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In a constantly evolving sector, the expectations on the outcomes of alumni fundraising strategies have changed. Universities are facing new challenges and need new tools to help convert alumni into active donors.

Alumni fundraising: a new necessity for universities

With universities struggling to stay on top of their game due to increasing expenses and pressures to constantly offer the best equipment and education to their students, fundraising is of growing importance to these institutions. Universities are completely in charge of their fundraising, no other external agencies interfere, leaving them in complete autonomy to organise their fundraising and choose the best practices specific to their needs.

Over the past few years, the total amount of donors and money raised increased significantly – universities now receive more donations per year than any charitable sector. The majority of donors typically are alumni, but parents, current students, faculty members, associations, staff and other people of interest sometimes donate too.

Alongside financial donations, universities benefit from donor’s advice and gain from their networks and connections. Overall, fundraising adds value, increases academic excellence and accelerates initiatives and projects.

University fundraising in the digital era

Previously, most best practices for alumni engagement revolved around direct mail campaigns, phone calls and student conferences. Nowadays, the possibilities are endless. Over the years, universities have been able to increasingly engage with their alumni more consistently and the internet and its different tools have become an interactive way to increase alumni engagement.

To maintain healthy and consistent relationships with alumni, universities need to use technology to their benefit. Among other things, they can organise regular update calls, webinars, and regularly post news and engaging content on their social media platforms. Universities ultimately need to do more with less to make sure their alumni relations are maintained.

What alumni fundraising can bring to universities

With current government cuts, money brought in through fundraising can help universities manage their current budget shortfalls, as well as allow them to maintain innovation, excellence and competitiveness.
Alumni participation creates a broad and diverse base of support and this extended network works as an external point of view that will be able to advise the university on the changes and innovations that need to be done.
Consistent giving by alumni, including smaller donations, in the years following their graduation, increases the likelihood that they will become major donors later in life.
High levels of alumni participation can inspire other major donors (such as companies, associations or foundations) to start participating or increase their own support. When a university is and looks successful, other people want to be part of its success and will be more willing to invest.
Fundraising focuses the university on a clear articulation of its strategy and gives it a precise overview of its projects and objectives for the years to come.
Success is excellent for morale. When a fundraising campaign works and brings a lot of donations, staff and students feel that their institution is worthwhile, which tends to boost productivity and engagement towards the university.

What are some best practices for fundraising?

Finding international ambassadors. Use LinkedIn to find alumni in leadership positions around the world. This can enhance international philanthropy and benefit your university more broadly by inspiring young students to study abroad. I can also help with outreach and gaining international influence.
Collect information about your alumni to better engage with them. In order to do this, monitor hashtags and keywords students or alumni are using when speaking about your university. Track the type of content alumni interact the most with, and use alumni surveys to uncover demographics data.
Use social media for research. Many applicants are now using social media as an important tool for their job searches. Use LinkedIn to promote networking and learning, it is a very efficient way to show former students you still care about their progress.
Mind your communication. Focus on your donor, be clear and establish a logical fundraising strategy. Potential benefactors, even former students, are not going to invest their money in an organisation that doesn’t have a clear vision of what they want to achieve. When presenting your plan, focus on the excellence and the strengths of your institution. Alumni want to see their university preserve its excellence, with a clear idea of the projects they want to uptake to stay on top of their game.
Offer multiple ways to donate. By making the whole process easier and stress-free, your alumni will appreciate your flexibility and will be more willing to freely participate. With multiple options, alumni can donate immediately or over time with recurring gifts or regular payroll deductions etc. Offering many different ways to donate lets everyone decide what is the right fit for them and shows great adaptability.
Do not lose contact after the first donation. Every donor, regardless of the size of their gift, should be well taken care of. Keeping in touch leaves a good impression on the donor, making them likely to give again and give more. In order to leave a positive and lasting impression on your donors: efficiently process their donations, thank them or publicly recognise them, invite them to events, send them progress updates etc.
Show the impact donations have on the university. To be sure they have made the right investment, donors want to know where their money goes. Donors want their donation to have a direct and beneficial impact on university research, on the academic performance and well-being of students. There is a choice of formats available to highlight this progress and the successes accomplished thanks to these donations, including conferences, videos, infographics or blogs.

