GOING BACK TO THE BASICS CREATING A HIGH-ACHIEVING PEER-TO-PEER FUNDRAISING PROGRAM IB INDUSTRY BRIEF
GOING BACK TO THE BASICS CREATING A HIGH-ACHIEVING PEER-TO-PEER FUNDRAISING PROGRAM TREMENDOUS NEW OPPORTUNITIES FOR VOLUNTEER FUNDRAISING With the rise of online giving, annual giving teams are presented with new tools and trends to consider practically every time they launch a volunteer fundraising campaign. These new methods leverage the power of social media and the convenience of online payment to increase dollars and donors. However, college and university fundraising departments have a lot to consider when making adjustments to their volunteer fundraising strategies. Will using Venmo or PayPal to collect donations be able to hold up to university s rigorous legal and accounting protocol? Will the surge of new donors GiveCampus attracted this year donate again? Are new methods worth the effort and money required for training and implementation? Will they work year-over-year, or should they be considered fads? Your team has probably investigated these hard questions before and debated about what works best for your unique situation. Making Sure Your Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Fundamentals Are Sound Even as you wrestle with new tools and exciting opportunities, it s important to revisit the bedrock upon which successful volunteer fundraising rests. Are you addressing these fundamentals each time you launch a volunteer fundraising campaign? Here s how to set up your strong volunteer fundraising baseline as well as some examples of Reeher Community institutions who ve found success: Recruit Volunteers A good program starts with good volunteers. How are you selecting your volunteers to ensure they are most suited to the task? For institutions with long-standing volunteer fundraising programs, many committed volunteers continue to participate year after year. However, if you are starting from scratch, or need a new crop of volunteers, it can be a bit harder to find great candidates. Many institutions have had success recruiting volunteers while they are still students. Engaged students who are peer leaders in other capacities are great candidates. Try recruiting students by special invitation from the dean. Titles or affiliation with a group can be good incentives for students who are building their resumes. While they are still students, these future volunteers can lead projects culminating in their senior class campaign. As part of a select group of students, they ll learn about the importance of the annual fund and the logistics behind it. When they graduate, these invested and knowledgeable alums are a natural fit for your volunteer fundraising programs. Of course, there s not always time to wait for current students to work through a pipeline program. You may need new volunteers right away, or may need volunteers from a range of class years. When you re looking for volunteers, start with people who have already shown their affinity to your institution. The same folks who show up to reunions, attend institution-sponsored events, and remain engaged post-graduation will be great candidates to ask. 1
Appoint Lead Volunteers Lead volunteers are program veterans who can answer questions, motivate their team, and provide personal support to volunteers. This allows staff to focus on strategy and larger-scale management of your volunteer fundraising program. For most programs, it makes sense for lead volunteers to manage multiple class years. Start by grouping your class years by five. For example, you would have one lead volunteer for 1970-1974, another for 1975-1979, etc. For classes that are in a reunion year, you may want to appoint a separate lead volunteer from the same class. Next, you will need to start identifying potential lead volunteers. If you already have your volunteer fundraising program up and running, you can look at volunteer performance for identifying potential lead volunteers. However, if you are just getting started, you can look to those volunteers who are most engaged with your institution and would be willing to put in the extra time required of a lead volunteer. Many times, institutions will reach out to their alumni board members to also serve as lead volunteers. Decide How to Segment How do you segment your volunteer campaigns? The most common way to segment a campaign is by preferred class year. This means that your volunteers will be primarily contacting prospects with their shared graduation year. It s good to choose a method of segmentation where your volunteers are likely to have a lot in common with the people they are reaching out to, which is one reason why preferred class year is such a popular way of segmenting. However, any type of affinity or similar interest can also be used to segment your campaign. For example, if your institution has a strong athletics program, you could choose to segment based on athletic program affinity. It s a good idea to remember to always connect volunteers with prospects who have similar interests. For most programs, it makes sense for lead volunteers to manage multiple class years. 2
