How Cleveland State Recognized $55k in Annual Matching Presents

Introduction: The “Engaged Studying” Mission

Cleveland State College is a public analysis establishment positioned within the coronary heart of downtown Cleveland, Ohio. With a scholar physique of 16,000, CSU is dedicated to a philosophy of “Engaged Studying,” getting ready college students to reach their chosen careers and turn into energetic residents of their communities. The college’s affect is critical, with over 140,000 alumni worldwide, 80% of whom select to stay and work within the Northeast Ohio space. This excessive retention charge implies that CSU is a major driver of the regional financial system and workforce.

Supporting this mission requires a sturdy fundraising operation. CSU raises roughly $22 million yearly to fund scholarships, analysis, and campus enhancements. Whereas this determine is spectacular, the college acknowledged that there have been nonetheless alternatives to develop, significantly within the realm of company matching items.

Nonetheless, recognizing a possibility and capturing it are two various things. CSU confronted a typical problem in larger training fundraising: fragmentation. With no centralized system to trace matching present eligibility and standing, the event crew was compelled into handbook processes that had been time-consuming and susceptible to error. They lacked the information visibility wanted to construct a cohesive matching present technique.

By partnering with Double the Donation and integrating the answer with its present fundraising platform, CSU remodeled its operations. It moved from handbook spreadsheets to automated dashboards, liberating up workers time and uncovering over $55,000 in matching present alternatives in lower than 12 months.

The Problem: Operational Fragmentation

Earlier than implementing their new technique, Cleveland State College confronted a big operational hurdle. The case research notes that CSU “beforehand lacked a streamlined course of to trace or automate outreach.” Let’s take a better look.

The Monitoring Downside

With no centralized system, monitoring matching items is notoriously troublesome.

• Information Silos: Details about a donor’s employer may stay in a single system, whereas their donation historical past lives in one other.
• Handbook Entry: Workers members usually must manually enter matching present knowledge, a course of that’s sluggish and weak to human error.
• Lack of Visibility: The case research highlights that it was “troublesome to develop an efficient technique” as a result of the crew couldn’t simply see the total image. You can’t handle what you can’t measure. If the crew didn’t know what number of donors had been eligible, they couldn’t set life like objectives or allocate sources successfully.

The Outreach Downside

The dearth of automation meant that outreach was possible sporadic or reactive.

• Missed Alternatives: If a donor made a present on-line, there was no automated set off to ask them for a match. The chance relied on a workers member noticing the present and sending a private electronic mail.
• Inefficiency: Manually sending reminders to a whole bunch of alumni isn’t a scalable use of a growth officer’s time.

The crew acknowledged that to develop, they wanted to “observe all data in a single place.” They wanted an answer that will combine with their present instruments to create a unified view of their fundraising efforts.

The Answer: Seamless Integration

Cleveland State College solved its fragmentation downside by integration. The event crew applied Double the Donation’s matching present instruments and linked them on to the college’s social fundraising platform.

This integration was the linchpin of their new matching present technique. It allowed CSU to mix the social, peer-to-peer vitality of its social fundraising platform with the precision knowledge of Double the Donation.

1. Consolidating Information

The combination allowed CSU to “observe all matching present data in a single place.”

• Unified Dashboard: As an alternative of toggling between programs, the event crew may view matching present knowledge alongside different donation metrics. This “considerably lowering operational time” was a key win for the workers.
• Actionable Metrics: The system offered a “matching present dashboard” that outlined clear, actionable metrics. The crew may now see precisely what number of donors had been eligible, what number of had submitted matches, and the place the bottlenecks had been.

2. Automating the Ask

With the information consolidated, CSU may activate the automation engine. They applied automated matching present emails to deal with the outreach.

• Timing and Relevance: These emails had been triggered routinely after a donation, guaranteeing that the donor acquired the message whereas the present was nonetheless contemporary of their thoughts.
• Lowering Friction: The emails offered donors with the particular types and hyperlinks they wanted for his or her employer, eradicating the analysis burden from the alumni.

