alumni futures

The Bucky Challenge: Case Study in Social Media Fundraising

Kris Olds (co-author of the outstanding Global Higher Ed blog) recently posted a link on the Alumni Futures Facebook wall: 

    The Bucky Challenge 

The University of Wisconsin-Madison is using social media interaction to generate incremental fundraising for student scholarships.

For a limited period, an alumni donor will contribute $1 per click for each of the following four actions:

• a new "Like" on the University Facebook Page
• a new "Like" on the Alumni Association Facebook Page
• a new follower of the University Twitter feed
• a new follower of the Alumni Association Twitter feed

In an email exchange with Chronicle of Higher Ed reporter Josh Keller (who blogged about the topic), I mentioned the following pros and cons of this approach:

 

Potentially Positive Aspects

Creatively combines university fundraising priorities with online engagement. 

In alumni relations in general, and in online interaction especially, we cannot easily see clear connections between individual interactions and measurable outcomes. Do Facebook likes lead to volunteerism? Do Tweets lead to giving? This makes limited inroads with that problem.

Provides additional visibility for fundraising among key audiences. 

Even if I don't click to support the Bucky Challenge, I still hear that funding student scholarships is an institutional priority. This generates awareness for development.

Produces a few more Followers and Fans on Twitter and Facebook. 

If you believe that having more is good, then this helps. 

Generates scholarship funds from a donor match for Internet clicks (which are "free"). 

 

[If you believe that having more Fans and Followers is good, then this helps]

 

Potentially Negative Aspects

Leaves some money on the table. 

I might be prepared to donate $100, but then discover that clicking the Like button triggers a donation from someone else. Some donors may think this gets them off the hook for further giving. 

Reinforces common complaint that "You only contact me when you're asking for money." 

Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn are among the few places where most universities don't ask alumni to contribute. That will change eventually anyway, but for now the school is in uncharted waters with fundraising on third party sites. In this instance, alumni aren't being asked to give directly. They're just being asked to click a button, something most of them will do anyway.

More Followers and Fans: not necessarily beneficial.

Doubling your Twitter count can give a false sense of "increased engagement." But what is the outcome of having all those additional people click that button? Do they see our tweets? Do they like them? Do they read our Facebook updates? Do they think the updates are relevant? If they do, does this lead to a specific result (giving, advocacy, event attendance, volunteerism)? We have almost no idea. And almost none of us is committing resources to find out the answer. We're just telling people to "please click."

 

[What is the outcome of having all those additional people click that button?]

 

Summary

UW-Madison deserves credit for a simple, understandable way to increase scholarship funding incrementally (they're at $14,000 as of this writing). However, we can't measure the effort's financial success without knowing their dollar goals and their "engagement" goal for Likes and Follows.

Smart move: Limiting the time period in which people can click to have their participation count. The sense of urgency this creates may increase an individual's willingness to participate, even if the urgency is manufactured.

Biggest risk: Equating the instant gratification of a new fan or follower with the long-term value of a truly engaged alumnus, who donates up to their potential, attends events, volunteers, and promotes the institution. It doesn't hurt to have people clicking on social content, unless you rest on your laurels and declare success simply because you have bigger numbers on Facebook and Twitter. 

What's next?: With the recent announcement of Facebook "Gestures," (such as Listened to, Read, and Watched) doesn't it make sense for Donated to join the list? Not a bad idea. You heard it here first! 

 

Meanwhile, what do you think of the Bucky Challenge? Is it generating genuine engagement, or one-time donations below the donors' potential?

Leave a comment.

Related articles

• University of Wisconsin Launches Social Media Challenge (mediabistro.com)
• U. of Wisconsin donor offers $1 for each new Twitter followed (chronicle.com)
• For University of Wisconsin, New Facebook Fans Pay Off (thechoice.blogs.nytimes.com)
• How Facebook Will Fix its Like Button Problem (mashable.com)
• Digital connections to alumni: a fundraising campaign via social media (guardian.co.uk)

September 11 and Alumni Relations: Guest Author Kevin Wesley

Click image to enlarge.

This article is written by guest author Kevin Wesley, executive director of alumni relations at the University of Rochester (New York State, USA).

§ 

Like so many on that day 10 years ago, I wanted to do something. The day unfolded for many alumni offices the same way it did for me at Bowdoin College: our research office circulated reports of alumni and parents working at the World Trade Center and at the Pentagon. We attended a campus meeting where our president tried to calm and reassure.

And then the calls and emails began – from alumni, faculty, and staff. 

