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How HBCUs Can Increase Alumni Donation Rates, con'd
Most of the respondents said they weren’t asked to give. Eighty-four percent said they would support the school using their time, talent and finances.
“Other findings included a willingness to support a future annual fund, to engage in more volunteer opportunities and to be contacted more frequently,” the guide says.
More active engagement includes conducting alumni trainings, encouraging volunteerism and appointing a fundraising ambassador.
In the past, many HBCUs have utilized alumni associations to gain alumni donations. But according to Gasman and Bowman, membership to those associations has decreased in the past 30 years.
They said it’s because alumni don’t think membership has benefits, and HBCUs and their national alumni associations have poor relationships. If the alumni associations aren’t reliable, alumni definitely will neither want to join nor donate.
Another reason alumni associations could deter alumni from donating is the lack of accepting social media. Young alumni are more willing to respond to social networking sites rather than to email and mailboxes. If administrators accept social media, they could use it to solicit friends and funding on behalf of their institutions.
Young alumni aren’t the only people that need to be reached.
“[HBCUs] need to start educating alumni when they are students,” Gasman said.
The guide says, “there are numerous opportunities in which to involve future alumni …”
One way is to get students in the habit of donating their time and talent. The United Negro College Fund’s (UNCF) Pre-Alumni Council does a good job of doing that by annually raising money from students to stimulate their interest and participation.
Starting Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) chapters, which educate students about philanthropy and fundraising professions, could also encourage both current student and alumni giving.
Current students can also contact alumni through phone-a-thons and other caller methods in order to reach out to and solicit funds from those alumni. Still, students and institutions can’t do all the work alone.
“The president must be vocal on a national level,” Gasman said. “I also think that private philanthropy and the federal government should invest in infrastructure building in the area of fundraising.”
“The most popular program that encourages fundraising among HBCUs is UNCF. Although it deals solely with private institutions, its programs and practices can be used as blueprints for all HBCUs.
One such program is the Institute for Capacity Building (ICB), which, according to its website, “strengthens the infrastructure, programs, systems, policies, procedures, practices and human capital that support, sustain and advance an institution’s mission.”
Linda Curiel is the director of the Institutional Advancement Program (IAP) for ICB.
“We’re basically helping to share the best practices in fundraising,” Curiel said.
She said the IAP does an assessment of UNCF members and guides them based on their financial needs.
“It’s really important to meet institutions where they are,” Curiel said. The IAP guides UNCF members who received grants through the ICB and provides strategies, technical support and consultative services for advancement professionals.
Since participating, Bennett College for Women, Huston-Tillotson University, Talladega College and Virginia Union University have shown average increases of 78 percent and 68 percent in alumni giving and participation, respectively.
Another participating institution that has greatly benefitted from its IAP involvement, as well as has received national attention for its alumni giving rates, is Claflin University, which received a $1.5 million grant from UNCF and has a 45 percent alumni giving rate as of 2012.
“We teach our students what it means to be philanthropic,” said Marcus Burgess, director of Alumni Affairs and Annual Funds at Claflin.
Burgess, who early on visited several other HBCUs in fundraising, said much of Claflin’s success is based on its class agent program, which asks members to encourage alumni engagement and participation.
He said the phone-a-thon turning into a fully operating call center that operates eight months a year has also increased alumni giving.
“[Giving back] shows that you are grateful for the education you’ve received,” Burgess said.
Although Claflin has enjoyed much recent success with alumni donations, Burgess said many HBCUs aren’t because they don’t have enough publicity and credibility.
“We’re strong institutions,” Burgess said. “We need credit for producing such great leaders.”
This is some shit that simply has a muthafucka shakin' his muthafuckin' head. I know that part of the reason Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Sanford, Berkeley, and NYC, etc. are the institutions they are today is because of their active alumni and these schools have multibillion dollar endowments due to the philanthropy of their ballin' ass alumni. I'm a Johnny and should I ever get in the position I'm going to give some money in exchange for the Vincentians dedicating a tree or a bench to me. I'm also gonna give some money to TCI, my high schools, the junior highs and elementary schools that I went to. More importantly, (though I never went to one,) I'm going to give money to HBCU because I understand, recognize, and most importantly, I appreciate the role they play in educating black students, especially in these days and times.
These black alums are just fuckin' sad and need to ashamed of themselves. These high sidin' boule negroes are more concerned with flossin' and layin' up under white people than improving the condition of black people. Not wanting to donate money because you have a bad experience with bursar, financial aid, or registrar's office twenty years ago. Muthafucka get over yourself. If it's that serious tell president of the school to fix that shit be you donate those ends. And having the nerve to fix your mouth to say that you're not giving back because the school didn't ask. Muthafucka, they shouldn't have to ask. Like my dad used to say, "my people, my people.
