When it comes to school rankings, who doesn’t want to be #1?
There’s a way for your school to start making the climb—or to keep from falling—without having the most beautiful campus or smallest class sizes. The elusive and highly-coveted high participation rate is an element of every school’s ranking and can be the key to moving up the ranks.
According to U.S. News & World Report’s America’s Best Colleges, there is a strong correlation between the nation’s highest ranking schools and their alumni’s participation in annual giving. A higher participation rate starts a cycle that’s a fundraiser’s dream: A higher rate leads to a higher ranking, which leads to higher appeal to even more high-quality students. More high-quality students leads to recruiting more outstanding faculty and improving core programs. Those improvements, in turn, lead to higher satisfaction and affinity from your students, which brings us back to a high participation rate (and bigger gifts!).
Kicking off that cycle by increasing your alums’ participation rate, though, is no easy feat. That’s why it’s so important to remember that today’s students are tomorrow’s alums (and donors) and to educate them accordingly. Now. Right now.
CASE ASAP has built a toolkit to get you on your way to introducing and nurturing a culture of giving to your students both before and after they become alumni. Today, the organization is hosting its 2nd Annual Student Engagement and Philanthropy Day, a global celebration of students and the part they play at their respective schools.
“This year, we have over 100 institutions around the world participating,” said CASE ASAP Program Manager Robyn Neeley. One of those institutions, Rhodes University in South Africa, is attempting to break a Guinness World Record with its Student Engagement Day event.
“The day highlights the important role which students play in their institutions, while teaching them the importance of philanthropy…Its goal is to foster and enhance student involvement in all areas of advancement—from alumni relations and communications to fundraising, marketing and related areas.”
Social media has been a key component in spreading philanthropic knowledge; last year, the 1st Annual Student Engagement and Philanthropy Day amassed more than 1000 tweets internationally from students, faculty, and school Presidents.
For more ideas on how to foster philanthropy education and garner higher participation rates at your school, check out #StudentEngageDay on Twitter.