Dartmouth CollegeTreasurers Association

2015 Annual MeetingSaturday, September 19, 2015

Agenda (9:00am – 10:30am)1. Introductions

2. Overview of the Past Year (Conor)

3. Alumni Council Update (Joe Mannes ’80)

4. The Website (Conor)

5. Best Practices For Dues Collection Discussion & Questions (Kyle)

6. Class Dues in the “Ecosystem” of Class Activity (Conor)

7. Recognition of Service (Kyle)

8. Presentation of Treasurers of the Year (Kyle and Conor)

1. Introductions

Jennifer Casey ’66a Director, Class Activities

Ann Harvey Class Dues Administrator

Conor Frantzen ‘08 President, Treasurer’s Association

Kyle Huebner ‘92 Vice-President, Treasurer’s Association

Joe Mannes ‘80 Treasurer Representative to Alumni Council (2015-2018)

2. Overview of the Past Year

Dues participation trends QuickBase fee increase Ledyard fee increases

Dues participation last 5 FYsFY11 FY12 FY13 FY14 FY15

Highest DuesParticipation

67% avg(‘54, ‘59, ‘62)

65% avg(‘54, ‘59, ‘62)

66% avg(‘54, ‘59, ‘62)

66% avg(‘54, ‘59, ‘62)

65% avg(‘54, ‘59, ‘62)

Lowest Dues Participation

7.7% (average of

lowest 3 classes)

5.7% avg 5.9% avg 3.8% avg 3.0% avg

Average Dues Participation

36.1% 35.3% 35.0% 33.2% 33.5%

Total Funds Raised(includes Projects)

$1.11M $1.14M $1.14M $1.06M $1.13M

Youngest 10 Classes Average

Dues Participation12.9% 11.5% 11.7% 8.5% 10.1%

QuickBase fee increase

Dartmouth will be charging ~$190 to each class for FY16 for QuickBase

College had a significant price increase from Intuit for QB for FY15

A task force considered alternatives but ended up staying with QB

Costs are being passed through to the classes Classes historically paid this type of fee (~$95/yr)

but the College did not charge it in FY15 while we researched other options

Ledyard fee increases

Ledyard Bank increased the cost to process a payment (either check or credit card) from $1.50 to $2.00 per payment (Ledyard Plans) for FY16

They had not increased fees in 10 years In addition, Ledyard Bank implemented new pricing on

processing credit card payments via Ledyard Plan for FY16

Payment processing fees/costs are fairly complicated and were detailed in an email from Jennifer

Because of fixed costs, processing a low number of CC payments can be expensive

We recommend each treasurer evaluate the costs as a percentage of the revenue received from this payment method and make the appropriate decision

3. Alumni Council Report

Joe Mannes ‘80

Alumni Council To sustain a fully informed, representative,

and engaged exchange of information and sentiment between alumni and their College, and to enhance and inspire alumni involvement that furthers the mission of the College.

Treasurers rep (many constituents) Three year term Gather/send communications with alumni Sit on various committees Meet 2x per year

“Drinking from a fire hose.”

October 2014 Meeting Significant presentations

Phil Hanlon kick-off, vision and priorities Jamie Coughlin, DEN Theresa Ellis, Interim Dean, Tucker Fdn. Trustee Presentation Joh Kull, digital learning, “flipped classroom”

60th Anniversary of the Alumni Awards Moosilauke Forum launch (alumni survey) Personal experience: Service Committee

May 2015 Meeting

Main themes – Academics and Student Life

Significant presentations Phil Hanlon vision and priorities Dean of admissions Maria Laskaris ’81

Admissions/Alumni partnership Inge-Lise Ameer, Interim Dean of the College Panel of deans on future of professional

education formation of school of graduate and

advanced studies (GRAD) Trustee report

Next Meeting – October 22

Remarks by President Hanlon Board Chair remarks, Bill Helman Case Study: Hood Museum

How a capital project advances Endowment/Finances panel Professional development program

with students Alumni awards

Close

I will be sending the treasurers communications before and after each meeting.

Have an issue? Email me! joe@mannes.com

4. The Website

http://treasurers.dartmouth.org/ It’s the go-to place for answers, tutorials,

and information regarding dues, taxes, annual reports, etc.

Newly updated is the cookbook for taking PayPal payments and downloading them in batch into QuickBase

If you see something amiss or want something added, please email us!

5. Best Practices

Collected via the CAR A printed book of best practices sorted by

officer role is included in your registration packet

Will be available on the website Feel free to copy what other classes are

doing!

