Category: Fundraising

The Impact of Data on Annual Giving Strategy

A Conversation With West Virginia University Foundation’s Kristen Shipp

Special thanks: It’s a privilege to support West Virginia University (WVU) Foundation’s annual giving outreach and big tent Giving Day Initiative. For almost 10 years, the WVU Day of Giving has relied on the ScaleFunder platform to power its campaign, leading to record-breaking success and a huge positive impact throughout the WVU community. The Foundation has also used the RNL360 report to establish a starting point for the strategic planning, link their wide-reaching fundraising efforts to major donations, and identify actions that can be implemented right away to boost the performance of their annual giving program.

Our work in the advancement and nonprofit space feels pretty unsettled these days. There’s no shortage of uncertainty and daily headlines that often add to the confusion and concern. Navigating the distractions is hard and can be exhausting.

What helps cut through the noise and keeps us focused on the work at hand? Our answer is data. Specifically, our RNL360 analytics report has proven to be an invaluable resource. Maybe it’s strange to think of data as a friend, but it can be a source of comfort, creating a little calm and providing clarity and guidance as we do our best to deliver for the people and communities we serve.

We developed the RNL360 to illustrate historic and current giving trends. The report highlights metrics you would expect, including donor retention, consistency, path to major giving, and behaviors by generation. It offers important context for leaders and stakeholders, especially those new to or outside the advancement field. Insights from the analysis help shape our work with client partners. Whether it’s development of the fiscal year plan, segmentation, revisiting ask arrays or identifying priority donors for higher touch outreach. The “readout” also brings colleagues from across campus together for a better understanding of the general fundraising landscape and relevant, institution-specific trends.

Focus on what’s actionable

Kristin Shipp

At a time when resources are stretched and the stakes are high, RNL360 is used to inform both strategic planning and practical execution—it’s designed to provide specific takeaways and identify donors who should be prioritized.

We just wrapped up a report with our partners at West Virginia University Foundation (WVUF). We learned a lot, and asked Kristen Shipp, the Foundation’s executive director of annual giving, to weigh in and share her valuable perspective.

Success in bringing (and keeping) new donors on board

WVUF’s count of 1,745 new alumni donors last fiscal year was well ahead of the benchmark group and the Foundation also received first-time gifts from an impressive count of more than 5,000 family and friends.

Q: As you think about acquisition, what’s working for you? What are the campaigns or messages that actually convert?

Kristen Shipp: WVU Day of Giving has been one of the key drivers in acquiring new donors. Each participating group is highly engaged on social media and takes full advantage of the challenges to inspire alumni and friends to give. Another effective strategy is peer-to-peer fundraising, which allows individuals to promote specific initiatives within their own networks, creating a more personal and powerful connection to the cause.

Q: How are you approaching stewardship with new donors?

KS: Our donor engagement team leads first-time donor stewardship by sending personalized messages through ThankView. This has been an effective stewardship strategy that has helped us strengthen donor retention. Overall rates have improved since our last RNL360, and retention among new alumni donors is up more than ten points.

Median gifts on the rise

We know that while younger generations are philanthropic, and many have capacity to make bigger gifts, most are directing their philanthropy elsewhere—giving to other causes and charities. WVUF has increased median gift amounts across all generations.

Q: Are there one or two strategies you’ve found successful in driving movement with gift amounts? Any that are especially effective with younger generations?

KS: While the area of greatest need will always remain a priority, we also strive to provide opportunities throughout the year for alumni and donors to give to areas that align with their personal interests. Through our recent alumni survey, fielded by RNL, we learned that many are particularly interested in supporting mental health services, the student emergency fund, and initiatives that assist first-generation students. These priorities are featured in WVU Day of Giving, and we also leverage crowdfunding and peer-to-peer fundraising to raise awareness and support for these important areas.

Practical, real-world application

Loyal donors = At least five years of consecutive giving.
New donors = No gift history or no giving in the last decade.

Q: Can you share a couple of specific ways that you are using the RNL360 outputs? Is the data helpful across teams and departments?

KS: Through RNL360, we learned that in FY25, 44% of our individual donors were alumni. This reinforces the importance of developing audience-focused strategies for our annual giving campaigns to ensure our messaging resonates with both alumni and non-alumni donors. Another helpful insight was the number of new alumni donors—only 30% were graduates from the last decade. This highlights the need to better connect recent graduates with causes they’re passionate about and to engage them through the communication channels they prefer.

Keeping the faith and focus

Q: Circling back to the unsettling times…you’ve experienced a lot of change at WVU and the Foundation. What helps you reduce the noise and stay focused? Anything professionally or personally that helps keep you positive and motivated?

KS: There have been many changes at WVU and the WVU Foundation, but with change comes new opportunity. I feel incredibly fortunate to be expanding the Annual Giving team by welcoming new staff members. It’s exciting to build a team that shares the same vision, drive, and passion—and to have fun together along the way. I like to keep things light and engaging, so whenever the moment allows, you’ll probably catch me sharing a funny movie quote or GIF with my teammates.

Ready to increase engagement with your donors?

