From the Nominator

"The University of Minnesota’s Give to the Max Day campaign (GTMD), a digital day of giving, engages alumni and donors from across the world through fundraising and outreach, and shares the story of how philanthropy at U of M impacts the state and beyond. Our outreach measures include digital engagement, social media, re-targeting, giving incentives, crowdfunding, direct mail, texting, and a main campaign website. 

In 2021, we raised $15 million with 5,100 donors and 6,500 gifts. There were over 100 crowdfunding campaigns representing five campuses and 54 collegiate units with 42 matches and over $500,000 in matching funds to encourage giving and create urgency. There was $50,000 in incentive money provided by the University of Minnesota Foundation to encourage alumni and donors to post on social media and give at certain times of the day to create a competitive spirit. The prize incentives led to over 300 entries on social media. Many incentives were aimed at faculty and staff to grow the number giving and deepen the culture of philanthropy at the university. 

As a digital day of giving, the focus for our marketing efforts included social media paid campaigns, email marketing, and day-of activities like Facebook live and virtual and in-person tours and events. The social media marketing campaign had over 300,000 impressions over five weeks. Our email marketing campaign sent emails to 500,000 users in a single day, leading to higher traffic on our GTMD campaign website."

From the Judges

Great use of incentives and matching, as well as diverse digital campaigns to encourage engagement. Big budget, a lot of resources compared to smaller schools, but also a large return on investment. Very impressed with the system-wide giving day where all aligned together.