03/24/2014
Here's a neat blast from the past. This was an article published in Fall 2011, titled "Solicitation Effectiveness in the University of Virginia Class of 2011 Class Giving Campaign " by Ruika Lin.
You can find this and many other great articles at:
http://www.virginia.edu/cue/urn/the-journal.html
The Class Giving Campaign at the University of Virginia is an annual fundraising effort that targets graduating students/soon-to-be alumni. Aiming to engage all class members, the 2010-2011 Campaign was led by the Alumni Association, and the Class of 2011 Trustees, a group of class members similar to a fourth year undergraduate class council. Solicitation strategies, implemented by class trustees over class members’ last year at U.Va., ranged from customized emails and personal solicitation in Fall 2010, to Cap and Gown-Week solicitation and yearend Phonathon in Spring 2011. Among all strategies, face-to-face conversation was stressed by the campaign committee chairs as the most effective way of solicitation. This thesis collects solicitation data from an anonymous survey distributed among trustee solicitors. Using time fixed effect in an OLS regression model, I study the impact of personal solicitation on the propensity of giving among three groups of class members, distinguished by their relationships with each trustee solicitor. Results show that personal contact creates higher giving rate among those who share a closer relationship with the solicitors. Furthermore, giving rates are also sensitive to the solicitor characteristics such as race, gender, school of enrollment and Greek involvement. Finally, the face-to-face interactions associated with the Cap and Gown-Week solicitation generate even higher giving rates among all class members.