Most of the respondents said they weren’t asked to give. Eighty-four percent said they would support the school using their time, talent and finances.
“Other findings included a willingness to support a future annual fund, to engage in more volunteer opportunities and to be contacted more frequently,” the guide says.
More active engagement includes conducting alumni trainings, encouraging volunteerism and appointing a fundraising ambassador.
In the past, many HBCUs have utilized alumni associations to gain alumni donations. But according to Gasman and Bowman, membership to those associations has decreased in the past 30 years.
They said it’s because alumni don’t think membership has benefits, and HBCUs and their national alumni associations have poor relationships. If the alumni associations aren’t reliable, alumni definitely will neither want to join nor donate.
Another reason alumni associations could deter alumni from donating is the lack of accepting social media. Young alumni are more willing to respond to social networking sites rather than to email and mailboxes. If administrators accept social media, they could use it to solicit friends and funding on behalf of their institutions.
Young alumni aren’t the only people that need to be reached.
“[HBCUs] need to start educating alumni when they are students,” Gasman said.
The guide says, “there are numerous opportunities in which to involve future alumni …”
One way is to get students in the habit of donating their time and talent. The United Negro College Fund’s (UNCF) Pre-Alumni Council does a good job of doing that by annually raising money from students to stimulate their interest and participation.
Starting Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) chapters, which educate students about philanthropy and fundraising professions, could also encourage both current student and alumni giving.
Current students can also contact alumni through phone-a-thons and other caller methods in order to reach out to and solicit funds from those alumni. Still, students and institutions can’t do all the work alone.
“The president must be vocal on a national level,” Gasman said. “I also think that private philanthropy and the federal government should invest in infrastructure building in the area of fundraising.”
“The most popular program that encourages fundraising among HBCUs is UNCF. Although it deals solely with private institutions, its programs and practices can be used as blueprints for all HBCUs.
One such program is the Institute for Capacity Building (ICB), which, according to its website, “strengthens the infrastructure, programs, systems, policies, procedures, practices and human capital that support, sustain and advance an institution’s mission.”
Linda Curiel is the director of the Institutional Advancement Program (IAP) for ICB.
“We’re basically helping to share the best practices in fundraising,” Curiel said.
She said the IAP does an assessment of UNCF members and guides them based on their financial needs.
“It’s really important to meet institutions where they are,” Curiel said. The IAP guides UNCF members who received grants through the ICB and provides strategies, technical support and consultative services for advancement professionals.
Since participating, Bennett College for Women, Huston-Tillotson University, Talladega College and Virginia Union University have shown average increases of 78 percent and 68 percent in alumni giving and participation, respectively.
Another participating institution that has greatly benefitted from its IAP involvement, as well as has received national attention for its alumni giving rates, is Claflin University, which received a $1.5 million grant from UNCF and has a 45 percent alumni giving rate as of 2012.
“We teach our students what it means to be philanthropic,” said Marcus Burgess, director of Alumni Affairs and Annual Funds at Claflin.
Burgess, who early on visited several other HBCUs in fundraising, said much of Claflin’s success is based on its class agent program, which asks members to encourage alumni engagement and participation.
He said the phone-a-thon turning into a fully operating call center that operates eight months a year has also increased alumni giving.
“[Giving back] shows that you are grateful for the education you’ve received,” Burgess said.
Although Claflin has enjoyed much recent success with alumni donations, Burgess said many HBCUs aren’t because they don’t have enough publicity and credibility.
“We’re strong institutions,” Burgess said. “We need credit for producing such great leaders.”
This is some shit that simply has a muthafucka shakin' his muthafuckin' head. I know that part of the reason Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Sanford, Berkeley, and NYC, etc. are the institutions they are today is because of their active alumni and these schools have multibillion dollar endowments due to the philanthropy of their ballin' ass alumni. I'm a Johnny and should I ever get in the position I'm going to give some money in exchange for the Vincentians dedicating a tree or a bench to me. I'm also gonna give some money to TCI, my high schools, the junior highs and elementary schools that I went to. More importantly, (though I never went to one,) I'm going to give money to HBCU because I understand, recognize, and most importantly, I appreciate the role they play in educating black students, especially in these days and times.
These black alums are just fuckin' sad and need to ashamed of themselves. These high sidin' boule negroes are more concerned with flossin' and layin' up under white people than improving the condition of black people. Not wanting to donate money because you have a bad experience with bursar, financial aid, or registrar's office twenty years ago. Muthafucka get over yourself. If it's that serious tell president of the school to fix that shit be you donate those ends. And having the nerve to fix your mouth to say that you're not giving back because the school didn't ask. Muthafucka, they shouldn't have to ask. Like my dad used to say, "my people, my people.
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