Who Approaches The Family About The Gift Of Donation
Who Approaches The Family About The Gift Of Donation - With alumni donation rates declining, advancement offices must identify new donor segments to fill their fundraising gaps. To that end, more and more schools are turning their attention to an often neglected area: parents. Parents are an ideal donor group for institutions of higher learning.
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Who Approaches The Family About The Gift Of Donation
You know they are already on board with your school's mission and have a strong interest in their children's experiences and success. But parents are not like all other donor segments. They have made an investment in your institution and may feel that their (sometimes large) tuition is sufficient.
Advocacy offices must tailor their approach accordingly to nurture them as donors and focus on the cares and concerns unique to them. In this post, we'll discuss some of the best ways to involve parents in your fundraising efforts and keep them involved in your institution's success throughout their child's academic career… and beyond.
One thing that sets Parents apart from other donor segments is the smaller window for nurturing and engagement. The good news is that they are ready to learn about what your school has to offer their children and what they need to succeed. The bad news is that their membership usually only lasts until their child is enrolled.
Engage Parents Early
You have to act fast to bring them into the group and engage them. Parents' interest in your institution is usually highest during their child's freshman year, when they are most enthusiastic about their child's college experience. You should contact them as soon as possible, ideally, before their child sets foot on campus.
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Your school may have a department responsible for new student orientation, but many colleges also provide specific parent orientations. The University of Waterloo holds a family orientation session before the start of each school year. The University of Texas sends a New Parent Guide to all parents of prospective students once enrollment is confirmed.
Advocacy offices should develop their own approach to involve parents in this early period. Lafayette College in Syracuse, NY uses a comprehensive search process to identify qualified prospective parents. They gather enrollment information from the admissions office, compare the data with details from the financial aid office, and segment their prospect list based on different criteria.
This approach allows them to tailor their communication with parents according to the abilities, concerns and interests of each group. When communicating with parents, be sure to highlight the impact of student services and resources in areas that are important to them, such as career development, health and wellness, and campus life.
Engage Parents Early
This will make it easier for them to associate your institution's values with their children's success beyond academics. In our post about managing annual giving, we talked about the importance of face-to-face events in building strong relationships with donors. The same goes for your parent population.
Most colleges and universities host parent and family weekends for students and their families to showcase their campuses and show a friendly face at their institution. McGill University has nearly 4,000 parents registered for their annual Parent Tent, a three-day event for parents of new students to learn about campus facilities and to connect with other McGill families.
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Beyond campus-wide events, smaller events organized specifically for parents create a sense of community and shared interest. And they don't need to be processed. A small reception or special program event is a great way to involve parents in a more intimate setting. These events do not have to take place on a university campus or in the city itself.
When Northeastern University in Boston expanded its Parent Giving Program to include a regional program, it recruited engaged parents in other cities to organize events for parents in their area. Parent-focused events allow parents to meet and network with other parents and build bonds through their shared interest in their child's success.
Host Parent-Focused Events
While most parents may be used to fundraising, they will almost certainly appreciate being involved in a more meaningful way than simply asking for money. Great volunteer opportunities are essential to fostering relationships between parents and your institution. Many schools have parents' associations or parents' committees that offer parents a way to get more directly involved in university initiatives, often as unofficial ambassadors for the school.
With access to your institution's leadership team, the Parent Committee can make parents feel more like stakeholders and partners with a voice in shaping the university's direction and operations. Membership is usually by request, and making it exclusive increases the prestige of serving this way.
A strong parent committee also sends a signal to potential donor parents that your institution values their participation and understands that their concerns extend beyond the academic curriculum. Some schools, such as Duke University and Cornell University, link Parent Committee membership to parent philanthropy and emphasize the importance of financial support to enhance the student experience at school.
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The benefits of having parents who work with other parents and support your institution are enormous. Potential parent donors are more likely to respond to a message when it comes from someone like them, whose interest in their child's success is undeniable. Additionally, parent-to-parent interactions pave the way for future peer-to-peer fundraising when it comes to soliciting gifts for parents.
Host Parent-Focused Events
Although parenting and family programs have increased over the past 10 years, the 2015 National Parenting Program Survey found that only 29% of higher education institutions operate their parenting/family programs outside of their advocacy office. Instead of targeting parents with a mass request for annual donations, create a specific parent giving program and personalize your message to highlight impact.
A dedicated Parent Fund is an excellent vehicle to encourage parent and family giving. The University of Virginia uses the UVA Parent Fund page to highlight the specific impact of its grants on student activities: The Georgia Tech Parent Fund for Student Life and Leadership specifically targets areas that impact student life on campus, from food and clothing to professional development activities.
Princeton University includes a parenting fund as part of its annual giving campaign. Their Parent Fund page highlights the fact that unrestricted donations to the Parent Fund enable Princeton to help disadvantaged students fill funding gaps. For the fewest high-net-worth parents, you should share your major gift-giving roadmap with them first and pave the way for larger gifts toward the end of their child's senior year.
Although unusual, major gifts can benefit far beyond the four-year trajectory of a student's academic career. Dartmouth College developed the Arc of Family Giving model to enlist top-rated parents for structured gifts that increase in value over several years, culminating in a significant senior gift.