Alumni Engagement

8 creative ideas to boost alumni engagement & fundraising amidst COVID-19

Here's a look at the 8 unique and creative ideas that we've seen advancement teams implement to engage their alumni digitally during the COVID-19 crisis.

As the COVID-19 outbreak continues to disrupt alumni relations and fundraising, institutions around the world have found themselves in a tight spot as a consequence of canceled events, giving days, and other planned alumni engagement activities.

With this new world order settling in, advancement teams are looking for unique ways to engage their alumni digitally. While a lot of institutions have been engaging alumni digitally for a while now, in this blog post, we’ll be looking at some of the most creative engagement ideas that we’ve seen being implemented during COVID-19.

modern-day-alumni-engagement-and-fundraising-ebook

1. Organize virtual happy hours 

With alumni confined to their houses and being forced to work from home, everyone’s missing out on those Friday night Happy Hours. But wait, who said social isolation’s equivalent to the end of Happy Hours?

Organize virtual happy hours to boost alumni engagement

Virtual happy hours are a great way to encourage social interactions among alumni during these difficult times. You can organize your next virtual happy hour as a 1-hour event open to limited registrations. Create a dedicated event page for collecting RSVPs and lay down all the details on this page. Ask alumni to grab a beverage of their choice and join the meeting link. To add structure to your virtual event, encourage your event attendees to share something about themselves during the event like a short introduction, some insight into how they’re dealing with the crisis, or what they’re doing to help those in need.

St. Thomas University School of Law created a dedicated event page for its first-ever Young Alumni Virtual Happy Hour and promoted the event via social media.

Young Alumni Virtual Happy Hour Event to Boost Alumni Engagement
St. Thomas University School of Law’s Virtual Happy Hour event page on Almabase

St. Thomas University School of Law’s Virtual Happy Hour event
St. Thomas University School of Law’s Facebook post to promote the event


Virtual Happy Hour event to Boost Alumni Engagement
Check out QuestBridge Academy’s dedicated event page for the Virtual Happy Hour event for its Bay Area alumni

2. Support small alumni businesses

According to a recent survey by Goldman Sachs, 51% of America’s small-business owners said they could not weather more than three months of the current economic environment. 

With small business owners struggling to stay afloat throughout this crisis, this is a good time to offer your support to your alumni who own small businesses by leveraging your alumni network.

Create a web page listing small businesses owned or operated by your alumni and promote it on all your official websites and various social media platforms. 

Here's how Centenary College of Louisiana offered its support to alumni small business owners.

Social_media_post
Centenary College of Louisiana’s LinkedIn post to help promote small businesses owned by alumni

3. Encourage non-monetary donations from your alumni

Since the educational fundraising landscape has evolved as an outcome of the coronavirus situation, the approach that institutions have been adopting for fundraising asks has also transformed. Since schools and universities need funds now more than ever to be able to support their students, but feel apprehensive about asking their alumni for monetary donations, a lot of them are choosing to opt for fundraising in kind.

Similar to other institutions, Nicholls State University also had to move its classes online. However, the university realized that many students did not have webcams at home which served as a major obstacle to conducting online tests and smooth functioning of classes.

With the ongoing coronavirus situation, raising funds for webcams wouldn’t have been possible and so, the university appealed to its alumni to help students out by donating webcams.

Encourage non-monetary donations to boost alumni engagement
Nicholls State University made an email appeal to all alumni urging them to donate webcams in support of students

4. Organize virtual races to boost alumni well-being

With everyone confined to their homes, forced to work from home, limitations on social interactions, and physical fitness taking a back seat, health and well-being of alumni has become a major concern for institutions across the globe.

Aid your alumni through this phase of social isolation and encourage them to make exercise a part of their routine by organizing a virtual race. A virtual race can have participants from any location within a predetermined time. Photos shared by alumni during their walk/run can further be shared with the alumni community via Facebook or alumni website, helping drive engagement and registrations. 

The College of Idaho’s ongoing ‘2020 Coyote Dash [Virtual 5K] race’ is helping connect its alumni who are located miles away from one another during these testing times. 

Read the complete success story here 👇

How the College of Idaho is driving alumni engagement amidst COVID-19 via a virtual race

5. Conduct online yoga sessions

With COVID-19 leading to stress and anxiety as a result of social isolation and financial pressures, the mental health of alumni is a rising concern for all schools and universities. Many institutions are organizing virtual exercise or yoga sessions for their alumni to help them deal with stress, depression, anxiety, energy, fatigue, and motivate them to work towards their overall physical and mental well-being. 