Best Practice – Dues Amount

Strategically evaluate amount of dues request with Class Officers Is the goal to maximize participation % or

amount of dues ($) raised? Evaluate decision on funding class projects

from existing dues request vs asking for additional funding for specific class projects

Evaluate model that allows classmates to choose level to give (e.g. $25, $50 or $75)

Consider lowering dues amount if your treasury/budget can support it

Best Practice - Communication

Have a comprehensive Class communications strategy for keeping your class engaged Maintain contact with all classmates and

widows through the year not just when soliciting dues and DCF contributions

Communications covering mailing solicitations, electronic solicitations, print and electronic newsletters, solicitation of classmate news, social media, etc

Best Practice – Paper Asks

Send out physical written dues solicitation letters through the college Evaluate sending out all 3 physical dues

mailing solicitations Classes should calculate the breakeven

of the dues collected from a physical mailing vs the cost of the mailing

Best Practice – Email Asks

Send out dedicated electronic dues solicitations - be strategic terms of frequency and timing

Electronic are “free” so can yield strong cost-effective incremental dues but be mindful of over-soliciting

Time electronic dues solicitations to follow the receipt of the physical dues solicitation (can encourage PayPal as alternative to Ledyard check)

Don’t limit electronic dues solicitations to just LYBUNTS

Focus on June timing with fiscal year-end messaging – consider 2-email solicitations in June

Best Practice – Other ways to ask

Evaluate other targeted methods of dues solicitations

Evaluate soliciting via telephone - success can vary and seems more correlated to length class has been out

Many of the classes who’ve been out for longer period achieve amazing dues collections using telephone solicitations

Soliciting via social media Solicit dues via targeted e-mails

In June, check dues payments from Class Officers / Executive Team / DCF Agents – send individual e-mails to encouraging them to pay their dues by fiscal year-end

In June, send list of dues non-payers and ask fellow executive officers to reach out to people they are still in communication with to encourage dues payments

Best Practice – Messaging

Highlight class achievements – recognition by the College, awards, improvements in trends

Highlight how dues are being spent to the benefit of the Class (e.g. Class Projects, Class Engagement, Newsletters, Endowments, Communications, etc)

Include options for how dues can be paid (encourage PayPal for electronic payments)

Include page on Class website where classmates can check if they have already paid dues for the current fiscal year

Try to vary messaging from solicitation to solicitation – keep it fresh and engaging – experiment and see what works

Best Practice – Saying thanks

Acknowledge / recognize dues payers Send out thank you e-mails to classmates

who pay dues each year Special recognition for classmates who paid

dues and contributed to optional class projects

*Must acknowledge in writing any gift over $250, sample letter available on the website

Best Practice – Prepaid Dues

Evaluate pre-payment of dues as an option Idea to consider – collect 5 years of dues at

a discount at reunion Offer pre-payment of multi-year non-

reunion year dues QuickBase does make tracking pre-paid

dues more challenging

Best Practice – Coordinate with DCF and local clubs

Try co-promotion with DCF where classmates get a tangible “gift” or or eligible for a raffle if they both pay class dues and donate to DCF Winter Carnival pictures Dartmouth throw blankets

Try reaching out to local geographic Dartmouth Alumni organizations to see if they will co-sponsor promotion for dues payers in their geographic area

Best Practice – Dues as a class engagement tool

Class Projects Class Endowment Projects

Class of 1957 requested dues was $57 but achieved $112 average dues including requests for additional dues for funding endowment Great Issues Fund project

Print Newsletters One class mails out newsletter to arrive before the first dues

mailing solicitation so classmates get the newsletter and then get the solicitation so there is a more clear benefit of paying the dues

Cost Effective Class Engagement Run a class NCAA basketball pool with small “prizes” for the top

finishers Caring Committee – gifts for classmates going through tough times

– illness, death in the family, etc. Honoring Deceased Classmates

Memorial funds, memorial trees, donations to projects in their name, etc 

6. Dues as an “ecosystem”

Discussions over the last few years: What drives dues participation? What can you do as a treasurer to

increase participation? Overall a negative trend in dues

participation the last 15 years Remember our slide from last year…

FY01 FY02 FY03 FY04 FY05 FY06 FY07 FY08 FY09 FY10 FY11 FY12 FY13 FY14 FY150%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

36%35%

33%31%

26%24% 23%

19%17%

16%

13%11% 12%

8%10%

48%50% 50% 50%

48%46%

42%

40% 40%38%

36% 35% 35%33% 34%

Average dues participation rate over the last 15 fiscal years

Average of all classes 1942 - 2014Average of the 10 youngest classes each year

Fiscal Year

Parti

cipa

tion

Rate

Dues as an ecosystem

Theory: alumni, especially younger ones, struggle with the “value add” between what the dues cost and what they receive in return

If a class isn’t engaging its alumni (through newsletters, mini-reunions, class projects, social media, communication, paper mailings), then why would an alum pay class dues?

