If you are keen to reap the financial rewards of your impressive alumni database, with the right approach to alumni fundraising, you could create an additional stream of revenue to significantly boost the success of your educational institution.
Below, we explore some of the most effective alumni association fundraising ideas to provide you with insight into how alumni associations can raise money.
Alumni fundraising ideas
While issues with raising money via your alumni association can stem from a lack of alumni connection and poor communication, they can also originate from inadequate fundraising methods.
To help you explore your options and determine which one will work best for your alumni, we explain some of the most effective alumni association fundraising ideas in more detail.
Auctions
Ask your alumni community to donate an item and/or attend the auction to help generate money while pulling off an exciting event. Attendees simply bid on the items and all proceeds from the successful bids go back to the educational institution!
Reunions
What better way to encourage your alumni to attend an event and raise money than a reunion? Ideal for helping your alumni community to form new relationships with their peers while fundraising, these reunions should be ticketed and additional donations can even be requested during the reunion.
Events
Traditional alumni fundraising events such as formal dinners, sporting tournaments, luncheons, gala dinners, and even network gatherings are a fantastic way to raise money. Simply collect funds by ticketing these events and ensure you don’t spend more on the event than you’ll generate in donations!
Merchandise sales
Merchandise sales are a great way for current students to raise money for the institution, so why not consider introducing exclusive merchandise for alumni? With options for customised merchandise, you could generate healthy revenue that can go towards supporting the university.
Direct fundraising
Straight to the point, direct fundraising involves reaching out to your alumni and simply asking them to donate. Thoroughly explaining how their donation will support the institution (new building, equipment, etc.) will encourage them to do so.
Online fundraising
Typically, online fundraising utilises social media platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn to reach alumni across the globe with minimum cost. Similar to direct fundraising, these campaigns will simply explain the mission behind the fundraising efforts to encourage alumni donations.
Raffles
Like any other organisation, raffles are a great way to introduce an element of fun to alumni fundraising. Try to secure a big prize that will boost the number of alumni purchasing tickets and utilise social media to spread the word and grow donations!
Stay connected with Aluminati
While the aforementioned alumni fundraising ideas can help to raise a substantial amount of money, they are only effective if your alumni know about the fundraising events and feel connected to the establishment.
This is why the team at Aluminati have created a flexible alumni program for the education sector that supports new and meaningful alumni relationships.
Combining interaction models, with a selection of administrative and content tools, keeping your entire network updated about alumni fundraising events is effortless.
Complete with an online library of protected digital resources alongside a variety of other useful features, you can incentivise alumni and keep them coming back for more.
Regardless of whether you want to increase student engagement or drive alumni donations, our flexible engagement platform can help.
If you want to find out more about how this user-friendly and innovative platform works, then feel free to get in touch with the Aluminati team.
You can even jump straight to the good stuff by requesting a comprehensive online demo.
Once you’ve requested a demonstration of our alumni engagement software, a member of our expert team will be in touch shortly to arrange your personalised demonstration at a suitable date and time.
Alternatively, you can always give us a call on 01638 676 232 or contact us via email. You can also find us on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn – we look forward to hearing from you.