William Peace University, a liberal arts college in downtown Raleigh, North Carolina, roped in its former Alumni Board President, Alli Leggett '01 to organize a virtual yoga session for alumni to join from the comfort of their home. 

Online Yoga Class with Alli Leggett '01
View the Peace of Mind Online Yoga class with Alli Leggett '01 event page here.


6. Urge alumni to share their photos with the community

Alumni photos that capture happy moments is another great way to engage your alumni and get them to interact with one another. You can start a photo contest by encouraging your alumni to post their photos on your alumni website or alumni group on social media.

Bob Greene, Alumni Director at Serra High School started a ‘Picture Time’ contest via email, urging alumni to share pictures while they’re at home with their families or any picture that makes them feel happy.

Urge alumni to share their photos with the community
Serra High School emailed alumni to submit entries for Picture Time contest

8 creative ideas to boost alumni engagement
The latest photos from the Picture Time contest - See the full album here

maximizing-impact-with-minimal-resources

7. Host virtual gaming nights to bring your alumni together

Social isolation during COVID-19 means that you can’t invite your alumni to your school or university for a fun game of soccer but, how about hosting a virtual event for alumni to engage in some healthy competition over online games? 

Bring your alumni together for a fun night of online Charades, Monopoly, Pictionary or Cards against Humanity. Take it a notch higher with special appearances of some of their favorite staff members. 

8 creative ideas to boost alumni engagement
Check out the full post here.

8. Host a virtual coloring contest for alumni and their families

Encourage your alumni to show off their creative side by hosting a virtual coloring contest open to them and their families. Coloring is known to be great for mental, emotional, and intellectual health in adults and serves as a wonderful hobby that keeps children calm and entertained. 

Chestnut Hill College organized a fun virtual coloring page contest for alumni and their families where campus photos and logos were converted into coloring pages using the Colorscape app. Take a look at the coloring pages here.

The college also took to social media to launch a contest by encouraging alumni to download coloring pages and participate by coloring and sharing it with the alumni community. The best submission will be chosen by the alumni community and receive a CHC prize pack.

8 creative ideas to boost alumni engagement
View the full post on Chestnut Hill College’s alumni page on Facebook

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Alumni are an institution’s most precious asset. However, the reality is that while alumni will often have a sense of belonging to their alma mater, a constant connection is needed to cultivate this relationship. While there are a bunch of ways to achieve this, today, we’re focusing on one of the most effective communication methods employed by schools and universities around the globe – email communication.

While there’s a plethora of information on best practices for email marketing, our experience with various schools has helped us understand email best practices specific to alumni.

Email has an ability many channels don’t: creating valuable, personal touches – at scale.

- David Newman

While email communication plays a crucial role in the digital engagement strategy of many institutions, the rate of success for each school may differ greatly. The difference lies in the approach that each school takes. Here’s a list of tested techniques that have brought success to most schools:

Maintain an updated email list

To be able to engage alumni via emails, it is pivotal to maintain updated email lists. Over time, alumni contact information is bound to get outdated. For your email campaigns to have higher alumni engagement rates, it is integral that your emails reach the right people, and that’s only possible if you have updated information about your alumni.

Whether you’re a small school or a larger university, there are various ways to keep your alumni database up-to-date. Tap on the banner below to read more about the complete list of all the database update techniques that are typically employed by schools and their relative benefits.

Focus on personalizing your outreach

While creating an email, it is important to be able to evaluate what alumni would value. Sticking to a template might look like the easiest route, but schools have witnessed greater success with personalized email campaigns. One way of personalizing your emails is by segmenting alumni based on gender, class year, and other relevant criteria.

Gann Academy targets freshly graduated alumni to its campus for an alumni panel discussion
Gann Academy targets freshly graduated alumni to its campus for an alumni panel discussion

Put a face and a name to the sender of your emails

It’s always a good practice to use a real name as opposed to a common name such as ‘Your Alumni Association’ as the sender of your emails. Using a person who your alumni may already be familiar with is ideal. You could even add in a picture and signature of the person at the end of the email to make the email seem more genuine. 

How Christian Brothers Academy personalizes their email invites to alumni
Christian Brothers Academy ensures to personalize all its email invites to alumni by adding a name, photograph, and designation of the sender

Ensure that there’s a clear call-to-action

Other than the high risk of your alumni email landing in spam, adding multiple links often comes at the expense of having an unfocused message, severely impacting your click-through rates. Sticking to a clear call-to-action button is the best practice. 

Mercy High School, Burlingame does an amazing job at targeting its alumni with emails that have a clear call-to-action.

