Welcome to the first edition of beTrue Bulletin – a new series where we highlight news and headlines in advancement. This week we’ve got stories about an awesome alumni-driven social media campaign, the increase in giving to colleges and CASE’s first Student Engagement and Philanthropy Day.
Babson Alumni Launch Social Media Campaign in Hopes of Turning the Vice Provost Into President from Bostinno
A pretty impressive social media campaign has come to our attention thanks to BostInno. Started in early February, Babson Alumni took to the metaphorical “streets” to campaign for the Vice Provost and Graduate School Dean, Dennis Hanno, to be selected as the new President of their alma mater. The Facebook group was created on the February 7th and in less than 24 hours “more than 1,700 people (had) joined the group”.
Since the article was published on February 12, the movement has been growing momentum. The facebook group is up to 2,593 as of this postin and if you are devoted BostInno reader, you’ll see that he was recently named as one of the finalists for the “50 on Fire Education” competition. The fact that this is an alumni-driven movement shows how hard alumni are willing to work for the future of their alma mater if they walk away feeling a connection to the school and it’s leadership. Whether he is President of Babson or not, it’s certainly an exciting time to be Dennis Hanno or, as the facebook group says, #prezhanno.
GIVING TO COLLEGES UP 2.3% FROM INSIDE HIGHER ED
This past year saw an increase in donations made to colleges and Inside Higher Ed walked us through the results of the survey done by the Council for Aid to Education. The article talks about where the gifts have been directed (to current operations rather than capital purposes), what schools led with contributions per student (University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center with an average of $590,719 per student) and which single institution raised the most money (as the first institution to earn over $1 billion in one year, Stanford University won this honor). While not all the survey results were positive, and the increase in giving only slight at 2.3%, it does show that alumni are bouncing back from the recession and making their support to their alma mater a priority. Plus, the drop in the proportion of alumni who are making gifts actually indicates that “there has been an increase in ‘alumni of record,’ or alumni for whom the institution has a means of contact” which means it’s “a positive sign that institutions are keeping better records”.
One Day… Global Impact from CASE
The final spotlight for this beTrue Bulletin has been saved for a new initiative from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE). This year CASE ASAP (Affliated Student Advancement Programs) is launching the first Student Engagement and Philanthropy Day on Feb. 28. We’ll likely write a whole post about this awesome initiative in the coming weeks but in the meantime, we wanted to highlight this incredible idea and introduce our readers to what some of the participating schools have planned. Will your school join?