Reach out to us today, and we’ll set up a time to discuss your best fundraising strategies. Our strategists can discuss how to optimize your fundraising strategies with the right data, how you can have a great Giving Day, and much more.

Or watch our webinar, Starting at the Source: A Look into Data-Driven Paths to Donor Growth, where we dive into more detail on insights we’ve learned from an analysis of more than six million cohort records.

Talk with our fundraising experts

Let’s talk about how you can increase donor engagement and strengthen your donor pipeline. Ask for a free consultation with our experts.

Schedule consultation

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November 17, 2025
One Platform, Endless Possibilities: Meet ScaleFunder Giving Form

Did you know that beyond powering multi-million dollar Giving Days and dynamic crowdfunding initiatives, ScaleFunder also offers functionality for creating simple and easy to use giving forms?

This versatility is why ScaleFunder Giving Forms are rapidly gaining momentum! If your institution is already a ScaleFunder Crowdfunding partner, you automatically have unlimited access to create as many Giving Forms as you need. Continue reading to explore how consolidating all your giving initiatives to the ScaleFunder platform can strengthen cross-campus collaboration, simplify the donor experience, and offer operational flexibility.

Stay friends with your gift processing team

Keep your gift processing team smiling, because fewer platforms mean fewer headaches. With every gift flowing through the same trusted payment processor (of your choice), your payment mapping fields stay consistent across all ScaleFunder Giving Day and crowdfunding campaigns. Plus, digital wallet options activated through your payment integration let donors give how they prefer without throwing your processing pals a curveball. In addition, you can now easily add opt-in questions for university-wide texts and emails, making it easier than ever to gather big-picture data while keeping your systems (and friendships) running smoothly.

Build consistency with donors

Familiarity builds confidence, and ScaleFunder keeps things beautifully consistent. Whether a donor is supporting your Giving Day, a crowdfunding project, or a giving form, the experience looks and feels consistent once they land on the donation form. After a few gifts, they’ll be pros at checkout…breezing through the form with ease. That comfort can translate to higher completion rates, faster transactions, and more donors exploring other opportunities on your platform.

Plus, once they’ve landed on one Giving Form, connecting them to others is a snap. Link to additional forms—like athletics, annual fund, or individual colleges and schools—just like our partners at Michigan Tech do, making it effortless for donors to discover new ways to give.

Pictured: The Michigan Technological University annual fund giving page.

Enjoy the flexibility you know and love

Creating a universal giving form has never been easier—you can do it in under five minutes! Need a simple form for one fund? Done. Want to showcase all 3,000 of your institution’s funds on a single page? Easy. The athletic director dreaming of a QR code in the banquet program that links to every athletic fund? Consider it handled.

You can add unlimited custom questions to make your form as fun—or as functional—as you like. Ask for T-shirt sizes, invite donors to share their stories, or let them vote for their favorite residence hall. The options are limitless, and the setup is a breeze.

Pictured: Our partners at Marshall University have identified nearly 20 priority funds on their Giving Form, which appear in two ways: visually appealing buttons on the project page and a searchable, scrollable list on the Giving Form.

Maintain your identity

Your brand is uniquely yours and it should shine through every click, color, and contribution. When you join the ScaleFunder family, our team crafts a custom site design and background that aligns with your institution’s brand standards, colors, and tone. Every page carries that same cohesive look and feel, so donors always know they’re in your world.

From your logo and language to your custom domain, everything says “you,” while Google reCAPTCHA quietly works behind the scenes to reassure them that every gift is safe and secure. This consistency of branding also means it’s easy to link to your Giving Forms from external pages, just like our partners at UMass Amherst have done from their main foundation website.

Pictured: The UMass Amherst Foundation giving page.

Ready to learn more?

Whether you’re exploring digital fundraising platforms or already part of the ScaleFunder family, we’d love to help you get the most out of your tools. Connect with Courtney Pourciaux, senior consultant, to learn how Giving Forms and ScaleFunder can elevate your fundraising strategy. Reach out and we can schedule a demo as well as discuss how to make your giving experience easy and consistent for your donors.

Talk with our digital giving experts

RNL works with institutions on digital giving and donor engagement, including crowdfunding, giving days, and omnichannel fundraising. Set up a time to talk with our fundraising experts to find your optimal strategies.

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November 17, 2025
Honoring Giving Day Excellence | The 2025 RNL Givey Winners
Giving days have become a foundation for fundraising, helping institutions energize their donor base and create an incredible burst of philanthropic passion. As these days have evolved, so have the strategies institutions have used to amplify their efforts, rally donors around a theme, and gamify giving to take the results to the next level.

To recognize the creativity and strategy of these programs, RNL created the Giveys, and annual award celebrating the most innovative and successful Giving Day campaigns. This year we are pleased to announce 28 winners among our ScaleFunder partners.

The Giveys showcase a sampling of the outstanding work and unique approaches RNL’s many partners take to engage their communities and maximize their fundraising efforts. This year’s winners used pop culture-inspired themes and high-tech ambassador toolkits to bolster strategic support from the ScaleFunder and use of our easy-to-build platform to generate record-breaking fundraising events. Read about the winners and see their giving pages below, or watch our recent webinar where we unveiled the winning institutions.