Assign Prospects Be transparent about the rules volunteers should follow to help make the campaign a success. These can include honoring contact restrictions and following established guidelines for picking prospects. We typically see volunteers contacting between 10-25 prospects, but you can leave it open for your volunteers to contact more prospects if they re willing to. St. Olaf College Unifies Their Messaging Create Resources Most institutions have some sort of welcome packet or volunteer guide. This is a good way to reinforce expectations and guidelines for your volunteers, as well as to let them know about current projects happening on campus. Here is a typical outline of one of these documents: 1. The role of a volunteer 2. Goals and expectations 3. Impact of volunteer fundraising at your institution 4. Impact of annual giving at your institution 5. Tips and scripts for contacting prospects 6. Who to contact for additional help (include lead volunteers and staff members) 7. What s happening around campus Find a straightforward way to make your welcome packet, scripts, talking points and other documents available to volunteers. Providing these documents not only ensures your volunteers are well prepared, but also helps facilitate a consistent communication experience for your constituents. St. Olaf College prioritizes volunteer access to scripts and messaging for phone, mail, and email communication. Providing messaging for the volunteers is important because it helps unify the college s fundraising message and provides consistency with other language coming out of the college. Reinforce expectations and set guidelines with a detailed volunteer welcome packet. 3
Train Your Volunteers For many of your volunteers, providing the welcome packet and scripts will be enough for them to get started. Some volunteers, however, will want more formal training. It s best to offer a variety of training options so that your volunteers can choose the one that best fits their learning style. Focusing Volunteer Efforts: The Sewanee Blitz In addition to the resources you have already created, you can offer in-person training (or a campaign kickoff event), live on-line training, as well as recorded training for your volunteers. In these training sessions, you will cover a lot of the same material provided in your welcome packet, but it provides an opportunity for your volunteers to ask questions and get to know each other. Focus Your Volunteer Efforts Since your volunteers are busy people, it s best to focus their efforts around 2-3 key times of the year. Pick a 1-2 week period and ask them to contact 10 or more prospects during that period. Time this around a key event at your institution, such as homecoming, a giving day, or the end of the fiscal year. You can also host a night of calling/emailing at your campus to get volunteers engaged. This also provides an opportunity for your volunteers to collaborate with one another. Your lead volunteers may even be willing to host calling/emailing events, especially if you have groups of volunteers located in different areas farther away from campus. The University of the South - Sewanee used a new Sewanee Blitz campaign to increase the effectiveness of their volunteer campaign. During this two-week campaign, volunteers contacted their assignments, recorded results, and updated contact information. The Blitz helped the team: Complete assignments quickly and efficiently. Familiarize themselves with new tools. Drive a sense of urgency amongst donors. Many institutions create Blitz campaigns that require volunteers to focus their efforts only 2-3 times a year. 4
Recognize Your Volunteers Your volunteers have made a significant contribution of time and effort, so it s important that they receive recognition. Consider listing their names in your annual donor report, or ask them to stand up at reunion events. Another great way to recognize their contributions is to offer them special perks, such as exclusive access to popular events. Create competition across the classes you can provide special recognition and perks for the top performing classes as well. Recognizing your volunteers is a great way to promote a culture of enthusiastic volunteers who stay with your organization year after year. Analyze Results One advantage of focusing your volunteer efforts over a few short 1-2 week periods throughout the year is it allows you time to analyze your results and make adjustments. Now is the time for the team to decide what did and did not work and make adjustments. Identify your top performing volunteers, as well as those volunteers who are struggling. Ask your top performers to share some of their secrets to success. You could even ask them if they would be lead volunteers. Tracking Volunteer Performance & Rewarding Results: College of the Holy Cross The Director of the Holy Cross Fund, Christene Riendeau [center] with the Class of 2006 Class Chairs. The Class of 2006 won the 2000s decade award for best FY2017 effort. College of the Holy Cross prioritizes a 50% alumni participation goal for their volunteer fundraising campaigns. In FY17, this fundraising team met their goal for the 11th consecutive year. Holy Cross tracks the efforts of their 700+ volunteers so they can recognize those who go above and beyond for the Holy Cross Fund. One post-reunion class was able to increase participation by 6%, bringing in 52 new donors and overcoming the usual post-reunion slump in donations. (See above image.) Recognizing your volunteers can go a long way. It doesn t have to be extravagant. Just let them know they are appreciated. 5
The Takeaway Through our work with more than 130 colleges and universities in the U.S. we ve seen that institutions with strong processes are the most successful at raising money. Making sure you ve addressed the fundamentals of your peer-topeer fundraising campaign will help your staff and your volunteers perform their best. Recruiting Volunteers Appointing Lead Volunteers Deciding How to Segment Assigning Prospects Creating Resources Training Your Volunteers Focusing Your Volunteer Efforts Recognizing Your Volunteers Analyzing Results Reeher partners with higher education institutions to provide the tools and resources they need to successfully raise money. Contact us at info@reeher.com for more information. CONTACT US 6