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#AItraining

Timothy Ponisciak | University of Notre Dame

SUCCESSFUL YOUNG ALUMNI PROGRAMMING

Stephanie Felicetti | University of Notre Dame

LEARNING OUTCOME

After participating…

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…you will be able to develop programming that increases

young alumni loyalty and giving.

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• Notre Dame Background

• Successful Programming

• Overcoming Challenges Specific to Young Alumni

• Portability

AGENDA

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#AItraining

NOTRE DAME BACKGROUND

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• Notre Dame’s structure

• Responsibilities and goals

• Solution-focused team approach

THE UNIVERSITY OF

NOTRE DAME

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NOTRE DAME’S

STRUCTURE

University Relations

Alumni Association

Programs Team

Young Alumni Programs

(Stephanie)

Development

Annual Giving Team

Young Alumni Fundraising

(Tim)

Public Affairs

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HISTORY

Lack of collaboration

• Duplicating efforts

• Discouraged/disgruntled alumni

• Too many mailings, same information twice,

etc.

We have overcome many of these challenges

by partnering!

WHY PARTNER?

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TEAM APPROACH

• Initial meeting

• Established bi-weekly meetings

• Shared calendars

• Open dialogue

– Goals

– Partnership Scope

– Budget

WHAT DID

WE DO?

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#AItraining

SUCCESSFUL PROGRAMMING

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BASIC

PROGRAMMING

• First year orientation

• Thanksgiving in February

• Home away from home game

• Partnerships

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FIRST YEAR

ORIENTATION

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• Weekend of events: welcoming first year

students

• First touch point with students

• SAME GOAL!

– Opportunity to collaborate

FIRST YEAR

ORIENTATION

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• Invite students to pick up welcome

gift

• Split cost of welcome gift

• Welcome letter (touch point)

FIRST YEAR

ORIENTATION -

COLLABORATION

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WELCOME LETTER

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THANKSGIVING

IN FEBRUARY

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• Annual event to acknowledge annual fund

donors

• Underclass-fundraising student led

initiative

• Partnership

– Recruiting student volunteers

– Assistance with communications

THANKSGIVING

IN FEBRUARY

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REGIONAL EVENTS

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COLLABORATION

- Shamrock Series

- Events in New York, D.C. and Chicago

REGIONAL EVENTS

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COLLABORATION

– Staffing events: Important to be

known/seen among young alumni

– Partnerships on events

• Splitting cost

• More touch points

• More attendees

REGIONAL

EVENTS IMPACT

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LARGER

PROGRAMMING

• Mobile campaign

• Student video project

• Young alumni giving

recognition society

• Regional giving society

events

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MOBILE MARKETING

IZigg

Are you making your 2015 football

travel plans? Visit

footballtickets.nd.edu for info on

qualifying donations for the 2015

alumni football ticket lottery

Check out the most recent Young

Alumni Newsletter

GO IRISH!

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STUDENT VIDEO PROJECTS

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• SAME GOAL! Split the cost

• Utilize videos for annual giving and alumni

association communications

• Students produce specific videos

• Develop new ideas

STUDENT VIDEO PROGRAM

COLLABORATION

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STUDENT VIDEO

PROGRAM

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NEW YOUNG ALUMNI RECOGNITION SOCIETY

● $500 annual gift

FOCUS GROUPS

● Virtual Meetings

● Targeting participants

● Findings

CORBY SOCIETY

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NEW YOUNG ALUMNI RECOGNITION SOCIETY

● Young alumni volunteer launch

committee

○ Committee presented new

networking opportunity for young

alumni

CORBY SOCIETY

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• Initial Collaboration

– Brainstorming committees

• Volunteer on Corby Society Steering

Committee

• Supply Corby Society information at young

alumni (alumni association) events

YOUNG ALUMNI GIVING

RECOGNITION SOCIETY

COLLABORATION

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• New York City

• Washington D.C.

• Chicago

YOUNG ALUMNI GIVING

RECOGNITION SOCIETY

COLLABORATION

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Summer in the City

INTENSE

PROGRAMMING

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• Co-sponsored by Alumni

Association & Development

• Large regional young alumni

event designed to engage

alums with Notre Dame

SUMMER IN

THE CITY

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• Why do this event...

