Advancement Strategies: Boosting Donor Engagement with AI-Driven Personalization

Philanthropic support for U.S. colleges and universities grew by 3%, with alumni contributions reaching a 7.5% YoY increase, according to the latest CASE Insights on Voluntary Support of Education (VSE) 2023-2024 report. 

Still, almost 7 in 10 alumni choose not to donate mainly due to the belief that their gift won’t make a real impact.

This discouraging statistic leaves higher education institutions rethinking their donor engagement plans and looking for strategic ways to strengthen donor relationships without overwhelming already stretched-thin advancement teams. 

Our analysis of millions of messages from 600+ institutions shows that AI-powered personalized messaging can change the narrative by empowering institutions to drive donor loyalty and participation, increase donations, and foster meaningful connections with their supporters.

What Makes A Strong Donor Engagement Plan?

A donor engagement plan sets the tone for how an institution’s advancement team builds and maintains meaningful relationships with alumni and donors. It relies on clear engagement goals, thoughtful audience segmentation, and actionable communication strategies.

More than that, our higher education benchmark reports reveal that personalization plays a key role at every stage of the donor engagement cycle, from the first inquiry through solicitation and ongoing stewardship.

Compared to traditional outreach, using Smart Messages enables tailored, two-way conversation and generates 2.5 times higher reply rates in advancement conversations.

In other words, the long-term success of a donor engagement plan hinges on the team’s ability to deliver empathetic, personalized messages that align with institutional values while resonating with each donor’s motivations, giving behavior, and communication preferences. 

To achieve that, universities need to move away from siloed data systems and outdated engagement tools that weigh teams down with more manual work and leave donors feeling disconnected.

Meeting Institutional Goals Through Tailored Messaging

Actionable Strategies for Donor Engagement 

Generic, overly transactional messages can quickly lead to donor fatigue. Meanwhile, prioritizing relationship-building through timely, meaningful conversations rooted in each donor’s interests, giving history, and engagement preferences fosters deeper, longer-lasting support for your institution.

Here’s how you can personalize your donor communications with Mongoose’s Conversation Intelligence Platform:

• Adapt messaging topics and frequency to match each segment’s needs. For example, young alumni seek more career support and social connection in the first few years after graduation, while older donors tend to value institutional impact updates and legacy giving opportunities.

• Build a multi-channel approach to connect with alumni and donors on their preferred platforms. While some segments might respond better to texting than emails, others might be more easily reached via social media apps like WhatsApp.

• Send targeted campaigns based on each donor’s giving history. By looking at the causes donors have supported in the past, you can deliver messages that deeply resonate, whether it’s scholarships, academic research, or campus improvements. 

• Use real-time behavior insights to improve fundraising outcomes. Low-resolution conversations related to fundraising and donations are untapped engagement opportunities. Identify donors who actively engage but haven’t given recently and re-engage them with automated, personalized follow-ups.

Real-World Examples of Personalization in Higher Ed Giving

Saint Joseph’s Collegiate Institute

St. Joseph’s Collegiate Institute struggled to connect with younger alumni via traditional outreach. That’s why the institution decided to go all in on real-time, personalized messaging by modernizing their alumni engagement toolkit with Mongoose Text. The result: a 50% increase in event attendance and a 75% YoY increase in Day of Giving donors in 2023. 

Carnegie Mellon University 

CMU’s alumni texting program made outreach more difficult than it needed to be due to technical issues and clunky design. Switching to Mongoose Text helped advancement teams efficiently scale personalized communication and strengthen alumni-student relationships. This shift led to a 170% increase in responses for their 2024 Orientation Messages campaign.

Presbyterian College

For the small yet dedicated advancement team at Presbyterian College, Mongoose Text was the ideal solution for engaging their large alumni network.

After a brief pause due to budget constraints, the institution returned to the platform to deliver personalized, two-way messages at scale. The results spoke for themselves – the team raised almost $400,000 through text outreach on Giving Day.

“Texting is very instant and easy. People can reply right away, ask for links, and complete donations or sign up for an event in minutes. It’s allowed us to break through the noise and reach our alumni where they are most likely to respond.”

SARAH STOKLOSA, DIRECTOR OF ANNUAL GIVING AND STEWARDSHIP AT ST. JOSEPH’S COLLEGIATE INSTITUTE

Build Long-Lasting Donor Relationships with Mongoose

The ROI of a donor engagement plan goes beyond dollars raised, it’s also about the engagement and connections built over time.

Mongoose simplifies advancement communications by enabling institutions to scale multi-channel, personalized conversations, engage their donor base, and enjoy lasting philanthropic support.

Need a better way to connect with donors? Book a demo today and discover how you can transform your donor relations strategy.

FAQs

What is a donor engagement plan?

A donor engagement plan is a communication strategy higher education institutions use to build long-term relationships with alumni and donors through personalized, meaningful conversations.

What are the stages of engagement?

1. Identification – Use conversation insights to identify potential donors who align with the university’s mission and strategic goals.
2. Cultivation – Build trust through timely, personalized messages across channels based on donor interests, giving history, and engagement preferences.
3. Solicitation – Launch targeted fundraising campaigns that drive high conversions using customizable templates, AI-suggested replies, and automated follow-ups.
4. Stewardship – Strengthen donor relationships and improve retention by recognizing individual contributions with personalized impact updates. 
5. Renewal – Track engagement trends and giving behavior to uncover re-engagement opportunities and inspire lasting support for your institution.

What are the steps in the engagement plan?

• Segment Your Audience: Group existing and prospective donors into segments by giving potential, affinity, and campaign relevance.
• Define Engagement Goals: Set clear, measurable, yet realistic outcomes for each stage of the donor lifecycle.
• Create A Communication Plan: Decide how you’ll engage each donor segment, including preferred channels, message frequency, and tools used.
• Assign Clear Roles: Outline who’s responsible for each task and make sure your team has the necessary resources to meaningfully connect with donors.
• Monitor Performance: Use data-driven analytics to adjust communications based on real-time reply rates, engagement trends, and giving patterns.

How do I create a donor engagement plan?

Mongoose’s Conversation Intelligence Platform provides advancement teams with the tools and messaging insights needed to build and manage effective donor engagement plans.

Using compliant, multi-channel outreach (Text, Chat, WhatsApp), AI-powered insights and automation, and real-time engagement tools (AI assistants), institutions can scale personalized donor communication, build meaningful connections across campus communities, and drive long-term philanthropic support.

Author:

Mongoose