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Spring back to campus: Unique campus events for top prospects
Journal of Education Advancement & Marketing,
4
(1),
63-75
(2019)
Abstract
Development events played a vital role in the success of Smith College’s record-breaking US$486m Women for the World campaign — the largest total ever raised by a women’s college. In the midst of the campaign, Smith commenced a new, integrated, donor-centred events programme to help develop a pipeline to larger philanthropic gifts. A key component of the new programme was a unique series of multiday immersive back-to-campus experiences for small groups of high-level prospects. Designed to showcase the ‘Smith of today’, these events featured key administrators, faculty members and students who illuminated the college’s top fundraising priorities and engaged participants in meaningful conversations about Smith. One of the most successful examples was the Spring Back to Smith programme for 50th reunion donors, volunteers and leaders. Spring Back to Smith resulted in multiple major and planned gifts including the documentation of a more than US$9m estate gift. Using Spring Back to Smith as a case study, this paper examines how a well-planned campus event can engage donors in powerful ways, fostering deeper connections and greater philanthropy.
Keywords: events; fundraising; reunions; donor relations; relationship building
The full article is available to subscribers to the journal.
Author's Biography
Allison Gomes is a Philanthropic Officer responsible for the Mid-Atlantic region at Smith College. Allison came to Smith eight years ago as the Assistant Director for Volunteer Programmes. In that role, she cochaired Smith’s annual volunteer conference. She then transitioned into the role of Milestone Philanthropic Officer where she worked with 25th and 50th reunion volunteers to raise comprehensive reunion giving and solicited annual and major gifts from donors. Allison is an experienced Volunteer Manager and has worked with hundreds of Smith alumnae to support their alma mater. She started her development career in higher education at a local boarding school. Allison received her bachelor’s degree in political science from New York University in 1994 and will be completing her MBA from the University of Massachusetts Isenberg School of Management in 2019.
Ashley Keedy is the Assistant Director of Donor Relations at Smith College, where she oversees the college’s strategic development events programme. She coordinates and implements event logistics for approximately 40 prospect cultivation and stewardship events annually at the national, regional and campus levels. Ashley presented on the topic of on-campus development events at the CASE District I conference in March 2018 and served as the events chair for Women in Philanthropy of Western Massachusetts. She has worked in the field of development for 10 years, most recently as a Major Gift Officer at the University of Minnesota Law School and Mount Holyoke College. Prior to that, she was the campaign coordinator for the National Yiddish Book Center in Amherst, Massachusetts. She has a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Ithaca College.
