Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/535050
JULY | AUGUST 2015 BizEd 27 At the end of the day, the university had raised $350,000 through dona- tions to the hypercampaign. Com- bined with the three challenge gifts, the total was $500,000. The campaign reached an interest- ing mix of donors. "One hundred and ten were new donors. Twenty-one per- cent were people who had given money the year before but not this year, which means the campaign brought people back into the fold. And about 17 percent had already made a gift, but they made another one because of the campaign," Haggas notes. The average contribution was $200, compared to the school's usual average of just under $100 per donor. The money was definitely wel- come, Haggas says, "but the real benefit was helping alums understand why their gifts are important." At that time, Wake500 represented the single biggest day of gifts in Wake Forest's history, and it kicked o£ a series of similar events. For instance, in 2014, the univer- sity held another 24-hour campaign with the goal of raising $500,000 from 2,000 participants. A group of donors o£ered a matching $500,000 gift if either goal was met. In what became known as Million-Dollar Day, Wake Forest surpassed both goals, raising a total of $1,007,081, including the matching gift, from 2,648 donors. Once again, social media was an essential component of the campaign, says Neal. The keys to success for a hypercam- paign—or any nontraditional fundrais- ing e£ort? Says Neal, "Keep it simple, keep it fresh, and reiterate the message throughout the day." Haggas adds that a school shouldn't run such campaigns too often, or they might condition donors to give only during those times. "Plus," he adds, "if you do something like this too often, the shininess wears o£." To see the campaign video, visit www. youtube.com/watch?v=3SqT7p8lPHw. SANTA CLARA UNIVERSITY GOES ALL IN Like Wake Forest, Santa Clara University in California has successfully used flash campaigns to raise funds and connect with alums. Its second annual Day of Giving Challenge, held in March 2015, was called All in for SCU. The goal was to reach 4,000 donors in 24 hours in order to win a $500,000 challenge grant from anonymous alumni. That goal was reached before 7 p.m., and additional money came in through the night. Aside from the challenge gift, the largest donation was for $10,000. Overall, the campaign netted 50 percent more than the previous year's event, and its total of 4,855 donors was a 63 percent increase over the previous year's record of 2,973. Donors were invited to give to the general Santa Clara Fund or to scholar- ships, programs, departments, and other areas that they cared about deeply—and the Leavey School of Business was among the beneficiaries. Specifically, the Leavey School raised $40,314, with the largest gift being $2,500. Business school alumni were also among the most active during campaign day—265 donated money, compared to 195 law school alumni and 76 engineering alums. The most popular causes for the university as a whole were the Santa Clara Fund, which received more than $200,000 from 1,537 gifts, and the Edward M. Dowd Art and Art History Build- ing, which raised $511,560 from 132 gifts. As with the Wake Forest event, social media played a big part in the campaign. During the day of the campaign, 40 di–er- ent emails were sent to thousands of alum- ni and potential donors, but no individual received more than three emails. Partici- pants also used Facebook and other social media sites to post information about their gifts, thank large donors, or urge class- mates to give.