2025 RNL Giveys Winners & Highlights

Category: Creative Giving Day Theme
- Winner: University of Texas at Dallas
  
  University of Texas at Dallas launched a fully integrated Taylor Swift-inspired campaign that spanned their logo, site text, graphics, and ambassador toolkit. The theme culminated in a fun, on-campus concert featuring a Taylor Swift impersonator and a selfie station.
- Winner: Missouri State University
  
  Missouri State won for their Taylor Swift-inspired theme that carried across their site’s banner image and ambassador materials, demonstrating a high-energy approach that resonated with their community
Category: Omnichannel Engagement
- Winner: Michigan Tech University
  
  Michigan Tech University was recognized for their professional and unified omnichannel strategy. They utilized high-quality branding, student photos, and front-and-center dates across postcards, digital ads, and email to ensure the campaign was seen everywhere.
Category: Creative Social Media
- Winner: West Virginia University (WVU)
  
  West Virginia University was celebrated for its use of creative social media challenges and contests, leveraging the Walls.io social media aggregator. Our favorites included a “Day of Giving Social Prop Challenge” tied to their save-the-date postcard, a “Country Roads Challenge” asking people to sing the John Denver song, and a “Pet Photo Challenge.”
Category: Gamification Excellence
- Winner: The University of Mississippi
  
  The University of Mississippi team was honored for leaning into what makes them unique! They tied their campaign to the hearts of their donors by offering unique and personalized rewards such as a manufacturing excellence fire pit and a signed, personalized print from artist Marshall Ramsey.
- Winner: Indiana State University
  
  Indiana State was recognized for an excellent display of matches and challenges on their site, particularly the “New Donor Challenge.” This challenge targeted first-time donors, successfully using a major gift to be unlocked once a specific number of new donors gave.
- Winner: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI)
  
  We applaud RPI for tying their gamification directly into their giving day date, March 14th (Pi Day). Challenges included goals like 3,142 laps around the armory and gifts of $3.14 or $31.42, along with highlighting pet posts for their president’s dog’s birthday party.
- Winner: Montclair State Uni v ersity
  
  Montclair State University was highlighted for their fun, relatable challenge that asked young alumni to “give up a coffee” and make a modest gift, then rewarded them with a coupon for a free coffee, encouraging repeat engagement.
Category: Ambassador + Donor Engagement
- Winner: University of Oregon
  
  The University of Oregon won for their “Ducks Give Day” campaign. They offered a free sticker pack for signing up as an ambassador and motivated participation in their “You+2” campaign, where ambassadors made a gift and secured two others to make a gift, then they earned an exclusive Oregon pin and pair of socks.
- Winner: The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston
  
  UT Health Houston put together a Giving Day campaign toolkit to engage the ambassadors by providing professional, easy-to-use graphics and copy-and-paste sample messaging. The success of their campaign stemmed from understanding of their audience and a commitment to making it simple for people to spread the word and help them meet their goals.
Category: On-Campus Engagement
- Winner: University of Wisconsin-La Crosse
  
  Celebrated for an excellent on-campus promotion strategy to generate awareness and engagement, which included free T-shirt giveaways, a kickoff pep rally, a voting contest for campus areas to receive funding, and a “Class Cab” golf cart.
Category: Awesome Greek Organization
- Winner: Kappa Alpha Theta
  
  Kappa Alpha Theta was recognized for their well-designed and welcoming ScaleFunder site design, which featured animated graphics and powerful donor testimonials directly on the page, leaning into their core message of sisterhood and connection.
Category: New Giving Day Partner
- Winner: University of Delaware
  
  The University of Delaware was honored for their successful first “iHeartUD Giving Day,” demonstrating excellent branding and execution, especially after needing to change their Giving Day date. Their quick, professional communication and successful campaign showed great promise, and they were true experts at keeping their community in the loop about iHUD happenings.
- Winner: California State University, Stanislaus
  
  California State University, Stanislaus was recognized for a very strong entry, leveraging years of success with RNL’s crowdfunding platform for their first Giving Day. They created a unique theme, “1960 Minutes of Giving” (based on their founding year), and used a unique domain label: “stanforacause.”
Category: Fall Giving Day
- Winner: The University of Alabama
  
  Featured for their recent “Clash of the Capstone” campaign, which pitted students against alumni in a competition to see who could bring in the greatest number of gifts, creating a fun, engaging way to host a second, focused giving day in the fall.
- Winner: UC Berkeley
  
  Recognized for the success of their second annual fall giving day, the “Oski’s Bearathon.” The campaign, which focuses on driving donations to student organizations, uses a fun, quirky theme and is a top example of how to successfully run multiple, distinct Giving Day campaigns in one year.
Category: Frictionless Giving Experience
- Winner: Butler University
  
  Butler University was celebrated for proactively adding custom questions to their donation form to collect information vital for advancement services and athletics, streamlining the gift processing workflow for their campus partners.
Category: Giving Day Video
- Winner: University of Houston
  
