The concept of Donor Lifetime Value isn't new to advancement offices—an alumna doesn't give just once to her alma mater; she gives many times over the course of her life. Even some alumni relations offices think about Alumni Lifetime Value.
But it's rare that either office invest in that lifetime value.
Fundraising at a small institution is a fundamentally different enterprise than fundraising at a large one. Truisms fail and trends aren't always applicable.
That's why Keystone College shared its small-shop advancement strategies at the recent CASE D2 Conference.
Heather A. Schield is Vice President for Institutional Advancement and Frank Ohotnicky is Director of Advancement Services at Keystone. We asked them to reprise their CASE presentation for the Switchboard blog.
Let's face it—sometimes managing volunteers can feel like more work than the volunteers are helping your office can get done.
It's important to have a strategy for integrating them into your work, whether you work in alumni relations, advancement, or elsewhere.
Loreal Maguire is Director of Volunteer Programs and Laura DenBow is Senior Director of Volunteer Programs in Cornell's office of alumni affairs. We asked them to share how Cornell integrates alumni into their advancement strategy.
There's a steady email arms race going on between retailers, nonprofits, and everyone else eager for a moment of your attention.
Too often, commercial enterprises edge nonprofits and higher ed institutions out of the inbox with innovative copy and design.
Here are five email tactics you can use to keep up in 2017—if you aren't using them already.
Alumni relations and advancement offices aren’t the only ones thinking about engagement these days—every company, website, and media outlet is, too. And that means competition.
One institution is engaging its audience particularly well—it’s a bright spot in an otherwise gloomy-looking industry. Public radio is excelling where other news outlets and media are declining. And it has insights to offer those of us in higher ed who are also competing for our audience’s attention.
What should happen to our communications with our audiences when a major fundraising campaign ends? Do we let them slow to a trickle? Or can we find other opportunities to stay in touch?
Richard Fisher is presenting on the subject at the upcoming CASE District VIII conference. He's Chief Communications Officer in the Office of Development and Alumni Engagement at the University of British Columbia. We asked him to share his thoughts on fundraising communications between campaigns.
