70 Smart revenue generators - an moneysavers - Innovation - Cover Story

University Business, Dec, 2003 by Katherine Grayson

Is there a school in the land uninterested in finding new, additional dollars? Not in these tough times. Here, gleaned from institutions of higher ed all over the country, are good, solid, revenue-generating ideas that are not related to tuition management. Some are classics, beautifully executed, others are novel ideas truly worth noting, and some are so, well, obvious, you may shake your head and say, "Now why didn't we think of that?"

FUNDRAISING / MONEY MANAGEMENT

1. Using a bad economy to boost fundraising. Use the bad economy to boost fundraising, and let it push you to ask "unasked" alums for money. At Monroe Community College (NY; part of the SUNY system), the school's annual fund was up a remarkable 36% in 2002 (over 2001), despite the recession. School fundraisers simply "connected the dots" between a trained workforce, and local-area business getting out of the economic slump (90% of Monroe CC grads stay in the community). Those businesses are now "educated" to invest in the workforce development.

2. Increase the number of individuals to approach. At the University of Oklahoma, Development had only 931 prospects in 1995. But in 2002, it developed 3,400 via technology and the use of a search firm hired to match records with databases of the wealthiest people in the U.S., and board members of organizations throughout the world. Development staffers also met with alumni volunteers and had them rank other alumni on the basis of ability to give.

3. Create internal fundraising events. More from Monroe Community College: Don't just create fundraising events, create internal fundraising events to bring in $$ and create a new network of fundraisers. At the Annual Gold Star Dinner, faculty skills such as French lessons, Web page development, even fly-fishing instruction are auctioned off to 250 members of the campus community.

4. Invest in PR, marketing, and internal marketing. Fairfield University (CT) produced a truly comprehensive campaign brochure spelling out the campaign's needs, goals, rationale, institutional impact, volunteer leadership, etc. The school releases a campaign video and publishes an internal/external campaign newsletter three times a year, reporting on progress, gifts, and profiles of selected donors. "Don't underestimate the power of internal marketing; you never know where your next good lead or suggestion will come from," say administrators there.

5. Employ "personalized" telemarketing. Monroe Community College uses a telemarketing firm that hires the school's own students to ask parents for contributions. Instead of ducking commercial marketers, parents are engaged in conversations with students much like their own sons or daughters, who need support to get an education. The campaign targets only parents with a predetermined income level.

6. Put a "face" on donations. Dartmouth College (NH) provides opportunities for donors to meet financial aid students and read their profiles. Administrators figure it's harder to walk away from a needy student you've met.

7. Identify big prospects for big dollars. For major gifts campaigns, Greenville Technical Cortege (SC) identifies big prospects, and then asks for the big dollars. Greenville even eliminated their small gift phone-a-than to concentrate efforts on the big $$. Bad economies have greater negative impact on smaller gift givers, not bigger gift givers, say Greenville fundraisers. So, focus 80 percent of your time on the 20 percent of donors who give you 80 percent of your money.

8. Use restricted giving. At Dartmouth, administrators adjusted capital campaign strategy after they discovered that financial aid was the single most successful driver of the campaign. Don't be afraid to use restricted giving!

9. Make giving addictive. For Greenville Technical College, the largest single gift ($2 million) came from a donor the consultants predicted would give $10,000. But the school went out of its way to recognize the donor in local papers and newscasts, so he came back and asked what else he could do. The fundraisers told him they needed a major gift, and he donated a percent of a charitable remainder trust he was setting up.

10. Raise the bar for a win-win. Again, from Greenville Technical College: The school used the $2 million gift (described in #9) to raise the bar for others by offering campus naming for a minimum of $2 million. The strategy worked.

11. Don't rush the planning process. Fairfield University conducted a feasibility study up front, to make sure the constituency truly understood what the university was trying to achieve with its campaign. They even took the time to use the constituents in the planning process.

12. Don't neglect the annual fund, when promoting the capital fund. Also from Fairfield University: When the school asked for major campaign gifts, it asked donors to maintain their annual giving. Often, annual funds are flat or even decrease during capital drives. Once donors understood, response was tremendous.