Every year during Alumni Weekend our alumni compete to see who still remembers the combinations to their old student mailboxes. So when the university announced plans to renovate that section of the student center, we knew we had an opportunity to create a unique, one-time-only fundraiser. We wanted to give everyone the opportunity to get “their” mailbox, so we settled on an online auction. Through the month of August, alumni, as well as a handful of students and friends of the university, placed bids on their targeted mailboxes while reminiscing on our Facebook page about the gifts and letters they received as students (and gently ribbing their competitors). The auction was a success on every level. We raised more than $30,500 for our Alumni Association Scholarship endowment, with the only costs coming from shipping the mailbox doors and coin banks. Social posts involving the mailbox auction saw some of our best engagement numbers of the year. Perhaps most exciting, though, were the demographics: 22% of alumni participants graduated within the last decade, 52% of alumni participants graduated within the past 25 years, and every class between 1967 and 2021 was represented.
From the Judges
Very charming fundraiser. The nostalgia and the competitive nature of the auction made this unique. We are sure your alumni had fun participating.
