Corporate partnerships and alumni engagement

One of the many areas that I have responsibility for is corporate benefits partners.  This creates some terrific opportunities for communication from my office that offers rather than asks.  Clearly, 99% of what we do in the fundraising field from a messaging standpoint surrounds the ask.  This includes most of our stewardship communications as well as our fundraising pieces.  The typical exception is in the giving society based messaging which often does provide benefits in some form based upon the level of support but even that has a component of giving - unless you are a donor meeting the requirements of the giving society, you are on the outside looking in with regards to benefits messaging.

The benefits program messages we send at St. John's are based entirely upon having contact information for you as an alum (email is key on this one) or your following us on social media.  Our program is built around the basic approach that all alumni have access to the benefits by virtue of their connection to us and that allows us to offer multiple discounts, from the traditional insurance programs, through regional dining discounts and national hotel discounts through small stores and businesses owned by alumni and parents.

Twice a year we do a stand alone email to our entire email base providing the current list of providers and discounts with a focus on those that provide benefits to alumni regardless of financial support from either the business or the alumni getting the message.  This creates an uptick in response from the alumni population seeking further information and in many cases offering additional partnership opportunities.  As important, nearly 50% of the folks who contact us for information (many of the programs require you to phone or email for a verified discount code and we have not changed that because of this effect) end up making a gift in the year they utilize the discount programs.  In many cases, that gift greatly exceeds the savings so this is about perceived value and relevance to their life beyond the financial component.