3. Enhancing the Donor Expertise

The answer additionally included a “streamlined search discipline on the donation type” and a “affirmation web page plugin.”

• Seamlessness: These instruments ensured that the matching present expertise was built-in into the donation move. Donors didn’t have to go away the donation web page to seek for their employer; they might do it proper there.

The Outcomes: $55,000 and Excessive Engagement

The affect of this built-in technique was instant. By eradicating the operational friction, CSU unlocked a brand new stream of income and noticed a surge in donor engagement.

Monetary Affect: $55,000 Recognized

In lower than one yr, the brand new system recognized over $55,000 in matches.

• Context: For a college elevating $22 million, $55,000 might sound small, however it represents “low-hanging fruit” that was beforehand rotting on the vine. That is income that required no extra solicitation value; it was unlocked from items that had already been made.
• ROI: This income was generated by “considerably lowering operational time.” The college raised extra cash whereas spending much less workers time to get it. That’s the definition of excessive ROI.

E-mail Engagement: 67% Open Fee

Essentially the most spectacular statistic from the CSU case research is the e-mail open charge. The automated emails achieved a 67% open charge.

• Tripling the Common: The case research notes that the business common is round 20%. CSU’s open charge was greater than triple that determine.
• Alumni Loyalty: This excessive open charge speaks to the power of the CSU alumni community. It means that when the college communicates with its graduates a couple of particular, actionable alternative, they hear.

Broad Engagement

The metrics additionally confirmed that 56% of donors confirmed reasonable to excessive engagement with the matching present instruments.

• Adoption: Greater than half of the donors who interacted with the system discovered it helpful sufficient to have interaction deeply. This validates the choice to combine the search device straight into the donation type; it proved to be a characteristic that donors truly needed and used.

Strategic Deep Dive: The Social Fundraising Connection

The combination with the college’s broader fundraising toolkit is an important strategic factor of this case research. Extra particularly, the college utilized a platform designed for “social fundraising,” which leverages the facility of peer networks, gamification, and social sharing. By including matching items to this combine, CSU created a strong multiplier impact.

• Gamification: In a social fundraising marketing campaign, donors are sometimes motivated by leaderboards or challenges. An identical present helps a donor climb the leaderboard quicker or helps a selected trigger (like a scholarship fund) attain its purpose sooner.
• Peer Strain (The Good Sort): When alumni see that their friends are getting their items matched, it creates a social norm. It encourages others to test their very own eligibility so that they don’t “go away cash on the desk” for his or her alma mater.

Shopper Perspective: Olivia Rohde’s Perception

Olivia Rohde, Assistant Director of Annual Giving at Cleveland State, highlighted the operational advantages of the partnership: “Integrating Double the Donation and [our broader fundraising tools] has allowed me to trace all matching present data in a single place, considerably lowering operational time.”

This testimonial reveals the hidden worth of the answer: sanity. For growth professionals like Rohde, the flexibility to cease chasing spreadsheets and begin taking a look at a unified dashboard is a game-changer. It permits the crew to deal with technique (how one can interact extra alumni and craft higher appeals) somewhat than getting slowed down in knowledge entry.

Conclusion: A Smarter Option to Fundraise

Cleveland State College’s expertise demonstrates that you simply don’t want an enormous crew to run a classy matching present technique. You simply want the proper integrations.

By connecting Double the Donation with the college’s present fundraising software program ecosystem, CSU solved its knowledge fragmentation downside and automatic its outreach. The outcomes had been clear:

• $55,000+ in recognized income.
• 67% electronic mail open charge.
• Lowered operational time for employees.

For different universities, the lesson is straightforward: Have a look at your tech stack. Are your instruments speaking to one another? If not, you’re possible leaving cash (and workers hours) on the desk. Integration is the important thing to unlocking effectivity and income in trendy fundraising.

Obtain the total case research compilation right here to uncover much more profitable methods.