  The University of Houston created an engaging Giving Day campaign, which featured a video game theme. This included a fun, well-done video and the development of an actual playable game called “Shasta’s Birthday Dash,” accessible right on their Giving Day site. This gamified approach allowed participants to play, collect points by passing virtual campus landmarks, and track their scores on a visible leaderboard, making the celebration of their “years of excellence” a memorable and interactive experience.
Category: Incentivized Giving
- Winner: Northern Kentucky University
  
  Northern Kentucky University developed highly effective donor incentives as part of their annual Giving Day campaign. These incentives included offering a choice of a long-sleeve T-shirt for any gift of $68 or more (honoring their founding year) and leveraging a partnership with AAA to enter all donors of any gift size into a drawing to win two round-trip Delta Airline ticket vouchers anywhere in the continental United States.
Ready for a record-breaking giving day?

RNL Giving Day Powered by ScaleFunder combines the most powerful giving day platform with strategic assessments, omnichannel marketing, and stewardship to make your giving day a major success and increase future giving.

Category: Site Design
- Winner: The University of Mary Washington
  
  The University of Mary Washington earned recognition for their successful site refresh, which featured a custom-drawn campus wallpaper design for their Giving Day platform. Additionally, they leveraged a unique campus tradition, the “Devil Goat Challenge,” which pits even and odd class years against each other for additional challenge funds.
- Winner: Ivy Tech Community College
  
  Ivy Tech Community College Giving Day campaign prioritized team alignment across the entire organization and featured a visually fantastic site design. Their platform created a positive, celebratory atmosphere through its use of dynamic graphics and animation, including a banner with confetti dropping.
- Winner: Tarleton State University
  
  Tarleton State University created a professional and engaging Giving Day site that effectively showcased their branding, especially for the Texan Excellence Fund. Their use of vibrant giving area tiles that instantly captured attention and encouraged visitors to scroll and click through to learn about the different campus areas needing support.
- Winner: Washington State University
  
  Washington State University reached the outstanding milestone of their 10th annual Giving Day this year with their, “Cougs Give,” campaign. The university Giving Day site is well designed, featuring a “film noir” theme that used black and white imagery with a bold pop of red in their tile graphics, creating a memorable and visually sophisticated look that was carried throughout the entire campaign.
Category: Multi-Campus Showcase
- Winner: The University of Alaska
  
  The University of Alaska leveraged an exceptional multi-campus showcase feature, which unified its various campus identities through the creative use of their mascots. Their campaign stood out with engaging features like mascots animating in and out of the banner images and a fun “hide and seek” challenge that visually highlighted each campus’s unique identity.
Category: Athletics Giving Day
- Winner: Virginia Tech University
  
  Virginia Tech successfully hosted a second Giving Day specifically dedicated to their athletics, branded with the strong theme “Triumph Together.” This initiative united the university’s annual giving and athletics teams, serving as a powerful tool to generate engagement, secure great donor numbers, and cultivate loyal, all-around Virginia Tech fans.
Category: Giving Tuesday
- Winner: Northern Arizona University
  
  Northern Arizona University was recognized for their cohesive and successful Giving Tuesday campaign that featured a fall theme and their “Lumberjacks” identity. Their strategy featured a beautiful site design and creative, engaging messaging, such as substituting “gifts” with “axe of kindness” and playful puns to reinforce the thematic branding and celebrate who they are.
Category: Early Giving
- Winner: Marshall University
  
  Marshall University was recognized for their creative and effective use of early giving functionality on the ScaleFunder platform, which streamlined the donation process for both donors and staff. They simplified the experience by allowing gifts directly on the campaign site, customizing the donation button to say “Give Early,” and easily hiding the total aggregator and donor wall until the official launch to generate excitement.
Category: Wild Card
- Winner: Salem State University
  
  Salem State University was recognized for enhancing their Giving Day with creative, multi-media engagement features promoted directly on their homepage, offering fun ways for their community to participate beyond just donating. These features included a high-energy “Viking Warrior Day hype up” Spotify playlist and a curated YouTube playlist offering various pre-recorded activities, such as an alumni-led morning yoga session and an evening meditation.
Ready to have your award-winning Giving Day?

These stories of record growth, community engagement, and frictionless giving celebrated at RNL’s 2025 Giveys highlights that with the right tools, consulting support, and strategic planning, any institution can host a successful and engaging digital fundraising campaign.

Whether you’re looking to launch your first Giving Day, elevate your annual campaign, or start a new crowdfunding initiative, RNL’s ScaleFunder platform provides the technology, insights, and support to turn your vision into a fundraising victory.

Contact us today to explore how RNL’s ScaleFunder can help you engage your donors, mobilize your ambassadors, and build a tradition of giving day excellence.
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November 14, 2025
Why RNL Helps the Next Generation
Admit it. You were young once. And when you were young, chances are you didn’t know what the future held. Enter job shadowing, a great way to explore careers and gain useful information about what it takes to succeed in different fields, according to Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. As a higher education marketing firm and award-winning design agency, RNL was an ideal choice as a job shadowing partner.