How Mercy High School, Burlingame, leverages clear CTAs in their emails

Provide value in the form of monthly newsletters and weekly updates

While we discussed how personalized email campaigns can help boost alumni engagement rates, monthly alumni newsletters and weekly updates have also proven to be highly effective. Monthly alumni newsletters and weekly update emails act as a source for alumni to stay updated with all that’s happening at their school and often evoke nostalgia and a sense of pride. 

Here’s how Upper St. Clair School District & Taylor’s University keep their alumni engaged with informational monthly newsletter emails.

Upper St. Clair School District's alumni newsletter
Upper St. Clair School DIstrict's newsletter

Taylor University's Alumni Newsletter
Taylor University's newsletter

Optimize your emails

This is probably the most basic yet the most essential part of creating a successful email campaign. Optimizing your emails so that they appear in your alumni’s inbox at the right time and in the right format is critical to your campaign’s success. Here are some key aspects that should be ensured with respect to email optimization:

1. Ensure that alumni receive your emails during their active hours. If your alumni are in a different time zone, scheduling your emails is highly recommended. Analyzing past email delivery statistics might help in scheduling the timings for your new campaigns.

2. While attaching any images to your email, it is recommended to stick to a maximum file size of 1 MB.

3. Subject lines play an integral part in the success of any email marketing campaign. Including your alumni’s first name within the subject line is a great practice that we’ve seen schools achieve success with. Adhering to shorter, to-the-point subject lines is also highly recommended.

When it comes to engaging subject lines, QuestBridge Academy hands-down wins the game. For its September Bar Night event, the institution reached out to its alumni with a simple, yet highly effective subject line: 

An optimized subject line

5 Alumni Outreach Email Templates

Here are some outreach email templates to kickstart your emails:

1.  Networking & Career Advancement

Subject: Connect & Grow: Your [Institution Name] Network

Dear [Alumni Name],
Hello from [Institution Name]! We hope you're doing well.
Did you know your connection to [Institution Name] offers a powerful way to boost your career? Our alumni network is full of people in many different fields, ready to connect.
We've made it easy for you to use this network:
- Network Platform: [Link to platform] - Join our special online platform to find and connect directly with fellow alumni for advice, opportunities, and shared experiences.
- Virtual Event: [Link to event details] - Sign up for our next online networking event. It's a great chance to meet alumni working in specific areas you're interested in.
- Career Help: [Link to career services page] - Visit our career services page just for alumni. You can find job postings, get tips, and learn about workshops to help you move forward.
Make the most of your [Institution Name] connections today.

Best regards,
The [Institution Name] Alumni Relations Team

2. Giving Back & Philanthropy

Subject: Support [Institution Name]: Help Students Succeed

Dear [Alumni Name],
We're reaching out because you can make a real difference at [Institution Name]. Your time here helped shape your path, and now you can help shape the path of current students.
Supporting [Institution Name] is a direct way to invest in the future. Your contribution, no matter the size, can help provide essential resources:
- Give Now: [Link to donation page] - A financial gift helps fund scholarships for deserving students, support important research, and improve campus facilities.
- Volunteer: [Link to volunteer page] - If you have time to share, consider volunteering. You could mentor a student, help at an event, or offer your professional skills.
Every bit of support helps us give students the best possible experience.
Thank you for considering how you can help.

With sincere gratitude,
The [Institution Name] Advancement Team

3. Staying Connected & Community

Subject: Stay Connected to [Institution Name]

Dear [Alumni Name],
Life after graduation takes you to new places, but your connection to [Institution Name] and the people you met here is still important. We love sharing what's happening and hearing about your journey.
Here are a few simple ways to stay part of the [Institution Name] community:
- Read Our Magazine: [Link to magazine] - Check out the latest alumni magazine for campus news, stories about fellow graduates, and updates on upcoming events.
- Follow Us: [Links to social media profiles] - Connect with us on social media for daily updates, photos, and a chance to interact with the wider community online.
- Find a Local Chapter: [Link to chapter list] - Look for an alumni chapter in your area. It's a great way to meet up with other alumni near you for social events and activities.
- Update Info: [Link to update form] - Please take a moment to make sure we have your current contact information so you don't miss out on important news and invitations.
We value your connection. Stay in touch!

