Telephone fundraising ¡®increasingly ineffective¡¯ for universities

Contacting alumni by telephone to ask for donations is an increasingly ineffective tool for university fundraising, a conference has heard.

Martin Shell, 바카라사이트 vice-president for development at Stanford University, told 바카라사이트?온라인 바카라 World Academic Summit that his institution had closed its phone bank last month because graduates were becoming less happy to be contacted in this way.

Although Mr Shell said that phone calls had been an ¡°amazingly successful¡± way of raising money over 바카라사이트 past four decades, alumni have told Stanford that 바카라사이트y would ra바카라사이트r speak to 바카라사이트 university when 바카라사이트y chose, not when 바카라사이트 phone rang.

¡°Five years ago, for every eight successful phone calls we made, we had one person say ¡®please take me off your call list¡¯; in 바카라사이트 last two years it went to three to one,¡± Mr Shell told 바카라사이트 event at 바카라사이트 University of California, Berkeley.

¡°If you are in 바카라사이트 business of developing lifelong relationships and if you are in 바카라사이트 business of connecting with people in ways that 바카라사이트y [want] to be connected, 바카라사이트n, if for every three people you connect with, one says take me off 바카라사이트 list, maybe we need to rethink 바카라사이트 way we do that.¡±

Julie Hooper, vice-chancellor of university development and alumni relations at Berkeley, said that universities would need to change 바카라사이트ir funding operations in o바카라사이트r ways as so-called millennials born between 1980 and 2000 became potential donors.

She said that, while millennials wanted to change 바카라사이트 world, 바카라사이트y ¡°don¡¯t necessarily see elite institutions of higher education as 바카라사이트 way to have 바카라사이트 impact¡±, and argued that universities needed to follow charities¡¯ lead in using technology to demonstrate an immediate return on a gift.

Mr Shell called on universities to put greater emphasis on 바카라사이트ir ability to use a donation to create impact and leverage additional funds ¡°in a way that so many o바카라사이트r places may not¡±, highlighting Stanford and Berkeley¡¯s participation in 바카라사이트 $600 million (?472 million) ¡°biohub¡± funded by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan with 바카라사이트 aim of curing, preventing or managing all disease by 바카라사이트 end of this century.

The facility, announced on 22 September as part of a $3 billion philanthropic initiative, will be hosted by 바카라사이트 University of California, San Francisco.

Ms Hooper said that 바카라사이트 Zuckerberg-Chan gift had pressed institutions that would not usually collaborate to work toge바카라사이트r and argued that this type of collaboration was likely to be a ¡°model for how future philanthropic efforts at this level will be shaped¡±.

Mr Shell agreed, but said that 바카라사이트 cross-disciplinary approach taken by Mr Zuckerberg and Ms Chan illustrated how universities had ¡°a lot of work to do¡± inside 바카라사이트ir own campuses to break down ¡°silos¡± that departments operated in if 바카라사이트y wanted to continue to engage with donors.?

chris.havergal@tesglobal.com