Marketing Audit

Office of Institutional Advancement

CONFIDENTIAL

Divisions

• Alumni Relations • “Friendraising”

• Advancement Services

• Development • Fundraising (Annual Fund, Major Gifts, Planned Gifts)

• Grants & Sponsored Programs • Public (Federal & State) • Private (Corporate & Foundation Relations)

• Fitchburg State University Foundation, Inc. • Fundraising arm for the university

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Audiences

Baseline characteristics

• 41,000 + Alumni (35,000+ mail-able)

• Faculty & Staff

• Current Students

• State & Federal Government

• North Central Massachusetts Community

• Businesses & Corporations

• Private & Family Foundations

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Marketing

Alumni Relations

• Monthly E-newsletter (11,052)

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Marketing

Alumni Relations

• Reunions • Family Weekend

• 50th Gold Key Brunch

• Commencement

• Athletics

• Clubs

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Marketing

Alumni Relations

• Liberty Mutual benefit program • Semi-annual mailing to 35,000+

• Semi-annual email to 11,000 +

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Marketing

Alumni Relations

• Contact Magazine • Mailed to 30,000+

combined households

• July/August annually

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Marketing

Alumni Relations

• Special Events • Red Sox games

• Cape League Baseball

• Florida

• Los Angeles

• Others…

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Marketing

Development

• Annual Fund (Thematic - “Thank You”)

• Fall • Unrestricted mailed campaign (>35,000)

• Phone-a-thon (LYBUNTS & SYBUNTS of last 5 years and targeted appeals – anniversary etc.)

• Calendar-Year-End appeal (LYBUNTS & SYBUNTS of last 5 years)

• Spring • Restricted mailed campaign (<35,000)

• Phone-a-thon(LYBUNTS & SYBUNTS of last 5 years and targeted appeals – anniversary etc.)

• Calendar-Year-End appeal (LYBUNTS & SYBUNTS of last 5 years)

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Marketing

Development (examples)

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Marketing

Development

• Calendar & Gantt Charts

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Marketing

Development

• Special Events • Golf Tournament

• Soft Appeals • Contact Magazine (35,000)

• Report on Giving (8,000)

• President’s Report (18,000)

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Marketing

Grants & Sponsored Programs

• Public (State & Federal) • Largely reactionary to RFP’s and

“Suggested” applications

• Primary collaborations with

GCE and CPS

• Additional funding sources

driven by faculty interest

(NSF, NIH, DoJ etc.) • Fitchburg Anti-Violence Education

program (FAVE)

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Marketing

Grants & Sponsored Programs

• Private • More strategic by nature

• Growing opportunities in this

largely untapped area

• New grant writer (began 2/24/14)

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Degree Works award of $200,000

$50,000 award LPN-BSN Program

$100,000 Award for Microscope Suit

Fairlawn Foundation

$150,000 Award for the

LPN-BSN Program

Assessment

THE BAD (or not done yet)

Social Media

• Currently not a strategic part of marketing • New focus with staffing in alumni relations

• If we can’t post and manage continuously, we’d rather not be in the marketplace

• Not successful for fundraising at any level to date • Measured campaigns have failed in FY13 and FY14

• Used sporadically for grants and sponsored programs with limited results to study (FAVE)

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Assessment

THE GREAT-TO-GOOD

Direct Marketing

• Strong results for development • Increased donors and retention

• Increased overall support

• Awareness of the transition to the “Engagement Focused” model

• Growing results for alumni relations • Increased reunion activity – especially with segmented audiences

(athletics, national greek life and local defunct Greek life)

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Goals

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Alumni Relations

• Increased “friendraising” • New Events

• Theater • Ski/Snowshoe

• Increased alumni participation in current events • Feedback from alumni for areas of interest • Feedback from faculty to drive new programming

• Increased board support and activity/ownership

Goals

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Development

• Increased alumni participation • Continue to raise participation rate toward benchmark (7%)

• Increased overall support • Identify “new” opportunities for giving • Diversify segmentation of alumni population • Leverage partnership with DS Graphics • Focus on priorities from Strategic plan

Goals

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Development

• Planned Giving (new program for FY15)

• Crescendo Interactive

• Alumni 55 years and older

• Mailed appeal

• E-newsletter

• Continual information

and expertise

Goals

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Grants & Sponsored Programs

• Strategic initiative to focus on public opportunities • Define process to increase efficiencies in process

• Focus on private opportunities as defined by Strategic Plan

Challenges

CONFIDENTIAL

Alumni Relations

• Population still not sure why we’re engaging them or why they need to be engaged

• Still believe all we ever want is financial support • Large population of commuter students not engaged at all

because of the different educational experience

Challenges

CONFIDENTIAL

Development

• Alumni population needs to be educated on why they need to support their alma mater

• Vast majority still believe we get enough support from the Commonwealth

• Others believe they have “already paid for their education”

• We need to increase our donor pipeline at all levels • Annual Giving • Major Giving • Planned Giving

Challenges

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Grants & Sponsored Programs

• State & Federal Funding supplies are ever dwindling • Identifying private foundations and corporations to provide

support – not just make up the difference • Focus grant requests on areas that match the Strategic Plan

Advancement Services • Better campus-wide efficiencies for providing database

support • Data requests and fulfillment • Shared information • “Clean” database and future screenings