When Kirkwood helps connect classroom learning to real-world opportunities, the results speak for themselves:
- 98% of job shadow/internship students said their experience provided valuable information regarding their career interests.
- 67% said their experience positively influenced their decision to live and work in Iowa.
Job shadows give teens a sneak peek into what it’s like to work in a professional setting. They offer an opportunity to meet people, make connections, and potentially land internships or even future jobs.

Joining forces with RNL

Kirkwood’s Workplace Learning Connection first teamed with RNL’s content writing services and design strategy team six years ago to expose students to marketing for higher education and fundraising tactics.

As Kirkwood advertises the RNL virtual shadowing day: “Use your creative powers for good! The concept behind art and design is for people to react to your work. Get a positive reaction to a product and — boom! That’s marketing. Chat with graphic designers, content writers and web designers at Ruffalo Noel Levitz. Learn how they use their creative abilities to help you make one of the most important decisions of your lives—where to go to college.”

RNL’s expertise in higher education marketing helps colleges and universities effectively attract, engage, and enroll students. Our extensive experience in marketing strategy for fundraising benefits non-profits and universities. We believe sharing our collaborative and creative process encourages younger people to pursue rewarding careers at design and marketing agencies.

Each year, high school students from seven Iowa counties register to listen, ask questions, and seek guidance about future positions in marketing. In turn, RNL creative team members share our work and the reasons we chose our profession.

Helping the next generation

Jolie Baskett has been the glue for the RNL job shadow team for years—this year, Sarah Reimer and I also participated.

“Six years ago, I volunteered because I wanted to be the help that I needed when I was young,” she said. Since then, she has advanced from designer to senior designer to director of design.

“I love working with wonderful clients and brands and helping others. I want to help the next generation find their paths and be the best they can be,” she said. Personally, I am a former high school teacher and am passionate about writing and public speaking, so I raised my hand several years ago to share my enthusiasm for writing with these high school students. As I tell them, effective writing and clear communication are essential to every career.

Senior Designer Sarah Reimer enjoys working with RNL’s collaborative creative team. She wants high school students to know graphic design is a competitive industry, but there’s room for everyone.

“It’s important that we share our experiences and expertise with the next generation of creatives coming up, getting them excited to be creative as a career, learn about collaboration, and how to work on a team,” said Reimer. “Those are job skills they can apply anywhere.”

Listening and learning

During a 90-minute presentation, our RNL team shares our experiences and answers questions from students, ranging from broad queries like “What advice would you give an aspiring writer?” to much more specific questions like “How do you code for accessible web design?”

The proof is in the pudding. Here’s what three students had to say about our presentation:
- “I learned a lot about what specifically a creative marketing job would entail, and I also learned there are several different types of jobs within this field (coder, writer, designer).”
- “It helped me think of what classes I need to get into for different careers.”
- “I liked being able to ask questions about their day-to-day work and what exactly their responsibilities are.”
Refreshing perspectives

All three of us agree that seeing our experience through fresh eyes helps us appreciate our roles in a new perspective. Plus, when we help others, it’s a meaningful way to contribute to both the workforce and the community.

As we looked back through the years and considered ourselves as teenagers, we all had advice for our high school selves:

Baskett was an art kid her entire life and always had a drive to make the world a more beautiful place. To her teenage self, she’d say, “Believe in yourself.”

I knew I wanted to become a writer in fifth grade. I fell in love with feature writing and served as newspaper editor in high school. I’d tell my 17-year-old self: “You’re passionate about telling other’s stories. Do what you love.”

As for Reimer? Art wasn’t on her radar when she began college as a law enforcement major, before pivoting to graphic design. She would tell that college freshman: “You can make a career and support yourself being creative. Learn to be assertive, accept constructive criticism, and have fun letting that creative mind do its job!”
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July 18, 2025
Alumni Connection and College Student Satisfaction
Julie Bryant

This post was co-authored with Julie Bryant, Vice President for Student Success at RNL. Julie oversees the RNL Satisfaction-Priorities Surveys used by colleges and universities nationwide. She provides service to educators by assisting them in determining relationships between perceptions of importance and satisfaction of students, special populations, campus personnel, and the parents of currently enrolled students. Julie identifies ways these data can inform retention planning and be shared with the campus community. She also oversees the annual national reporting and trend analysis of these data.

Collaborating with 21 institutions as part of our second annual National Alumni Survey was a privilege. Nearly 51,000 alumni participated, and from their direct feedback, we learned more about what inspires their volunteer activity, what is likely to motivate future engagement, generational trends, and how student debt impacts charitable giving.

We also invited alumni to share more about their satisfaction with and current connection to their respective alma maters. Survey responses confirm what feels intuitive: Alumni with a favorable student experience are more likely to feel connected to and give back to their alma maters.

Student satisfaction makes a major difference in the likelihood to give

Alumni who report feeling “very satisfied” with their student experience and the education they received are up to 40x more likely to have donated to their alma mater in the past year than their “neutral” counterparts, and up to 80x more likely than those who report feeling “not very” or “not at all” satisfied with their student experience and the education they received.