Warmly,
The [Institution Name] Alumni Relations Team

4. Learning & Professional Development

Subject: Keep Learning with [Institution Name]

Dear [Alumni Name],
The world keeps changing, and learning new things is key to staying ahead. As a graduate of [Institution Name], you have access to special resources to help you keep learning and growing in your career and personal life.
We offer opportunities designed just for our alumni:
- Online Courses: [Link to course platform/library] - Explore our library of online courses to learn new skills or brush up on topics relevant to your field.
- Webinars/Workshops: [Link to events page] - Attend online sessions led by our faculty or industry experts on a variety of interesting topics.
- Library Access: [Link to library access info] - Access many of the academic databases and publications available through the campus library from wherever you are.
- Mentorship: [Link to mentorship program details] - Whether you want to share your experience or learn from someone further along in their career, our mentorship program connects alumni.
Keep your mind sharp and continue your learning journey with [Institution Name].

Sincerely,
The [Institution Name] Professional Development Team

5. Institutional Pride & Advocacy

Subject: Share Your [Institution Name] Story

Dear [Alumni Name],
Your time at [Institution Name] gave you unique experiences and memories. Your positive stories are the best way to show others what makes our institution special and why it's a great place to learn.
We invite you to share your pride and help us tell the [Institution Name] story:
- Share Your Story: [Link to testimonial submission form or social media hashtag] - Tell us about your favorite memories or how [Institution Name] impacted you. We might feature your story!
- Represent Us: [Link to volunteer page] - Volunteer to represent [Institution Name] at college fairs or other events to talk to prospective students about your experience.
- Engage Online: [Links to social media profiles] - Like, share, and comment on our social media posts. This helps our news reach more people.
- Refer a Student: [Link to referral form] - If you know a student who would be a great fit for [Institution Name], encourage them to apply and let us know.
Your voice is important in helping us build a strong future for [Institution Name].

Best regards,
The [Institution Name] Communications & Alumni Relations Team

Conclusion

We hope we’ve given you some new ideas and motivations to make the most out of your email channels. If you’re looking for a tool to streamline your communication efforts, let us know and we’d love to show you how we can help.

6 ways to increase alumni engagement over emails

Find the email best practices to increase alumni engagement for your school, college, or university. Here's the list of techniques for alumni email marketing

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September 17, 2019

12 minutes

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Email marketing is crucial to the success of your online giving campaign. Does that sound like a used and abused fact to you?

GIF

While it may sound repetitive, it’s the gospel truth!  

Advancement teams extensively use email marketing to promote their online giving campaigns but, what do they do differently to increase the sense of urgency?

Here’s a look at the 6 most effective email marketing hacks that can help you create a sense of urgency and drive more people to donate:

1. Target diverse alumni groups with personalized messaging

Segmenting your alumni into groups based on different parameters such as location, class year, interests, etc. and targeting them via personalized emails is a widely popular approach adopted by schools and universities worldwide. 

Here’s how Centenary College of Louisiana personalizes emails for an affinity group - Women’s Basketball and asks group members to make a gift to support their cause.

Email Marketing


2. Leverage peer-to-peer influence

Apart from sending generic emails inviting donations, leveraging your influencers helps create a personalized touch and acts as a strong incentive for your alumni to contribute. These influencers should be people who your alumni can relate to and would appreciate hearing from. 

See how Scranton Preparatory School used the peer-to-peer approach via emails to increase its Giving Day donations by 546%. Read the full story here.

Leverage Peer-to-Peer Influence To Drive Participation Towards Your Online Giving Campaigns


3. Create avenues for classes to compete with one another

Creating more opportunities for class years to compete with one another and gamifying this approach can significantly boost your giving day donations. Ensure that there’s an incentive tied in with the challenge and lay down the rules clearly in your email. 

Here’s how Calvert Hall College High School emails alumni about the inter-class challenge and lays down clear guidelines & incentives. This approach helped create a healthy competition between classes leading to the school increasing its Giving Day donations by twice as much in 3 years. Read the full story here.

Email Marketing

4. Incorporate elements that create a sense of urgency

With shorter campaigns where timing is crucial, adding a countdown timer or a goal meter in your email creates a sense of urgency. Also, consider sharing a story that your alumni would relate to and feel the urge to contribute towards. 

See how North Shore Animal League America includes a countdown timer to appeal to its donors.

Email Marketing: urgency

5. Keep constituents informed & up-to-date

Whether it is a one-day or a week-long campaign, it’s always a best practice to keep your constituents informed of all that’s planned as a part of the campaign. Right from the campaign announcement down to thanking donors for their support, ensure that your audience is engaged throughout the campaign.

Here’s how Mercy High School announces its upcoming Giving campaign, complete with the information about the goal of the campaign and all relevant links. 

Email Marketing: Information

6. Thank your alumni

Saying thank you never goes out of style. Sending donors a thoughtful thank you email is a great practice for not only expressing gratitude but more importantly, for building lasting relationships. A thank-you email goes a long way in retaining the same donors and getting them to contribute again.

