Your Upcoming Grads and Working with Young Alums
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Graduation is coming and you will soon have a new group of young alums. The time is now to ensure they will be future high end donors to you down the line. Here are some ideas about engaging with these important constituents in your database!
Your young alumni are your future major gift and planned giving donors in the future but only if you engage with them early and in an appropriate manner.
First of all, it is important to establish realistic goals around this group.
Your primary focus with these individuals should be around “friendraising” and secondary focus on fundraising. While we may have a clear understanding of this within development it should be properly communicated to the president, board of trustees, alumni board and other appropriate individuals.
Cultivation is key and dollars must be set aside to keep your young alumni informed about your school and the importance of giving back. I would recommend for the first few years to make “the ask” a soft ask. Remember some of your major gift donors for the future could be saddled right now with upcoming student loans.
Below are some tactics you may want to undertake to help engage with these future donors to your institution.
Be creative when developing ways to engage with your young alumni. This will ensure they will be involved now and in the future! What are some ways you've engaged with your young alumni? Let us know in the comments below!
First of all, it is important to establish realistic goals around this group.
Your primary focus with these individuals should be around “friendraising” and secondary focus on fundraising. While we may have a clear understanding of this within development it should be properly communicated to the president, board of trustees, alumni board and other appropriate individuals.
Cultivation is key and dollars must be set aside to keep your young alumni informed about your school and the importance of giving back. I would recommend for the first few years to make “the ask” a soft ask. Remember some of your major gift donors for the future could be saddled right now with upcoming student loans.
Below are some tactics you may want to undertake to help engage with these future donors to your institution.
- Before your seniors even graduate start to determine what is important information that you want to be gathering on your future major and planned giving donors!What information can you capture now is going to help provide you with knowledge on these individuals as well as the best ways to be communicating with them moving forward.Gathering interests and other key data of their time while they were a student.Be creative!!!
- Automatically enrolled in the alumni association.Ensure they see the benefits of being a part of this elite group.If you currently charge to be a part of the alumni association then offer complimentary membership for their first five years.Document what being a member entitles them to so that when it comes time for them to pay that they see the benefit.Offer discounted rates for attending alumni events where they currently reside – you will have higher attendance.
- Alumni Board – ensure that a small group is being asked to join the board for their advice and perspective.Identifying these individuals is quite easy by documenting those who were student leaders and those who are children of parents who donated to the school.Come up with your own ways of identifying affinity based on your own institution.
- Engaging with alumni during their time at school is critical.Creating events around reunion where alumni and student interact in various scenarios is wonderful.Engaging your alums to come and do special classes for your students provides duo benefit by increasing the affinity of those alums.Provide special classes on preparing to work out in the world in their field of study are a definite plus.
- Identify those young grads who would be willing to speak to possible future students of your school.I am sure most schools engage students when perspective students come to campus to help ensure they attend your institution but provide a list of those recently graduated is also essential.This provides the perspective students two views – one of those currently in school and those who graduated within recent years.Be sure to highlight those young grads in helping secure your future students!
Be creative when developing ways to engage with your young alumni. This will ensure they will be involved now and in the future! What are some ways you've engaged with your young alumni? Let us know in the comments below!
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03/22/2016 5:58pm EDT
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