s core community. Recruit students and alumni to become peer-to-peer fundraisers and direct them to request donations from their friends and family on your university’s behalf. Encourage each of your fundraising volunteers to set a goal for themselves, whether it’s the total raised or the number of potential donors they reached out to. These goals will help motivate your volunteers and allow your organization to monitor their progress. 

• Your blog helps you keep your most dedicated supporters engaged. Create posts promoting your upcoming Giving Day fundraisers and follow-up articles reporting on its success afterward. Ensure you also have a variety of other engaging content to keep alumni interested in participating in your organization long-term. 

• Social media is one of the core marketing tools for GivingTuesday campaigns. Research which sites your alumni use and those platforms’ conversion rates. For example, reports show Facebook has a 9% conversion rate, Instagram 18%, and TikTok 2.3%. However, if the majority of your alumni primarily use Facebook that platform may be the most useful for your fundraising efforts even if it has a lower average conversion rate than Instagram. 

Managing multiple communication channels can be a strain on your resources, and not all platforms will produce the same return on investment. When selecting your outreach channels, consider your data from past marketing campaigns to determine which platforms yielded the highest engagement rates.

3. Provide creative outlets for alumni to give back.

Straightforward outreach through phone calls, direct mail, and email are all core parts of fundraising. However, you can leverage your technology to further engage your alumni and provide them with creative, memorable ways to give. 

For example, many Giving Day campaigns include an event. Hosting an event provides a tangible reason why alumni should give on that specific day while also inviting them to participate in fun activities and engage with your university. 

To make these events accessible to your entire alumni community, consider how you can take your Giving Day event online. Let’s walk through an example of a popular but often complex fundraiser, the silent auction. To encourage more bidding on your giving day, use gamification strategies like:

• Leaderboards. Invoke friendly competition by using your auction site to display which guests have bid the most, are currently the top bidder for big-ticket prizes, or have given the most in donations overall. Ensure your leaderboard is updated in real-time so participants who want to climb it can see their name rise with each bid. 

• Push notifications. For silent and online auctions, it’s easy for participants to walk away from an item and subsequently forget to keep bidding on it. Use auction software that sends guests automatic alerts when they’re outbid or when your auction is about to close. You can gamify these notifications by adding sound effects and creating a special negative display screen for when they’re outbid and a uniquely positive one for when they are winning again. 

• Strategic bidding features. Allow participants to craft a bidding strategy with auction features like the ability to automatically outbid up to a certain amount or offer a “buy it now” option for a few prizes. This encourages participants to think more critically about which items they want and how they’ll respond to potential bidding wars, increasing their engagement. 

If you have never hosted an event like an auction virtually before, consider meeting with a technology consultant who can help you set up your event platform and step in quickly to resolve any technical issues that may occur during the event. 

4. Focus on offering value through strong content.

Recently alumni donations have been decreasing. This is due to a variety of factors, including economic instability, new legislation, and the fact that 93% of alumni organizations provide no benefits or only content that alumni do not find worthwhile. 

Avoid this for your association by offering valuable content in exchange for alumni gifts. While alumni may no longer attend classes at your university, you can still demonstrate your value in their lives by publishing informative content, hosting networking events, and sharing stories about current students. 

Effective data management can help you identify pertinent topics. Look into your database and find survey answers, demographic information, and more to base your content on. Then, host events and create content on subjects that are relevant to your alumni, such as current events or topics related to specific professions. 

In your donation appeals, consider what content you can offer your alumni. For example, you could provide webinars or panels on current challenges your alumni might face in the workplace—such as how to succeed in a hybrid workplace—or virtual happy hours where they can connect with one each other. Consider getting faculty involved to provide their subject matter expertise and give former students the chance to talk with their former professors. 

Giving days are an opportunity to rally your university’s community together and raise funds to continue providing current and former students with the resources they need to succeed professionally. Focus on your approach and engage alumni by using your data to guide outreach and event hosting.

