Fund Raising from Black-College Alumni: Successful Strategies for Supporting Alma Mater
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Book Reviews Innovations in Annual Giving: Ten Departures that Worked By Robert A. Burdenski, CASE Books, Washington, DC, 2003; ISBN: 0-89964-378-7; $41.95 for CASE members, $55.95 for nonmembers
Bob Burdenski’s Innovations in Annual Giving: Ten Departures that Worked highlights 10 institutions that made strategic decisions to strengthen their annual giving programs for reasons ranging from alumni participation to bridging the gap from annual to major gifts. The book provides 10 success stories that anyone in annual giving cannot help but admire. Burdenski divides Innovations in Annual Giving into three sections. The first, entitled ‘‘They Created Better Appeals,’’ highlights direct mail, telemarketing, and the use of the Internet. For his direct mail departure Burdenski chose the University of Iowa, which was in need of a more effective direct mail program. This chapter provides a look at direct marketing, offers a terrific idea for addressing decade appeals, and outlines the anatomy of a solicitation letter. Burdenski also offers advice for smaller schools, which is particularly helpful. In comparison to the example of direct mail, the volunteer phonathon discussed seems somewhat surreal in today’s world of technology. Kansas State University has made a conscious decision not to automate its campus phone center and uses only volunteers rather than paid student callers.
KSU’s creativity and ingenuity is to be commended and their ‘‘departure’’ is remarkable. The chapter provides an actual caller placemat that might be useful to some readers. Burdenski utilizes the University of Rochester for his primary example of integration with the internet but mentions eight other schools and their ‘‘killer applications.’’ This particular chapter is a good reminder of how an institution’s annual giving office may have all of the right web tools in place yet may not be raising money. The second section of the book, ‘‘They Created a Better Culture,’’ provides examples of a philanthropic curriculum for students, a young alumni giving program, an effective volunteer program, and a gift club that was designed to upgrade leadership annual giving donors to major donors. In an era when many schools struggle with young alumni participation, Burdenski shares Stanford University’s giving culture curriculum which may finally provide an answer to the question: how can we effectively teach students about philanthropy? Though the curriculum may seem labor-intensive there is little doubt as to why Stanford has succeeded in creating a strong alumnigiving culture. The young alumni giving
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL ADVANCEMENT. VOL.5 NO.1 93–98 ª HENRY STEWART PUBLICATIONS 2004. ISSN 1744-6511.
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Book Reviews
departure recognizes that a senior gift campaign may not be the answer for all schools, and yet the next chapter regarding volunteers proves why the success of all fund-raising programs begins with effective volunteers. In the introduction to Innovations in Annual Giving, Burdenski acknowledges that there are times when annual
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