“Have you heard from him?”

“She works in the South Tower.”

“I just heard some sad news.”

We were inundated with requests for information. Alumni needed us to do something. Checking in with each other and with their college was vitally important, a touchstone that comforted and connected. In those pre-Facebook days when status updates and tweets weren’t options, when phone lines and web sites were jammed, there were fewer outlets for sharing information.

News of the first alumnus lost came, and we grappled with how to announce then-unconfirmed deaths. Like others, we created a page where alumni in Boston, New York, and Washington could check in and report their safety. We announced somber news of deceased alumni. Hundreds sent us emails saying they were OK and scrolled through the list of “safe” names. In the days to come, I helped arrange a funeral for an alumnus killed in the attacks who had deep family roots at the college.

[Alumni needed us to do something.]

September 11 changed the way colleges and universities, and alumni relations specifically, respond to tragedies. Today, whether those incidents happen on campus or affect large numbers of alumni elsewhere, staff must be ready to respond proactively. Sadly, the past decade has required nimble and thoughtful response to a number of tragedies, including the Indian Ocean tsunami (2004), Hurricane Katrina (2005), the Virginia Tech massacre (2007) and the Japanese earthquake and tsunami earlier this year.

Charlotte Travieso, executive director of the Tulane Alumni Association, knows first-hand the profound impact of tragedy on a community, a campus, and her alumni. Following Hurricane Katrina, she learned how powerful those alumni connections can be. After Katrina’s waters subsided, a Tulane Phi Beta Kappa key, engraved with initials, was found in a driveway. Travieso was able to return the keepsake to the alumna. “It meant everything to her,” Travieso said. Tulane has an excellent website dedicated to reflections of that time and how it has shaped the institution.

After subsequent tragedies, Travieso would email alumni in affected areas, offering to help. Following Hurricane Ike, she found herself posting spreadsheets listing sites of nearby still-open convenience stores. After the March 2011 Japanese quake, she reunited roommates living in Tokyo and New Orleans who had lost touch with each other.

"We’ve really become a center of information. And I don’t think we ever felt that way before,” Travieso said of her staff. “I think we’ve personalized these disasters in a way to help people.”

[We’ve really become a center of information.
And I don’t think we ever felt that way before.]

Institutions took a variety of approaches to the 2011 Japan earthquake and tsunami. Many offered comforting words of support and news on institutional impact. Salem State University reported they had heard from all alumni living in the country while Alfred University asked alumni to email the office to check in. MIT’s great site Slice of MIT featured ways to help, and an invitation to a community forum on nuclear energy issues. These responses swiftly conveyed information and available resources.

Harvard’s response is particularly notable. Both the Harvard Alumni Association and the Harvard Business School created sites allowing alumni to receive news and to comment. The responses, mostly from alumni living in Japan, are touching and profound, reflections on the catastrophe, gratitude for the outpouring of support, and calls to action.

In the future, when these incidents occur, we need to ask the following questions:

What institutional messages must we convey?

What is our role in providing support, programming, and outreach?

How do we remain genuine in our message?

This week, many are reflecting on the events of a decade ago. In the tragedies that will inevitably follow in the future, alumni relations professionals can play an invaluable role in providing outreach and comfort in trying times. We can, truly, do something.

photo credit: 9/11 Tribute from the Heights by George Estreich via Creative Commons. 

LinkedIn Feature: "Your College Alumni"

LinkedIn has quietly launched its "Your College Alumni" feature (click image to enlarge).

What is it?

Search for a company when you are logged in to LinkedIn, and you'll see a page showing

• the company's profile on LinkedIn;
• a tab showing employees in your LinkedIn network;
• a tab listing employees who are your fellow alumni, and
• a tab with new hires, if any, at that company. 

"Your College Alumni" pulls alumni of all institutions from which you list an undergradaute or graduate degree in your profile. It won't tell you which institutional connection you share with company employees (but you can find out by looking at an individual employee's LinkedIn profile).

You can see how you are linked to each individual as well (1st, 2nd or 3rd degree connection, or shared LinkedIn Group membership).

The assumption seems to be that your fellow alumni will be more approachable and ready to network with you because of your alumni connection. By revealing your network within that company, LinkedIn may make it easier for you to gain inroads for business development, job hunting, information interviewing and more.

Have you noticed this feature? Have you used it?

Will you promote it to your own alumni?

Leave a comment.

Thank you to Alumni Futures advisory group member Liz Allen of Adaptivate who tipped me off that this function was up and running on LinkedIn.