• Reunion attendance

• # of times YA’s come back

to campus already...

• Why Chicago...

SUMMER IN

THE CITY

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• Idea generation

– Young Alumni Committee

Call (Brainstorm)

• Researching similar

programs

– Georgetown John Carroll

Weekend

SUMMER IN

THE CITY

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• Focus groups

• Planning /brainstorming

• Prospect Research

SITC PARTNERSHIP

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SITC FUNDRAISING

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PARTNERING TO OVERCOME

CHALLENGES SPECIFIC TO YOUNG

ALUMNI

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VOLUNTEER MANAGEMENT

#1 issue volunteer management

– Recruiting volunteers is challenging for

everyone

SOLUTION: Sharing contacts in order to

generate champion volunteers

OVERCOMING

CHALLENGES

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COMMUNICATION DIFFICULTIES WITH

YOUNG ALUMNI

• Work hours tend to be longer and

evening work commitment interfere

• Working with alumni from 4

different time zones

• Social/service/other commitments

make evening calls difficult

SOLUTION: Creative scheduling/approach

OVERCOMING

CHALLENGES

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SOLVING COMMUNICATION DIFFICULTIES

– Plan ahead!

• Young Alumni Committee Calls (young

alumni collaborative peer network)

• 4x/year

• Dates provided November of PREVIOUS

year

– Team Voting

• Let the volunteers decide what times work

best by popular vote

OVERCOMING

CHALLENGES

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SUSTAINING MOTIVATION

– Say thank you…a LOT!

– Provide insider information

• Ex. New construction

OVERCOMING

CHALLENGES

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STEWARD VOLUNTEERS WITH GIFTS

– Small giveaways for everyone attending the call

– On call, raffle off

• Football tickets

• Gift basket

– Reunion welcome basket

OVERCOMING

CHALLENGES

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PORTABILITY

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• Determine appropriate parties

• Open and honest conversation

– It won’t benefit anyone if you hold back

information concerning your goals and

initiatives

• Establish plan/opportunities to partner

• Maintain periodic meetings

HOW CAN

YOU DO

THIS?

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• Physical location

• Alumni relations & annual giving – combined

department

• Reporting structure

• Budget considerations

• Alumni relations and/or annual giving split by

college

SCALING TO OTHER ALUMNI

RELATIONS & ANNUAL GIVING

STRUCTURES

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• Programming Brainstorm Sessions

• Event Planning

• Marketing Review

• Event/Programming Support

ENGAGE YOUNG ALUMNI

VOLUNTEERS

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#AItraining

IN SUMMARY

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• Freshman Orientation

– Year 1 Impact: 500 freshmen (prior to

partnership)

– Year 2 Impact: 1,200 freshmen

– Year 3 Impact: 1,500 freshmen

• Thanksgiving in February

– Year 1 Results: 2,000 thank you cards

– Year 2 Results: 3,000 thank you cards

MEASURABLE SUCCESS:

STUDENT PROGRAMS

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• Reunion

– Dorm Challenge Fundraising

• 5 Year Reunion Class: Participation

Increase 1.4%

• 10 Year Reunion Class: Participation

Increase 6.1%

• Summer in the City

– Engagement of over 800 alumni

– Opportunity to increase young alumni gifts

MEASURABLE SUCCESS:

YOUNG ALUMNI

REUNIONS

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• Increase in total young alumni giving

– Participation rate

– Total dollars raised

• Corby Society

– Impact young alumni giving and

engagement

– 500+ member over $250,000 raised

MEASURABLE SUCCESS:

YOUNG ALUMNI

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YOUNG ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT

– Impact 3,000+ young alumni at regional

events (Yankee Stadium, Chicago,

Washington D.C.)

– Impact 6,000 young alumni through texting

program

MEASURABLE SUCCESS:

YOUNG ALUMNI

LEARNING OUTCOMEQUESTIONS

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Stephanie Felicetti, smola1@nd.edu

Tim Ponisciak, tponisci@nd.edu

LEARNING OUTCOMEEVALUATION

Please remember to complete the event evaluation.

Your comments will help us continually improve the

quality of our programs.

Thank you!

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