Lackluster Giving From College Alumni? Communications Campaigns May Be to Blame, Says Report
By Timothy Sandoval
Contributor
October 17, 2017 | Read Time: 2 minutes
Less than a quarter of college fundraisers say giving by young alumni is increasing, according to a new survey.
About half of higher-education fundraisers say giving by young alumni is flat, the study reports, and 21 percent say it’s decreasing.
While many college fundraisers speculate that young graduates don’t have the income or assets to donate right away, lackluster giving might also be because few institutions are targeting millennial alumni specifically, the report suggests. Only 20 percent of respondents said their institution had developed communications campaigns aimed at young alumni.
The lack of such campaigns for young prospects is “a significant barrier to success in seeking donations and engaging donors,” said Brian Gawor, vice president for research at fundraising consulting company Ruffalo Noel Levitz. The company conducted the survey of 249 fundraisers, about 94 percent of whom work in higher education.
In the Dark
Only 12 percent of respondents said their college or nonprofit had conducted targeted surveys of young alumni in the past three years. That means that many institutions may be in the dark about their millennial prospects’ communications preferences, Mr. Gawor said.
Colleges and other nonprofits should start to consider better ways to reach younger donors that feel personal, said Caryn Stein, vice president for marketing. Colleges and nonprofits “are still sending, primarily, communications across the board and hope they hit,” Ms. Stein said. “I think we’re in a world right now where that doesn’t work — particularly with young alumni.”
Among other findings:
- 30 percent of fundraisers said giving days were the tactic most likely to attract first-time donors, while the same number said that was true of crowdfunding campaigns. About 12 percent said volunteers soliciting their peers was the best tactic for acquiring new donors, while 10 percent said email solicitations were.
- 74 percent of respondents said their organizations promote giving days, while half said they run crowdfunding drives.
- 81 percent of respondents said they start to solicit young prospects within a year of graduation or within a year after they are entered into a donor database.