C3 can help you overcome fundraising challenges

Donors will be more willing to give money if the whole donation process is made easy, stress-free and secure at all times. Our Secure Assist solution allows university staff to guide donors through the whole process, for a smooth and quick experience. Our platform can take payments via telephone, SMS and a white-labelled online portal. Our solution also provides universities with a PCI DSS compliant telephone payment platform that allows alumni to make donations completely safely, and even sign up securely for regular donations.

Our university customer base includes Cambridge and Oxford universities, so whatever the unique challenges you’re facing with alumni fundraising, we have a solution for you. We have extensive experience in and knowledge of the education sector, so do not hesitate to contact us.

Developed by the PCI Security Standards Council, the PCI DSS compliance aims to reduce card payment fraud. Any organisation that handles credit or debit card data is required to comply with it. Compliance is validated by a certified security assessor, or for companies that process smaller volumes of data, by a self-assessment questionnaire.

These standards were established to ensure the protection of data and personal information, to help prevent credit card fraud and to avoid costly data breaches. Compliance with PCI DSS standards does not mean that you will not have a data breach, but that in the event of one, credit card companies will support you.

To be PCI compliant, companies must consider these regular activities:

– Building and maintaining a secure computer network

– Protecting customer data

– Maintaining a vulnerability management program

– Reinforcing access controls

– Regular testing and monitoring networks

– Keeping an open security and information policy

If you accept credit card payments, the payment card industry’s security standard must be fully integrated with your e-commerce service. That’s why issuers and acquirers are responsible for ensuring that all of their service providers and merchants comply with PCI DSS standards.

What would you risk in the event of non-compliance?

By applying the PCI DSS standard, your company is letting its customers know that it is taking the necessary measures to protect their credit card data against theft and any fraudulent use on the Internet. The consequences of a cyber-attack do not only fall on users but also on the company in question: loss of customer trust, fines, loss of revenue and a significant negative impact on a company’s brand image.

Moreover, in case of non-compliance, your ability to accept credit card payments may be suspended or revoked. Failure to comply with this e-commerce requirement may result in data breaches, loss of trust and even termination of the agreement that allows you to receive card payments.

PCI compliance is getting increasingly relevant with the rise of digital payments

With digital payments, authentication and security are essential criteria. In fact, the possibility of fraud is way higher with digital payments than with in-store card payments. Companies are therefore required to have fraud detection systems and effective tools to validate and authenticate cards.

Consumer vigilance has been particularly important in recent years, and sellers have had to keep up with nowadays expectations and requirements in order to maintain their consumers’ trust. This increased vigilance has prompted sellers to take the necessary measures to ensure the security of their remote payment method.

This has been made possible above all by the introduction of new security features that strengthen user confidence, such as removing customer card details from your network, e-wallets and online portals payment solutions. These solutions enable organisations to encourage long-term relationships, with features such as repeated automated payments and avoid refunds by offering e-wallet top-ups to customers. These modern features improve customer experience whilst ensuring the absolute security of the payments.

Other methods have been implemented to reinforce payment security:

Visa and Mastercard have developed the 3-d security protocol which adds an additional step in the authentication procedure. Your bank then decides its format; it could be a text sent to your mobile number, an automated call from your bank to your personal number, a private password set-up in advance, etc.
A new type of card was created, these cards have a changing three-digit card verification value. After each use, this innovative card will produce a new CVV to protect the user from any card fraud.
Sellers can also use of a third-party website that requires a password, such as HiPay and PayPal. The advantage of these systems is that users’ payment data won’t be known by the merchant.

Every business handling payment data must prioritise PCI DSS compliance, in order to make their customers feel that their financial information is being fully protected.

C3 is known to be one of the UK’s leading PCI specialists. C3’s effective PCI-DSS compliant solutions are simple to implement and ensure complete security for your customers, preventing any possibility of fraud. Do not hesitate to contact us to find out more, we’ll be happy to help you with your specific project.

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Alumni fundraising: challenges and best practices