The Office of Alumni Engagement and Annual Giving have introduced a new crowdfunding fundraising platform entitled Fly With Us that supports various campus-wide projects for students, faculty and staff, and the Monmouth community.
Crowdfunding is a 30-60 day online fundraising campaign in which a passionate group of advocates request online donations from their own personal networks including alumni and University friends which can be shared via email and various social media websites.
The crowdfunding platform currently has six campaigns listed including the Marquita Hannibal- Francique ’02 Endowed Scholarship fund, the Women’s Basketball International Trip fund, and the Class of 2019 Giving Campaign.
The Class of 2019 Giving Campaign received donations from 409 class members. This was the greatest class participation in monetary donations in Monmouth history. Each student who gave money towards the campaign donated $20.19 to represent their class year.
Each campaign includes a description of its purpose, goals, and benefactors. When individuals are looking to donate to the specific campaigns there are designated “giving levels” which vary from 25 dollars to a few thousand. Individuals are also able to enter a desired amount that they would like to give. Donors can also choose if they wish to have their name and or donation amount displayed on the Donor Wall page of campaign page.
“It’s a way for people to give to a very specific thing. When people give money, they just don’t want to necessarily give money to a big institution. They want to give money very often for a specific purpose. For example, if you are a football player when you graduate, get a big job, and start making lots of money,” said Mary Anne Nagy, Vice President for Student Life and Leadership Engagement.
“What we hope is that you want to support Monmouth University, but probably more specifically football. It’s using an idea of crowdfunding and targeting specific programs or projects that people have an interest in,” said Nagy.
Nagy believes this method of funding will be successful due to having young adult alumni. “Young people are used to sending money to other people through your phone, or donating money through go fund me pages. I’m not used to that. I’m used to writing a check or using my credit card.” Nagy feels this will be popular among younger alums because it’s not only going to be easier to give into the university in general, but to causes that they care about. “When that happens the institution benefits because we need to increase the number of alumni that give to Monmouth University. It is very low, and needs to be two to four times the percentage that it is today,” Nagy said.
Each project must have a clear purpose and broaden the institution’s mission. Crowdfunding projects can help students, faculty, and staff increase awareness and valuable funds for university necessities and opportunities.
Successful Crowdfunding projects eliminate common, unlimited funding obligations and boast campaigns with clear, detailed aspirations. Project types can consist of scholarships, student groups, travel supplies/costs, athletics, faculty research, and participation drives.
Lindsay Wood, Director of Annual Giving, hopes this program will help alumni get a foot in the door and give back. “Maybe they will see a project that is a specific group, organization or department that they were affiliated with.”
“This will help increase our alumni participation rates as donors which directly impacts the school’s ranking in U.S. News and World Report, which then increases the value of their degree even though they transitioned forward. For current students, faculty, and staff this should allow people to promote initiatives that they might not have the funding to do,” Wood continued.
Wood emphasized that the office Alumni Engagement and Annual Giving are looking for strong project leaders when making a decision. “We are looking for a leader who is really invested in the effort, and can identify a passionate team of ambassadors to work with. We recommend five to ten project ambassadors per project. It should be supported by project advocates who are 100 percent invested in the cause,” she said.
“Were doing this as a way to empower other people in the community to get involved in the community and to help educate our students on campus as well as large networks that we have individually. We hope that the people that are benefiting from the projects now will then be inspired to give when they’re out in the working world,” she added.
Wood concluded by explaining that the percentage of alumni giving is one of the seven factors that is considered in the U.S. News and World News Report rankings for college and universities. “It counts the actual number of alumni who give, not the dollar amount that they give. Even giving five dollars a year counts in alumni as an online donor. The more people who participate, the higher we will get in the rankings,” she said.
The Office of Alumni Engagement and Annual Giving are looking for a wide range of successful projects that do not benefit individual students or faculty members, but the university as a whole. They need to be funds that are going to be used solely by the university.
Through this unique digital fundraising tool, members of the Monmouth community can come together to create, participate, and share projects dedicated to supporting student success and institutional achievement.
IMAGE COURTESY of Monmouth University
IMAGE COURTESY of Lindsey Wood