Of the eight insights highlighted in this year’s report, this strong correlation between student satisfaction and alumni giving feels important for advancement teams to share with colleagues across departments, campus stakeholders, and executive leadership.

Alumni satisfaction and connection are shaped long before graduation. The interaction students have with faculty, staff, advisors, coaches, and the administration sets the groundwork for satisfaction, affinity, and a philanthropic relationship post-graduation. Therefore, the responsibility of improved alumni engagement, participation, and giving can’t rest solely on the shoulders of the advancement division. It’s a team sport (or should be).

Increasing student satisfaction can lay the foundation for long-term alumni engagement

This research study underscores the importance of influencing student satisfaction while students are enrolled in order to build strong, long-term alumni engagement. Through RNL’s Student Satisfaction Inventory (SSI), we measure student satisfaction and priorities, showing how satisfied students are as well as what issues are important to them. This is actionable data that colleges and universities can use today to inform and shape improved student programming and outreach.

The results from the SSI clearly identify institutional strengths (areas of high importance and high satisfaction) that can be celebrated with current students, alumni, and as part of the recruitment process. Institutional challenges are also clearly noted. Challenges are areas that are still very important to current students, but where they may be more dissatisfied. Identifying these areas provides direction to campus leadership, as they prioritize areas for improvement to show students their feedback matters and that the institution is working on their behalf. By gathering and acting on student satisfaction data, colleges and universities can show that they value students and help set the stage for ongoing engagement.

Through our RNL research, we have found that items related to campus climate and how students feel about being on campus are among the strongest indicators of overall student satisfaction and ultimately student retention. When institutional leadership works to change the experience or the perception students have around areas such as “it’s an enjoyable experience to be a student on this campus,” “the institution cares about me as an individual,” “I feel a sense of belonging here,” and “tuition paid is a worthwhile investment,” they can begin to see an impact on the long-term relationships ideally established between the student (future alum) and their alma mater.

Four things you can do to increase alumni connection

Good friend and strategic advisor on this project Howard Heevner is a fan of disrupting—leaning into new ways of genuinely connecting with students and alumni alike. He challenges fellow practitioners and leaders to:
- Gather direct feedback and actively listen to learn what alumni need to feel our institution is a viable home for their philanthropic support.
- Instead of touting institutional loyalty to inspire financial support, let’s build relationships that provide mutual value to both the individual and the institution.
- Find new ways to support donor passions, choice, and self-determination in giving at all levels to attract a larger, more diverse set of donors.
- Redefine philanthropy so that it is broader and more inclusive, recognizing gifts of service as well as financial gifts.
If you haven’t done so recently, engaging students and alumni through a survey project is an important first step. Do you have budget dollars left to spend this spring? Looking for fresh feedback and useful qualitative data from the audiences you serve to help inform planning for the new fiscal and academic year ahead? If you’d like to learn more about RNL’s survey instruments, please reach to Julie Bryant (Student Satisfaction Inventory) and Sarah Kleeberger (Alumni Survey).
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May 14, 2025
Award-Winning Fundraising Campaigns: RNL and Our Campus Partners Receive Seven Gold Medals

RNL’s award-winning creative team wrote this post, sharing their insights on messaging and design. The team has won more than 100 advertising awards for fundraising campaigns.

Fourteen entries. Fourteen awards. For the 40th Annual Educational Advertising Awards, RNL’s creative fundraising campaigns stood out, with every one of our entries winning in their categories. And half won gold!

Being recognized by the largest educational advertising awards in the country speaks to RNL’s mastery of higher education fundraising best practices, as well as our creative team’s expertise and collaboration with our campus partners: the judges review for “creativity, marketing execution and message impact.” These campus partners range from West to East Coast, from small-but-mighty to multi-campus. The creative and fundraising tactics behind these seven award-winning campaigns are equally wide-ranging:

Bethune-Cookman University: Giving Day Total Fund Raising/Development Campaign

As an extension of Bethune-Cookman University’s advancement team, RNL developed Giving Day mail and emails inviting donors to honor Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune’s legacy. These eye-catching creative components showcased B-CU’s dynamic 120-year brand and emphasized the history of proud investments in Wildcat Nation.

Bennett College: CYE Total Fund Raising/Development Campaign

Bennett College serves a broad variety of students, the diversity of which was highlighted in this calendar year-end campaign across mail, email and digital ads. The appeal warmly celebrated Bennett’s donors and alumnae to cultivate connection, while communicating donor impact by demonstrating how their investment in today’s Bennett Belles creates a more equitable future.

Commonwealth University of Pennsylvania: End of Year Total Fund Raising/Development Campaign

In RNL’s first year of partnering with Commonwealth University Foundation to solicit funds for three campuses—Bloomsburg, Lock Haven and Mansfield—RNL honed in on what makes each campus unique. For the Fall and Calendar Year-End appeals, our investigative writer identified feature stories to resonate with each unique audience while advancing each campus’s priority focus. Our design director created seasonal pieces, including holiday cards worthy of display and GivingTuesday 2024 designs with branding balanced between the campus and the global day of philanthropy.

