How UNF’s Annual Giving Team Drove a Record-Breaking Giving Day with Targeted Texting

University advancement team members working at laptops in a collaborative office setting

The University of North Florida’s Annual Giving team transformed text messaging from an underused tool into a precision donor engagement strategy — sending more than 40,000 highly segmented messages on Giving Day, surpassing their donor goal by more than 1,000, and keeping opt-out rates low by ensuring every message was relevant to the person receiving it.

Key Highlights:

5,884 donors on Giving Day — more than 1,000 over the team’s goal of 4,750
40,000+ segmented messages sent across 30+ audience lists on a single Giving Day
~50% of tracked text-driven gifts came in at $100 or more
Fewer than 1,000 opt-outs across 40,000+ Giving Day messages
4% reply rate on a 652-person Giving Tuesday campaign
Platform expanded across Annual Giving, Alumni Engagement, and Athletics

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From Underutilized to Indispensable

When the UNF Annual Giving team first had access to Mongoose, the platform provided a strong foundation for outreach — but its potential wasn’t yet fully realized. As Jean Lipsky, Assistant Director for Annual Giving, took ownership of the platform, the team’s focus shifted toward building a more intentional, strategic approach to constituent communication.

The challenge wasn’t simply reaching more people. It was relevance — how to engage tens of thousands of constituents in ways that felt personal and meaningful while maintaining strong response rates and protecting long-term relationships.

The Shift to an Audience-First Approach

The UNF Annual Giving team built their text strategy around a single principle: every message should be tied to something the recipient actually cares about. Rather than relying on one-size-fits-all outreach, the team developed highly targeted campaigns aligned with donor interests, giving history, and college or program affiliation.

For Giving Day, that meant uploading more than 30 segmented lists — each with distinct messaging designed to resonate with a specific audience.

“I was not sending the same message to everyone. If someone previously donated to Giving Day for a specific college, they received messaging for that college. I love that we can truly personalize messages with Mongoose.”

— Jean Lipsky, Assistant Director for Annual Giving, University of North Florida

Smart Messages became a key tool in this strategy, providing built-in performance insights and enabling two-way engagement without overwhelming a small team. At the same time, UNF expanded Mongoose across campus, establishing dedicated inboxes for Alumni Engagement and Athletics so each audience heard from a consistent, recognizable number.

Building a Segmented, Audience-First Giving Day

UNF’s most recent Giving Day involved more than 40,000 text messages — but none of them were the same. Jean uploaded over 30 segmented audience lists, each with tailored messaging tied to a donor’s history, college affiliation, or prior involvement with a specific initiative.

A donor who had previously supported the College of Arts and Sciences heard about the College of Arts and Sciences. A constituent who had volunteered for a campus program received messaging specific to that program. Nothing went out to “everyone.”

This approach required significant preparation — data cleaning, list building, message drafting for each segment — but the payoff was measurable. The team finished Giving Day at 5,884 donors against a goal of 4,750, and opt-outs across all 40,000+ messages came in under 1,000.

“We were really strategic. It wasn’t just sending the same message to everybody. If someone gave to a specific college, they received messaging for that college. People are less likely to opt out when it’s specific to them.”

— Jean Lipsky

A Record-Breaking Giving Day

UNF’s most recent Giving Day was the university’s strongest performance to date. The team set a goal of 4,750 donors and finished with 5,884 — more than 1,000 over target. Among the gifts tracked directly through text links, the quality of giving matched the quantity.

“The results exceeded our expectations. Among the gifts we were able to track through text, nearly half were $100 or more — demonstrating that thoughtful, targeted text outreach can drive both participation and meaningful giving.”

— Olivia Newsome, Director for Annual Giving, University of North Florida

Segmentation That Protects Relationships

Strong Giving Day performance was only part of the story. By staying disciplined about who received which messages and why, the team kept opt-out rates low across a very high volume of sends — fewer than 1,000 opt-outs across more than 40,000 Giving Day messages.

“Being very particular about your audience means people are less likely to opt out. If it’s specific to them, they know you’re paying attention.”

— Olivia Newsome

When constituents feel recognized rather than bombarded, they stay engaged — not just on Giving Day, but throughout the year.

Year-Round Campaign Versatility

Giving Day is the headline, but not the full picture. The UNF Annual Giving team uses Mongoose for event invitations, fiscal year-end outreach, Giving Tuesday campaigns, stewardship follow-ups, and one-off constituent touchpoints. A 652-person Giving Tuesday campaign generated a 4% reply rate — a reflection of the engaged, targeted audiences that a segmentation-first approach makes possible.

The team also uses Mongoose’s sent message view to build targeted follow-up lists on the fly: pulling everyone who responded yes to an event invitation and sending reminders, or following up with those who said no to keep the door open.

Flexibility for Every Type of Outreach

When the UNF team evaluated other platforms, flexibility was a deciding factor. Other tools could handle large-scale campaigns but couldn’t support the day-to-day, relationship-based outreach the team also relied on. Mongoose handled both without workarounds.

“Many platforms required you to upload a list just to send a message, which limited how responsive you could be. With Mongoose, we can engage individuals just as easily as large audiences, and that made a big difference for our team.”

— Jean Lipsky

A Platform That’s Easy to Use — and Easy to Trust

Ease of use has been central to Mongoose’s long-term value at UNF. The platform is intuitive enough to bring new users up to speed quickly, while still supporting complex, segmented campaigns at scale. Reporting tools make it straightforward to assess performance and refine strategy over time.

“In Mongoose, it’s easy to do big things, and it’s easy to do small things. Once you understand how it works, it’s very straightforward — and that’s helped us bring others into the process successfully.”

— Olivia Newsome

Customer Success That Feels Like a Partnership

The UNF team works closely with Mongoose’s Customer Success team — not as a support queue, but as a genuine collaboration. That relationship has helped the team refine processes and continuously improve how the platform is used.

In one example, the team had been manually cross-referencing Giving Day audience lists to prevent overlapping messages — a time-consuming process. A conversation with their Mongoose CSM uncovered a built-in prioritization feature that handled deduplication automatically, saving hours of staff time.

“A quick conversation with our Mongoose CSM completely changed our process and saved an incredible amount of time. It felt like a true partnership with someone who understood our priorities and helped us work smarter.”

— Jean Lipsky

Looking Ahead

Looking forward, UNF is exploring how Mongoose can support its evolving portfolio outreach strategy — including using text as a follow-up to missed phone calls to keep constituent conversations warm and timely. The team is also interested in deeper engagement tracking to better understand how text outreach influences giving beyond immediate responses.

“Whether someone clicks the link right away or not, the message is there in front of them, at the right moment. That visibility has real value for our overall engagement strategy.”

— Jean Lipsky