Student fundraisers connect with text first

Tucked 20 miles from the Canadian border in upstate New York, St.
Lawrence University maintains an enviable attachment to its graduates.
Annually named by Princeton Review as one of the nation’s top alumni
networks among private schools, St. Lawrence credits its fully residential
campus for its connectedness. Living together all four years builds an
enduring sense of community.

“That’s one of the hallmarks of the school,” said Erica Byrne, assistant
director of annual giving and a graduate herself. “We don’t take it for
granted that we have a very engaged alumni network.”

Text Is Just the First Touchpoint

To nurture alumni relationships and grow the school’s annual fund, St.
Lawrence taps the full capabilities of Blackbaud Guided Fundraising for its
“Calling All Saints” phone fundraising program. Despite a national downward
trend for calling programs, St. Lawrence has rebounded from a pandemic
drop-off, reconnecting with alumni through Guided Fundraising’s
multichannel capabilities.

This year, for the first time, they launched their outreach with a simple text
message rather than a phone call. The text allows for a potential donor to chat
via text or schedule a convenient time they can talk on the phone to a student
fundraiser. Byrne said the ability to schedule a callback is particularly effective
since people rarely answer unexpected calls.

“With Guided Fundraising, even if someone doesn’t make a gift, it’s still a value
to have that conversation over text,” Byrne said. “Keeping people in touch
with St. Lawrence and feeling good about the school shows that we care. And
that’s a great benefit.”

Alumni, though, have indeed given gifts. St. Lawrence’s strategy of text first,
phone call, and customized email has produced a 151% increase in donors and
a 134% increase in dollars over the previous year.

Easy to Learn and Use

Mastering functionalities such as analytics and setting up segmented
campaigns is easy and intuitive, Byrne explained. For instance, St.
Lawrence segments reunion groups to include three-year class clusters,
so the class before and the one after will be included in the 15th anniversary appeal.

Byrne and her team were also able to reach just the Class of 2021 for
a special invitation. In addition to a donation ask, 2021 graduates were
encouraged to register for a one-year reunion—a unique event to make up
for the many campus experiences the Class of 2021 missed during COVID.
“Guided Fundraising allows us to develop personalized communications
for any alumni segment,” Byrne said. “The Class of 2021 was very receptive
to text first.”

For a small school—2,400 students—St. Lawrence’s advancement office
is bustling, with a rotation of 20 student ambassadors. While some
phone programs can be a grind, Byrne said Guided Fundraising’s modern
approach provides context about the donor’s history, giving, and
interests, information pulled from the system of record and displayed in
an accessible design. This information helps student ambassadors have
authentic conversations with alumni and donors and engage with them as
true fundraisers, not just callers.

“They also love that there is a target ask amount,” Byrne said. “It helps our
students build confidence, knowing there’s an algorithm behind it.”