Linfield University: Homecoming Special Event Campaign

In our third year of fundraising work with Linfield University, RNL helped develop the first Homecoming appeal of our partnership. Appealing to a 50-year reunion alumni segment, a vintage background texture and historic mascot photo inserted nostalgia. Our writer developed copy in the voice of Mack the Wildcat, and our designer created Mack’s signature from scratch, riding the energy of Homecoming to invite alumni support in a fun, engaging way.

Wittenberg University: Calendar Year End Total Digital Marketing Program

The holidays are the most active time for fundraising, and RNL’s emails and digital ads for Wittenberg University pierced through the noise of the season. Leveraging Witt’s primary red and secondary teal colors, the campaign presents a strong, immediately recognizable brand while calling to mind Ohio winters with graphics and background photos from RNL’s Adobe stock account, expanding on the available assets and adding depth, texture and oodles of visual interest.

West Virginia University: Donor Renewal Total Fund Raising/Development Campaign

Donors have been clear: Knowing how their generosity makes an impact increases their likelihood to continue investing in an institution. That’s exactly what these pieces did for West Virginia University’s donors. Through a mix of visually appealing quotes, facts and links to video stories, the WVU community saw how important their contribution is—and as a token of gratitude and an investment in retention, they received a window cling acknowledging their donor status for that year, which RNL has created with WVU annually since 2020.

West Virginia University: FYE Direct Mail Appeal

During a time of transition, West Virginia University’s fiscal year end letter showcased how the university’s legacy set the stage for the future. With gradients and strategic placements, the RNL designer used bold brand colors to aesthetically balance the black-and-white photos and a timeline of historical milestones. With a broad audience spanning education, health care and community programs, the language and layout inclusively touches on a variety of key points to resonate with all.

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April 11, 2025
Stewardship With Heart: Creative Ways to Show Donors You Care
What do you get when you add a stewardship crisis, two expert fundraisers, and a whole bunch of Valentine’s Day puns? RNL’s February webinar, of course! Earlier this year, RNL hosted an hour-long conversation featuring Miranda Fagley and Becca Widmer, where they unpacked their strategies for creating meaningful moments through stewardship.

A tough heart-to-heart: The current state of the world

With geopolitical conflict running rampant, a rocky economic state, and a rapidly shifting domestic political landscape, it’s no wonder donors are wary of the future. During this tough heart-to-heart, we unpacked the various factors that might make donors hesitate before opening their wallets in 2025, and took a deep-dive into how the state of the world is impacting our donors, and therefore impacting the state of philanthropy as we know it. From generational differences and the more dollars/fewer donors trend we have all experiences to evolving donor expectations, advancement leaders are facing unprecedented challenges as the goal-line seems to move every year.

The heart of it all: A look at the donor data

Jumping into the “heart” of our conversation, we went straight to the source—donor expectations gleaned from RNL’s 2025 National Alumni Survey. We noticed a few alarming trends when comparing this donor expectation data with the 2024 Giving USA report, which analyzed giving trends when accounting for inflation across our sector. Total giving declined by 2.1% when adjusting for inflation and, while higher education saw a 6.7% increase in overall giving, even when accounting for inflation, donor numbers across the board were down. There is also an obvious mismatch between donor expectations and reality, as seen in our comparison of RNL’s 2024 Advancement Leaders Speak report with the 2025 National Alumni Survey. Take, for instance, the fact that 66% of donors indicated that understanding the impact of their giving is important to them. This becomes an issue when 43% of advancement leaders reported that their shops have difficulty communicating the impact of specific funds. Storytelling is the name of the game, and it is becoming clear that communicating impact is a key piece of the donor acquisition and retention puzzle.

The broken hearts club: Under-stewarded donors

Many advancement shops are unknowingly leaving a trail of broken-hearted donors in the wake of annual campaigns. Why is thoughtful stewardship important?
1. Connecting donors to your mission and educating them on the impact of their giving is crucial to keeping donors interested in your priorities.
2. Telling your story through a “thank you” is a great way to differentiate your cause and your need in comparison to other organizations in this increasingly noisy world.
3. The simple act of reminding donors of your impact is a great way to retain donors and move them through your pipeline. The more you can encourage donors to see themselves in your mission and important work, the more likely you are to get them onboard as true donor-partners.
On the flip-side, we unpacked that can happen if you don’t steward your donors well, including a shrinking pipeline, excessive spending when you do decide to attempt to reacquire them, and the loss of both short- and long-term revenue. Don’t be a heartbreaker!

Uncovering donor love languages: Do you know your donors?

Words of affirmation. Quality time. Acts of service. These are just a few love languages from Gary Chapman’s The Five Love Languages. Did you know donors have love languages too? It’s our job as mission-centric, donor-focused fundraisers to learn those love languages and lean into them through stewardship, relationship-building, and even solicitation.

In our exploration of donor love languages, we unpacked the first level- generational differences. Hearts are broken generationally when we do not pay attention to context and communicated need. While not always “the answer,” generational segmentation and a slight shift of message can be a simple way to get to the “heart” of what a majority of your donors want and need from your stewardship outreach. And, as we continue to experience generational shifts and the great wealth transfer, leaning into generational values will become even more important to attracting and retaining donors.