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About the author:

Carl Diesing, Managing Director – Carl co-founded DNL OmniMedia in 2006 and has grown the team to accommodate clients with ongoing web development projects. Together DNL OmniMedia has worked with over 100 organizations to assist them with accomplishing their online goals. As Managing Director of DNL OmniMedia, Carl works with nonprofits and their technology to foster fundraising, create awareness, cure disease, and solve social issues. Carl lives in the Hudson Valley with his wife Sarah and their two children Charlie and Evelyn.

Online fundraising can be a deceptively tricky subject. While the term simply refers to the process of raising money online, making the most of this strategy requires a dynamic approach on the part of your school.‍

When it comes to engaging with alumni, in particular, it’s doubly important to have a robust online fundraising strategy in place.

‍For this reason, your team should take a look at how you fundraiser online right now and decide whether or not you’re getting all you can out of this strategy.In this article, we’ll help you begin this process by discussing:

1. How your alumni engagement strategy can benefit from online fundraising

2. Online fundraising trends you should be using

3. Ways to boost alumni giving through online fundraising

4. Fundraising software tools that can improve your alumni engagement.

Ready to master online fundraising and improve your alumni engagement tactics? Let’s dive in!

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Making the most of your online fundraising capabilities should be your first priority when perfecting how you engage with alumni!

As a school, your institution's fundraising needs and limitations likely look very different from other nonprofit organizations. For one thing, your core donor base (your alumni) are often spread far and wide across the country.

‍This means that to connect with alumni supporters, you’ll have to go the extra mile to meet them where they are.

‍The best way to do this? By fundraising online, your team can easily reach geographically-diverse alumni. This starts with accepting donations online, but also allows your school to regularly interact with your supporters via email, social media and more!

‍When your school makes the effort to interact with supporters online, you avoid the trap of remaining “out of sight and out of mind” to these individuals.

Through frequent online interaction, alumni are more likely to donate on a regular basis, as well as more likely to encourage their friends and family to give to your institution.

In addition to strengthening ties between your school and your alumni, online fundraising has several other key benefits:

‍1. Low overhead cost: After your initial investment in online fundraising software, online fundraising proves to more than make up for its upfront cost. Since everything is virtual, your team can allocate less personnel to manage your online fundraising efforts, as well as save money on physical marketing materials. ‍

2. Simple setup: Once you pick the right software, your team can easily set up your online fundraising tools with little stress. Many services offer consultation during the implementation process, or you might lean on your fundraising consultant during this time for their expertise.

3. Increased donor knowledge: Another reason why online fundraising tools are so effective is because they can provide unmatched insight into your supporters. With every interaction your school has with alumni online, you will collect important data that can inform your engagement tactics moving forward.

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‍The bottom line: By investing time and energy into perfecting your school’s online fundraising strategy, you’ll have an easier time reaching alumni donors while saving money and effort. Even better, when you do connect with these donors, your interactions will be more streamlined and more informative than traditional methods allow.

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With the right strategy, your school can benefit from powerful new trends in online fundraising that simply can’t be matched by traditional fundraising methods.

‍In this section, we’ll highlight tactics that make the most of online fundraising’s dynamic potential by going further than simply accepting donations.

‍First, we’ll go over social fundraising techniques like crowdfunding and peer-to-peer campaigns, and then we’ll show you how online fundraising can be paired with on-site events to help your school make the donation more accessible to your alumni supporters.

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Social fundraising

1. Crowdfunding. With the right crowdfunding software, your school can grow your donor base while raising money. Look for tools that allow you to easily brand donation pages, share campaigns across social media and email, and ones with team crowdfunding capabilities.

2. Peer-to-peer: Tapping into your alumni’s social network, donors can help your school reach more eyes online. By associating campaigns with your alumni fundraisers, potential supporters are more inclined to give since they’ll more closely associate your school with their friend, family member, or colleague.