Check out Scranton Preparatory School’s thoughtful ‘Thank You’ email to all alumni after the end of its #PrepDay campaign. Read the full story here.

Email Marketing: Thankyou

Educational Advancement From Home eBook

6 email marketing ideas to drive participation towards your online giving campaigns

Find email marketing best practices to improve alumni engagement and boost fundraising for schools, colleges & universities.

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March 17, 2020

12 minutes

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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!

Alumni engagement strategy

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.

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.

fundraising trends

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.

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.

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.

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.

online fundraising

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.

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.

Fundraising software

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!

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.

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

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.

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!

Online Fundraising: What You Need to Know to Engage Alumni

Are you ready to master online fundraising and improve your alumni engagement tactics? Take a deep dive into this blog post to get your process right.

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September 22, 2017

12 minutes

Read

With the overwhelming success that Giving Tuesdays have shown to have brought to schools and universities across the globe, it is time we started talking about how to make the most of your Giving Tuesday.

Giving Tuesday, widely recognized as an annual day of giving, is a great opportunity for your school or university to engage with potential donors and raise funds. 

With Giving Tuesday 2021 just around the corner, here’s our checklist to help you plan an awesome Giving Tuesday. 

Plan ahead & set clear goals

1. Choose your core team, define responsibilities, and have regular meetings to plan and track execution

2. Set a defined structure, target audience, and actionable goals while creating the plan

3. Finalize the budget

4. Identify and begin to solicit prospective donors and other sponsors

5. Create a branded donation page to showcase your school spirit. Data shows that donors are much more comfortable to donate on a donation page that looks like yours than to an unbranded Venmo or Paypal page.

Build a compelling campaign theme

1. A unique and compelling theme helps your donors connect better and acts as an incentive for them to donate to a cause that they believe in. One of our customers, Don Bosco Prep High School raised more than $25K, asking its alumni to donate towards the specific cause of building a Wellness Center for its students. 

#GivingTuesday

2. Build all of your communication collateral about the Giving Day around it

3. Create a unique hashtag to help spread the word about your Giving Day further and faster on social media.

Mobilize your ambassadors

1. Bring your ambassadors on board to promote your Giving Day and take ownership or share your team’s responsibilities

2. Solicit personal appeals from influential people of your school like teachers, famous alumni, board members, etc. further inspiring donors to donate

3. Spread the word about your Giving Day extensively amongst your faculty and staff inclusive of board members, class representatives, and chapter admins

Ensure a smooth giving experience

1. With recent trends suggesting that an increasing number of donations are being made from mobile devices, ensure that your platform is mobile compatible

2. Enable peer-to-peer solicitation for your donors to reach out to their network

3. Display challenges and leaderboards to help donors get a sense of their contribution and encourage more participation through healthy competition

Leverage social media marketing

1. Create a detailed communication plan and calendar much ahead of your Giving Tuesday

2. Build a social media toolkit to help your team and ambassadors promote your Giving Tuesday campaign

3. Use Facebook or Instagram Live scheduling to actively engage with your donors and share with them live updates on the day itself to influence bigger contributions.

Leverage different content formats & multiple channels

1. You don’t have to necessarily stick to one format or channel. Experiment with multiple formats such as images, videos, or long-form captions.

2. Videos can help a great deal in the promotion of your Giving Tuesday campaign and encourage donors. Just a short video created with a smartphone can create a more personalized approach aimed at your donors. Try to involve the head of school or faculty in creating these videos.

3. Utilize offline channels to promote your campaign. Publishing updates in your print newsletter and distributing flyers in local coffee shops are some of the techniques you can try to publicize your campaign offline.

Thank all those who contributed

Sending a simple and short thank you email to your donors at the end of the day is a great practice to let them know how thankful you are for their contribution. Ensure that this note doesn’t ask for another donation and instead, only is a means of expressing gratitude. The thank-you gesture has shown to have increased the chances of the same donors contributing again.

Giving Tuesday has become a global movement that celebrates and supports giving and philanthropy with events throughout the year.

We wish your team make it BIG and make the best of this Giving Tuesday.

Need more pointers on planning your Giving Day?
Check out our Comprehensive Guide on Planning A Giving Day for Schools & Universities.

how to plan a successful giving day

How to make the most of Giving Tuesday?

Get this GivingTuesday checklist for hosting a successful campaign for your school, college, or university in 2021. Boost alumni donations & drive peer-to-peer fundraising.

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September 30, 2020

12 minutes

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