March 10, 2013 | Read Time: 1 minute
Columbia University raised $6.9-million, most of it online and in 24 hours, by running a contest to see which of its 16 schools could produce the most money for the institution’s annual fund.
The university recruited 14 alumni volunteers to train as leaders and assigned them to work with specific schools to help promote the contest, said CloEve Demmer, director of the annual fund.
The volunteers and Columbia staff members drummed up interest by asking people to give early to show their support and to generate some buzz about the event in alumni and donor circles. By the time Giving Day officially started, it had raised $1-million and recruited about 100 volunteers.
They sent e-mails, made phone calls, and reached out to alumni on social-media sites such as Facebook and Twitter to publicize the daylong campaign. They also encouraged donors to visit the contest’s Web site, where university officials posted videos and real-time updates about the fundraising returns.
New Donor Interest
University board members also got into the game, providing $400,000 in donations to match contributions made on Giving Day.
It’s not yet clear whether the competition will help Columbia, which is midway into its fiscal year, lift its annual-fund results for 2013. But Ms. Demmer says Giving Day has already helped the university recruit new donors. About 23 percent of the people who gave to the contest were first-time supporters of Columbia. And 17 percent were lapsed donors.
“In all of our direct marketing,” Ms. Demmer says, “this kind of acquisition and reactivation success is unprecedented.”
For more information: Go to givingday.columbia.edu.