Is there a connection between class activity/engagement and dues?

Are class dues part of the ecosystem of class activity? In other words, is dues participation higher among the more “active” classes?

Using the CAR data

We have a trove of data (self-reported through the CAR) and some student interns so we downloaded and analyzed the CAR reports from the last 3 fiscal years

The data is self-reported so not 100% accurate or complete: some classes do not finish the CAR and QB is only as good as the reporting

But there’s still a lot of good information about what classes are doing in terms of engagement with their alumni

Let’s look at some correlations…

What’s that again?

Correlation is a statistical technique that can show whether and how strongly pairs of variables are related. For example, height and weight are related; taller people tend to be heavier than shorter people

The coefficient ranges from -1.0 to 1.0 The closer the correlation coefficient to 1, the

stronger the relationship A negative correlation coefficient indicates

that as one variable increases, the other decreases, and vice-versa. Remember that correlation does not mean causation

Some data analysis

Looked at data from 3 recent CARs and divided the classes into groups based on average dues participation

Dues ParticipationFY14 FY13 FY12 Avg

Top 20% 57% 57% 57% 57%Second 20% 42% 44% 44% 43%Middle 20% 33% 35% 34% 34%Fourth 20% 21% 26% 24% 24%Bottom 20% 7% 11% 10% 10%

Compared dues participation to other “metrics” in the CAR

Dues ParticipationFY14 FY13 FY12 Avg

Top 20% 57% 57% 57% 57%Second 20% 42% 44% 44% 43%Middle 20% 33% 35% 34% 34%Fourth 20% 21% 26% 24% 24%Bottom 20% 7% 11% 10% 10%

NewslettersFY14 FY13 FY12 Avg

Top 20% 4.8 5.8 5.1 5.2Second 20% 3.2 4.0 5.2 4.1Middle 20% 3.1 2.8 2.9 2.9Fourth 20% 2.4 2.8 2.7 2.6Bottom 20% 2.0 1.7 2.2 1.9

Correlation of each column .96 .96 .91 .97

For example, the correlation between # of newsletters produced and dues:

Some coefficients from FY12-FY14Metric Correlation to dues

participation %

Class year * -1 .99

# of paper dues solicitations .98

# of class projects .97

# of newsletters .97

Dues asking amount .97

DCF participation % .93

Project money awarded .85

COW attendance (# of officers) .83

# of mini reunions .43

DCF money raised .37

# of class meetings .06

Average mini reunion attendance -.46

FY15 dues participation and CAR scores (minus reunion bonuses)

Class Percentile

Dues Avg Particip. % CAR score

10% 61% 88.6

20% 54% 82.2

30% 45% 78.4

40% 39% 76.4

50% 36% 75.6

60% 34% 64.7

70% 27% 52.7

80% 20% 61.9

90% 14% 53.6

100% 4% 52.4

This resulted in a correlation of .93!

It appears that the most active classes are also the most successful at collecting dues (or vice versa)!

Is everything connected?

Dues participation

Newsletters

Mini reunions

Class projects

Attendance at COW

Healthy website Addressability

DAM columns

Social media

Paper solicitations

DCF participation

Some macro dataFY13 FY14 FY15

Avg Dues participation 35.0% 33.2% 33.5%

Total # of dues paper mailings 140 137 142

Paper newsletters by AR 138 126 134

Total # of class projects 165 157 185

Avg DCF Participation 44.5% 42.8% 42.9%

So there seems to be a pretty strong correlation between class activity and dues participation

The ecosystem approach It takes a village – this strategy requires

teamwork from your executive committee Seeing this data last year, our class (2008)

tried to elevate all levels of its engagement We added 2 projects, sent out 3 dues mailings, did e-

mail solicitations, an e-newsletter, did a DCF and dues raffle, improved our website and had a strong DCF push on top of our normal efforts like DAM notes

Results? FY14: 85 deposits and $2,000 raised FY15: 182 deposits and $6,924 raised including $1,785

for 2 worthy projects benefitting Dartmouth students

Final thoughts Every alumni class is different and you may

have low dues but high activity elsewhere But for those classes with low dues and low

activity, it might be worth the time and effort to increase all areas of alumni engagement next fiscal year (baby steps are just fine)

7. Treasurer Recognition

35 Years of Service! Ralph Sautter ’55

25 Years of Service Ivar Jozus ’61

8. Treasurers of the Year

Thank you!