Imagine you graduated from college a few years ago and haven’t heard much from your university since. If you receive a fundraising ask out of nowhere, you’ll likely be confused and frustrated by the appeal. You might think, “Why should I give more money to an institution that doesn’t care about me?” and delete the message without responding.
Fortunately, universities can avoid this situation by cultivating alumni relationships before they make an ask. To host successful fundraisers, it’s essential to thoughtfully engage prospective alumni donors and build trust long before you request donations.
That’s why we’re exploring actionable cultivation strategies you can use to prime alumni for appeals. These tactics focus on building connection, transparency, and consistency to show potential donors the value of your alumni community and give them compelling reasons to donate.
Offer Fun, Low-Pressure Alumni Experiences
One of the most effective ways to cultivate alumni is to create immersive, compelling experiences designed to reconnect them with your institution’s community. Think about what activities different segments of alumni might be interested in. Then, plan events and content that will resonate with them.
Make sure these opportunities are not fundraisers themselves. Your goal here shouldn’t be to raise funds; rather, it should be to strengthen alumni relationships and remind them what your university offers. Over time, this engagement will pay off by motivating alumni to give.
Go beyond standard alumni reunions and class events. Try planning innovative, low-stakes experiences that don’t ask much from prospective donors, like:
- Professor-led webinars. Many alumni love their old professors and would jump at the chance to learn from them again. Ask faculty from different departments to host short, free webinars that are available exclusively to alumni.
- Alumni happy hours. Social events like happy hours are low-pressure, fun opportunities to reconnect with old classmates. Plan events by class or degree program, and let alumni catch up with their peers for an hour or two.
- Behind-the-scenes virtual content. On social media or your website, offer fun “day in the life” videos that showcase programs funded by past alumni gifts. Have current students or staff members narrate to emphasize the people impacted.
- Campus immersion weekends. Invite alumni back to campus for a curated weekend experience featuring classroom visits, research showcases, and student-led tours that reflect institutional progress.
Keep alumni engagement preferences in mind when you plan these offerings. For instance, Double the Donation reports that 75% of alumni want mobile-friendly ways to engage with their schools. To boost participation, you might create more online experiences that are easy to join from a phone or tablet. Use tools like online event platforms and higher education SMS software to make your events more accessible.
Use Text Messages to Build Connection
Texts offer a direct, real-time communication channel that’s perfect for connecting with alumni. Unlike email or direct mail, texts are short and sweet, making them excellent for quick, meaningful touchpoints your alumni will actually read. With alumni increasingly expecting personalized communication, texts allow your institution to meet them where they are.
Any text message will get prospective donors’ attention, but Mogli’s MMS marketing guide explains how you can engage recipients even further by sending texts with images, videos, and other visuals. Consider using multimedia text messages to:
- Invite alumni to events: “Daniel, we’re coming up on your five-year reunion! 🎉 Register to attend alumni weekend and celebrate with your class here!”
- Celebrate personal achievements and milestones: “Crystal, this is Daniella with Central College. Congratulations on your TED Talk, it was so insightful! Would you mind if we share it on our social media?”
- Share small announcements and updates: “Simon, did you hear we broke ground on our new honors dorm? Check out this video 📽️ for a sneak peek of the progress!”
- Send quick surveys to gather feedback: “Hey Santiago, we’re asking recent alumni how they prefer hearing from the college. Have time to take a quick survey? Text YES to start.”
- Wish alumni happy holidays and birthdays: “Happy holidays from the faculty, staff, and current students at Central College. 🎄 We can’t wait to celebrate another year with our outstanding alumni community!”
No matter what kind of messages you send, you’ll need a text messaging solution that integrates with your university’s constituent relationship management platform (CRM) to make the most of this channel. For example, if you use Salesforce, choose an app designed to simplify Salesforce SMS campaigns. This way, you can automatically collect and record alumni engagement data directly in your database to improve future outreach.
Share Impact Data Early and Often
Today’s alumni, particularly millennials and Gen Z, demand accountability and transparency from the institutions they support. Sharing impact data well before a fundraising appeal creates trust, fosters school pride, and demonstrates exactly how you use donor contributions.
Don’t wait until someone donates to share information about the difference donations make for your college. Send creative, engaging impact updates in a variety of formats. For example, you might create infographics showing how gifts funded scholarships, research, or new facilities. Or, you could film and distribute student testimonial videos, giving scholarship recipients the opportunity to share how alumni gifts changed their academic journeys.
Make sure to incorporate both quantitative and qualitative data when sharing these updates. Don’t just report on outcomes, either; contextualize them in ways that resonate with your alumni and make sense to them. Make it easy for alumni to see the link between action and impact and exactly how they can play a role.
Engage Alumni Year-Round to Build Momentum
Like any relationship, your relationships with alumni need consistent attention. Viewing engagement as a year-round priority (rather than a pre-campaign rush) ensures that your fundraising asks feel authentic and welcome when you eventually send them. Plan for continuous cultivation throughout the year to keep your university on donors’ minds.
In your cultivation and stewardship plans, include the following types of outreach for a well-rounded approach:
- Donor appreciation: Thank-you messages, social media shoutouts, alumni highlights in your newsletter, small gifts, etc.
- Invitations to get involved: Invite alumni to participate in speaking engagements, events, campus tours, mentorship programs, and virtual panels.
- Updates on the university: New programs, building construction updates, recent fundraising campaign wins, faculty and alumni in the news, etc.
- Community-building opportunities: Facilitate interactions through alumni boards, peer-to-peer groups, and social networks.
Once you try these strategies, evaluate the results with data. Are you reaching all of your alumni segments in ways that resonate? Do alumni engage more with one channel than others? Use this information to improve your plans for sustained connection.
The right cultivation strategy doesn’t just increase donations; it deepens alumni loyalty. Institutions that take the time to engage alumni with personalized messaging and thoughtful outreach wind up with an involved community of alumni who are ready to give when the time comes.
