"The purpose of the Virtual Coffee Talk/Happy Hour with the Chair was to engage alumni in a meaningful way. Given the travel restrictions of the COVID-19 pandemic, we had to connect with our engineering alumni in a new and unique format that would lead to new prospect identification, cultivate current prospects, and steward existing donors. Each department and development officer had a different approach to how participants were identified, but all had the same goal of having 5-6 alumni participate in each event.
The coffee talks/happy hours followed similar formats: starting with introductions, an update from the department chair, and then open-ended questions for group discussion. The format encouraged and focused on conversation, which led to alumni sharing life experiences and college memories. Each event ended with ways the alumni could continue to engage with the department and the college moving forward. After the event, we followed up with thank-you notes and next steps to more deeply engage them with the college and our departments."
From the Judges
Love the "think like an engineer" start with the College of Engineering. The strategy was spot on--the numbers and ROI great--and personalized boxes an added bonus!