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Fundraising events

1. Kiosks and card swipers: By investing in an on-site donation kiosk or card swiper, your team can accept donations from those who prefer to pay with a credit or debit card. Gifts are then transferred online to your bank account, so you never have to worry about depositing checks or keeping track of cash donations. You might use a kiosk or card swiper at events like walkathons, talent shows, charity auctions etc.

2. Live event streaming: Another dynamic way to raise money for your cause is to stream fundraising events online. Alumni who can’t make it will be able to participate in the festivities from their computer or mobile device, and because of your online donation tools, giving will be as easy as the click of a button.

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The bottom line: As part of your fundraising strategy, your school shouldn’t discount tactics that marry the best parts of in-person fundraising methods with the functionality and ease-of-use that online fundraising provides.

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Looking to optimize your online giving channels to boost alumni donations?

‍What’s so unique about online fundraising is that your team can truly customize the giving experience to make donation as seamless as possible for your alumni donors. ‍

Check out some of these online fundraising best practices to maximize your alumni’s donor potential:

1. Offer simple donation forms: You don’t want to lose out on potential alumni gifts because your online donation form was too lengthy, confusing, or required too much effort to complete. Be sure to make your online donation forms as streamlined as possible and don’t require givers to register for an account to make a donation.

2. Encourage recurring giving: The quickest way to make sure you’re able to get the most out of your fundraising efforts? Prompt alumni to opt-into recurring giving when they make a donation. Give them the freedom to set the gift amount and the donation schedule so that they’re able to tailor the process to their preferences.

3. Match alumni gifts: With the right software, your school can increase your fundraising potential by receiving matched gifts from alumni who work for corporations that have a matching gift program in place. One convenient way to do this is to direct alumni to a matching gift database tool on your school’s website or to implement an automated matching gift software to streamline the process for your school’s team.

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The bottom line: Offering online donation channels to your alumni donors will boost giving, but only if your school is able to make the most of these dynamic giving tools.

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One of the most important parts of perfecting your school’s online fundraising strategy is picking the right online fundraising software to help you get the job done.

‍With all the options out there, it can be tricky to know what software to invest in and what kind of functionality you’ll need to stay on top of your online fundraising game.

‍Luckily, we’ve compiled a list of all the tools you need to look out for when picking your software!

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Donation pages

Donation pages are the bread and butter of your online fundraising efforts. To make sure you reach the maximum number of alumni donors, your team should be sure to invest in online fundraising software that provides you with dynamic tools to customize your pages.

Invest in a software solution that allows you to:

1. Brand pages to your school with colors, logos, pictures, video, etc.

2. Integrate donation pages with social media to make them easily shareable

3. Customize donation pages with suggested giving amounts, recurring giving opt-ins, and more.

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Communications

Having a successful communications strategy in place is the first step to boosting your alumni fundraising online. If your team isn’t able to get the word out to your supporters, your online fundraising efforts will falter.

When choosing which online fundraising software to invest in, keep an eye out for a solution that enables :

1. Automated constituent email that can be customized to your different alumni donor segments

2. Engagement tracking and analytics to help you learn all you can about what strategies work for your supporters‍

3. Social share buttons that enable your donors to easily broadcast to their social networks once they give

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Mobile giving

The vast majority of your alumni use their mobile devices as their primary way to access the internet. Don’t miss out on all of these potential alumni donors!

As part of your online fundraising strategy, your school should be sure to have functional mobile giving tools in place. These can include:

1. Donation pages that are optimized for mobile devices

2. Embedded donation pages across your various social media platforms

3. Text giving tools that allow donors to give simply by sending you a customizable keyword.

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The bottom line: When choosing online fundraising software, your team should select a platform that offers dynamic tools to meet your alumni engagement needs at every level.

When it comes to alumni engagement, having a next-level online fundraising strategy in place is crucial With these tips in mind, there’s nothing stopping your school from making connections with alumni and raising more than ever before!