Reunion Fundraising: Getting it Right
Megan Schaible
Deputy Director, Development
Murray Edwards College
REUNION FUNDRAISING: GETTING IT RIGHT
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Reunion Fundraising: Presentation Overview
1 Before You Start
2 Understanding Your Classes at a Glance
3 Recruiting Volunteers
4 Volunteer Training
5 Managing the Campaign: Tracking and Reporting
6 Managing the Campaign: Outreach
7 At the Event
8 Follow Up
REUNION FUNDRAISING: GETTING IT RIGHT
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Before You Start
Why are you doing this? – Be Honest!
– Participation or Money?
– Setting the Ask
– Allocating Resource
What are you fundraising towards?
– Pros and Cons of Naming Opportunities for Collective Giving
Accounting: What counts towards Reunion totals?
How does this fit with your current Annual Fund Cycle?
REUNION FUNDRAISING: GETTING IT RIGHT
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Understanding your Classes at a Glance
Quantifying Engagement and Fundraising Potential
– Class Summaries
– Class Categorisation
REUNION FUNDRAISING: GETTING IT RIGHT
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You can recycle this information:
– Prospect Research
– Bespoke in-house DM and Telethon ask amounts
– Future Volunteer go-to list
Understanding your Classes at a Glance Quantify Engagement to Improve Time Management and Predict Results
REUNION FUNDRAISING: GETTING IT RIGHT
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R F M A R F M A
Recent-cy Frequency Monetary Affinity
Understanding your Classes at a Glance
REUNION FUNDRAISING: GETTING IT RIGHT
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Overall Reunion 2015 Giving Analysis
Lifetime giving to College £
Total giving past 5 years £
Total number in Reunion
Past Giving Participation
Gave in last 5 years (%)
Gave > 5 years ago (%)
Never gave to College (%)
Total Major Gift Prospects
Understanding your Classes at a Glance
REUNION FUNDRAISING: GETTING IT RIGHT
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10-Year Reunion 2015 Giving Analysis
Lifetime giving to College £
Total number in Reunion
Past Giving Participation
Gave in last 5 years (%)
Gave > 5 years ago (%)
Never gave to College (%)
Top 10 Donors
Understanding your Classes at a Glance
REUNION FUNDRAISING: GETTING IT RIGHT
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Class Grades
A: Definite rep(s); Engaged class
B: Fairly engaged class; can search for reps easily
C: Unengaged class; handful of big donors
D: Unengaged class with no big donors
Recruiting Volunteers
REUNION FUNDRAISING: GETTING IT RIGHT
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Recruiting Volunteers
– Get the Right Volunteer for the Job
– Recruitment Sources:
– Class reps
– Your team
– College Fellows
– Self identifiers
Volunteer Training
REUNION FUNDRAISING: GETTING IT RIGHT
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Volunteer Training Session
Get Your Case for Support Locked Down
– Be firm about your naming policy
– Make sure all key stakeholders stick to the script
– Have a presentation
– Repeat points in Volunteer Handbook
– Provide collateral to take away with impact examples and financial fact sheets
– Elevator pitch and common objections memorized
Volunteer Training
REUNION FUNDRAISING: GETTING IT RIGHT
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Volunteer Training Session
Create a sense of Camaraderie
– Different year groups training
together
– Bring in gift volunteers from
previous year for pep talk
– Make sure your
President/Master is present
– High-level buy-in and
Accountability
Volunteer Training
REUNION FUNDRAISING: GETTING IT RIGHT
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Volunteer Training Session
Don’t scare them off!
– Time to define or redefine your
volunteer policy
– Volunteers are not free labour
– Clear expectations and Deadlines
– Achievable Goals
– Illustrate at all points how the
Development Team will help them
Volunteer Training
REUNION FUNDRAISING: GETTING IT RIGHT
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Volunteer Training Session
Get them to give – THAT NIGHT!
– Treat your volunteer gifts as your
campaign’s silent phase
– Kick it off with great numbers
– Impress that the ask has no power
until the asker has given
Managing the Campaign: Tracking and Reporting
REUNION FUNDRAISING: GETTING IT RIGHT
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Class List Canvasser Allocation – Who is going to make the ask?
– Peer Solicitation
– Major Gift Officer Solicitation
– Selected individual Solicitation
– Combined efforts (Ex: Pembroke Mini-telethon)
Recording on Raisers Edge:
Pembroke Example: Action = Reunion Fundraising, Attribute = Canvasser
Managing the Campaign: Tracking and Reporting
REUNION FUNDRAISING: GETTING IT RIGHT
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ID Forename Surname Stream Nationality Volunteer? Anonymous? Super donor £2,500+ Leader £1,000+ Asked? Response to ask Attending Reunion 2015?
Amount pledged to committee
Amount Received by School
Fund Designation
Single/Multi-year pledge? Suggested Ask
Reach out from?
Thanks email sent?
Public/Anonymous?
New Contact Details sent? Business Organisation Business Role Mailing City Mailing Country Pref. Email Phone
Gift Volunteer Shared Data via Google Docs
Managing the Campaign: Tracking and Reporting
REUNION FUNDRAISING: GETTING IT RIGHT
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Results Summary - (CLASS) FY 15
£ Pledged £0.00 mean #REF!
£ Verbal £0.00 median #REF!
£ Verbal + Pledged £0.00 mode #REF!
# of donors 0 AFFINITY 0
Class participation #DIV/0! TOTAL PAST GIVING £0
Total # in class 0
# donors needed for 50% part. 0
Internal Excel Tracking
Managing the Campaign: Outreach
REUNION FUNDRAISING: GETTING IT RIGHT
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Email Cycles
Characteristics:
– Unique proposition of nostalgia and peer pressure
– Repeated mantra: “Come back, Give back”
– Build momentum and a sense of urgency to the BIG DAY
– Segmented by year group and donors
Managing the Campaign: Outreach
REUNION FUNDRAISING: GETTING IT RIGHT
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Email Cycles
Content:
– First email: Nostalgia hit (Pembroke use Matric photo)
– Second email: Remember this? Photo collage of year w/ ask to
support the next generation of memories.
– Third email: Final countdown/ class participation competition
– Post Reunion email: Event photos next to archive photo, thank you
and it’s not too late!
Managing the Campaign: Outreach
REUNION FUNDRAISING: GETTING IT RIGHT
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Check-ins with Volunteers
– Open door policy with weekly
1:1 check-ins
– Deadline management
– Group conference calls
On the Day
REUNION FUNDRAISING: GETTING IT RIGHT
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Volunteer Thank-You Breakfast
Donor Stewardship
– Donor pins
– Acknowledgement in President’s speech
– Donor name boards (pros and cons)
– “Wall of Decades” display
Giving Opportunities
– Active solicitation (pros and cons)
– Donor booth compromise
Follow Up
REUNION FUNDRAISING: GETTING IT RIGHT
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BREATHE!
– Final Push Email (as mentioned before)
– Thank you cards for Volunteers
– Volunteer profile in your next E-Newsletter
– Reunion feature in College Magazine and in Donor Report
Start Planning the Next Reunion!
…and make sure all of that information you worked really really hard to pull
together actually gets stored in a meaningful way and not lost into the abyss