6 Lessons Learned from My Time in Annual Giving

1. You Can’t Over ask in Direct Mail
2. Ask People to Give to What They Care About – Not to What You Need Them to Support
3. Don’t be Afraid to Innovate and Test New Ideas
4. Despite Recent Reports, Phone Solicitations are Not Dead
5. Make it Really Easy to Give
6. Let Yourself be Surprised

10 Tips to Better Donor Stewardship!

Bob Thomas – Executive Director of Advancement Marketing and Communications at Michigan State University

Just wanted to share a simple list of 10 things you should be doing in your stewardship program to ensure great donor satisfaction!

1. Develop your stewardship “stump speech”
2. Map your donor stewardship process to look for weaknesses and opportunities
3. Develop a System to get “Personalized” Thank You Letters Out in Less than One Week –Make it Timely
4. Refresh Content of Thank You Letters, Segmenting for Donors Giving to Different Programs –Make it Sincere
5. Personally Thank a Donor Every Day (More than Good Stewardship, it’s Good for Fundraiser Morale)
6. Tier Your Stewardship Where Appropriate: Provide Special Access or Special Privileges for your Top Donors
7. Create Ways for your Donors to “Experience” your Organization (easier for some than others)
8. Personalize Your Asks –Especially for Donors/Non-Donors
9. Continuously Evaluate Your Stewardship Practices
10. Don’t be Satisfied Until Your Donors Expectations of You are Exceeded

How to Boost University Alumni Engagement

Robert "Bob" Thomas serves as an executive director for advancement marketing and communications at Michigan State University (MSU). One of Bob Thomas' main duties in his current role at MSU is to develop effective strategies for alumni relations and engagement.

Alumni engagement should be top priority for any university, and institutions should come up with sustainable ways of maintaining affinity with alumni after they’ve graduated. Engaged alumni support universities in various initiatives such as donating money, mentoring current students, volunteering on boards and committees as well as attending on-campus events to support the university community among others. Universities can boost alumni engagement by using the following strategies.

1. Invest in alumni engagement by using effective alumni outreach approaches that offer both personal and professional support. Some of these initiatives should include professional networking events and career services, continuing education opportunities and allowing alumni to use campus facilities.

2. Provide targeted and interesting news to a diverse alumni body. Since age, background, beliefs, and location of alumni varies, alumni groups should be well-segmented to ensure messaging is targeted to the right audience.

3. Use social media platforms such as Twitter for brief updates and shout-outs. Universities can use social media to praise some of its graduates as this is a great way of alumni to boost engagement with a college brand. Besides engaging with alumni, universities can show potential students how their graduates are making a positive impact on society.