Another layer of love language exploration comes from you going straight to the source- your individual donors and what their giving history can tell you. We looked at one of RNL’s solutions for further discovering donor love languages, the RNL360, which offers an opportunity to dive into your database. By illustrating historic AND recent trends in giving and interaction, the RNL360 can provide you with a better understanding of giving and retention by donor type, an analysis of consistency and efficacy of your various giving channels (hello, smart investment in tools and campaigns!), and can help establish baseline metrics which can inform goal setting and future fundraising and engagement targets.

We can theorize all day about what donor expectations are, but the purest source of truth is looking at donor data and asking donors to tell you what they want and need. That’s where RNL’s Market Research solution comes into play. A complementary component of the RNL360, this additional solution allows you to hear directly from your donors by way of a private, but not anonymous, survey administered by RNL, where you can learn more about your donors’ philanthropic priorities, communication preferences, and sense of connectedness.

When it comes to effective stewardship and solicitation, knowledge is power.

Engagement strategies with heart: RNL experts share their takes

Our two experts shared their take on stewardship and engagement with heart, with overlapping themes of getting personal, telling your story, and taking the time to really listen to what donors are telling you they want to hear from you.

Miranda’s take
1. Get specific: steward in ways only YOU can.
2. “Single” out your society members with a special ‘thank you.’
3. Take the time to survey your donors- understand what you THINK will resonate and get feedback/confirmation from them.
Becca’s take
1. Put gratitude on repeat.
2. Turn generosity to belonging.
3. Keep impact front and center.
4. Asking is omnichannel, so thanking should be too.
Our main takeaways?
1. Consider the landscape: context is everything
2. Take a hard look at donor data:
3. Understand the “why” behind stewarding annual donors: Tell. Your. Story.
4. Get to know your donors’ love languages: ask your donors directly
5. Steward in ways only YOU can: don’t be afraid to get a little wacky
Want to learn more about the RNL360 and Market Research to uncover your donor love languages and steward more thoughtfully? Connect with an RNL fundraising expert today!
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April 11, 2025
Turning Insight Into Action: The 2025 RNL National Alumni Survey
51,000 alumni weigh in on giving priorities, engagement preferences, and more.

This blog features an excerpt from Howard Heevner, fundraising industry leader and co-author of the
2025 RNL National Alumni Survey.

RNL’s 2025 National Alumni Survey was just released and, while the insights gleaned from this report are always valuable, one could argue that this data is worth its weight in gold during times of extreme uncertainty like we are currently facing in our sector. After all, there are a few universal truths that strategic fundraisers understand, regardless of differing priorities, levels of experience, or overall philosophy:
- “Hope”‘” is not a strategy.
- Stewardship matters.
- You will never regret confirming your flight departure time ahead of an important donor visit…
- When in doubt, go straight to the source: your donors.
RNL’s National Alumni Survey gives fundraisers a valuable opportunity to refine their engagement strategies by focusing on what truly matters—understanding donor expectations. By analyzing responses from more than 51,000 alumni across generations and institutions of all types, this report sheds light on alumni sentiments toward their alma maters, their giving priorities, generational volunteer trends, and the motivations behind their contributions of time, talent, and financial support.

Facilitated by RNL’s Sarah Kleeberger, this report also benefits from the expertise of longtime RNL partner and industry leader Howard Heevner. Howard provides both a foreword and conclusion to the report, offering insightful commentary, practical applications, and a forward-looking perspective on the future of donor engagement.

Excerpt from the 2025 RNL National Alumni Survey Report,
written by Howard Heevner:

Howard Heevner

As part of RNL’s second annual research study, we are again sharing the collective wisdom of 51,000 alumni representing a broad spectrum of higher education. The opportunity to provide a conduit for these voices to be heard is an honor, and along with the team at RNL, we are excited to share the feedback alumni from 21 institutions.

In higher education, we often spend our time looking inward or looking at other institutions instead of turning to those we wish to connect, engage, and inspire to be in a closer relationship with our institutions. For decades, we have been able to rely on an expectation of loyalty from our alumni because that’s how it’s always been. However, so many factors have changed the nature of that relationship and those expectations. Among them are the rising costs of education, the implied and often explicit promise that degree achievement will provide you with a pass to greater opportunity, and the increasing mistrust of institutions and higher education.

There is a growing concern for our pipeline of donors. We have seen a dramatic decrease in alumni donor counts across the United States over the past three decades. These trends pre-date the pandemic but seem to be exacerbated post-pandemic. Many schools are struggling to acquire new donors and are searching for new methodologies to do so. However, it seems most often we are taking the fractured giving structures that brought us here and bringing those into these new strategies. Maybe the issue isn’t our tools or strategies, but our ability to authentically connect with our alumni.

Ready to dive into the data yourself?

Download your copy of the 2025 National Alumni Survey, featuring eight key findings about alumni giving and connection taken from more than 50,000 alumni, as well as additional insights from Howard.
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March 28, 2025