Fostering lifelong relationships with alumni, parents, students and friends

that strengthen their connection with the University of Virginia

to increase involvement and support

Robert D. Sweeney, Senior Vice President, University Advancement

Cindy Fredrick, Associate Vice President, University Advancement Engagement and Annual Giving

University of Virginia — University Advancement

Engagement and Annual Giving

10 Year Impact Report

The Next Era of Engagement in University Advancement In 2003, President John Casteen convened the Alumni Relations Task Force (ARTF) to brainstorm ways to enhance the University’s ability to build and maintain relationships with an increasingly diverse community of former students. As a result of this task force, University Advancement (UA) created an Engagement Office to partner with the Alumni Association to create “programs that enable and encourage alumni to make the University a tangible presence in their daily lives.” To achieve a holistic, best-in-class engagement program, University Advancement and the Alumni Associa-tion collaborate to develop a full scope of activities. In the spring of 2005, the first Engagement officers began working in University Advancement. This report gives a 10 year update on the progress the Engagement programs have made and discusses the strategic priorities of inclusivity, volunteer-centered programming, international engagement and involvement by students, parents and faculty. Since the University’s commitment to expand Engagement programming within University Advancement, over 51,000 alumni, parents and friends have been documented as registering for 9,000 events over 135,000 times. This represents a 2,700% increase in documented involvement over the past 10 years.

1

Alumni Association University Advancement– Engagement

Alumni Interest Groups Alumni & Parent Travel

Career Services HoosNetwork—Digital Engagement

Homecoming/Reunions Lifetime Learning

Legacy Admissions University Annual Giving

Student Programming UVaClubs

U.Va. Fund -Cavalier Admission Volunteers

U.Va. Magazine -Student Ambassadors

2

Alumni Registrants

by Age

FY05-FY14

4% <20

36% 20-29

23% 30-39

13% 40-49

13% 50-59

11% >60

Alumni Registrants by

Ethnic Diversity

FY14

21% Registrants

14% Alumni Baseline

Volunteer Demographics

FY14

54% Female

46% Male

36 Median age

39 Countries represented

Registrant Location

FY14

42% Virginia

51% U.S. outside of VA

7% International

76%

20%

4%

Alumni/Students Non-Alumni Parent Friends

Inclusive Model

Engagement programs serve all stakeholders who are interested in being part of a

lifelong network with the University regardless of donor, membership or affiliation

status. To represent this inclusive model, one of the first actions was to change the

name of regional clubs from Virginia Alumni Clubs to UVaClubs. This change wel-

comes all alumni, parents, students and friends to participate, not solely alumni.

While alumni and students are still the primary stakeholders, the diversity of partici-

pants has provided a richer environment for programming and networking.

Volunteer-Driven Programming - Train the Trainer Model

With 90% of events sponsored by UVaClubs, Engagement utilizes a “train the trainer”

organizational model, thus leveraging the foundation of student self-governance.

This shared ownership approach allows Engagement officers to provide guidance,

tools, and communication vehicles to the volunteer leaders who plan and execute

events to advance the University’s mission and goals. This type of organizational

structure allows the University to have a far-reaching impact with efficient use of

staff and financial resources. In just 10 years, the number of individuals who vol-

unteer on an annual basis has grown from 200 to 950, representing a 375% in-

crease.

International Engagement Expansion

In FY09, University Advancement developed the first international University-wide

Engagement strategic plan to increase Engagement programming outside of the

United States. Currently 9% of all Engagement activity and 7% of all registrants are

outside the US. New programs, such as UVaExpress, a bus transportation and

hospitality program for incoming international students, and the International

Welcome Dinner have become annual traditions. Last year over 180 students and

parents participated in UVaExpress, representing 32 countries. The International

Welcome Dinner for all incoming international students and parents annually draws

over 500 guests.

Engagement Registrants by Entity Type

3

“The tasteful and well-

organized affairs were a

delight, and you provided

another impressive link for a

parent like me to feel very

much a part of the UVA

community.”

U.Va. Parent

Outstanding Faculty Awards

2014 Wayne Cozart Ryan Hargraves Dorothy Fontaine Barbara Perry Stephen Cushman 2013 Gordon Burris Ernest Ern Paul Freedman Arthur Garson, M.D. Maurie McInnis 2012 Kenneth Elzinga Francesca Fiorani Gary Gallagher Edward Murphy Richard Warner 2011 Fred Diehl Suzan Garson Stephen Macko Stephen Railton Kathryn Thornton

2010 Phoebe Crisman Rebecca Dillingham Gregory Fairchild Lawrence Goedde Mark White Jason Williford

Student Engagement

Lifelong participation is a continuum that begins before a student arrives at U.Va. With

support from the President’s Office and the Office of Admission, volunteers serve as

ambassadors at college fairs, make congratulatory calls and host 40 accepted-student

receptions and 90 student send-offs each year. In FY10, the Student Ambassadors

program was created to allow students to serve as liaisons back to their home region

UVaClub. These students attend regional events and serve as goodwill ambassadors at

alumni and parent events on Grounds. Student recruitment and outreach program-

ming has more than doubled in the last six years, going from 10% of programming in

FY08 to 23% in FY14.

Non-Alumni Parent Involvement

Integration of non-alumni parents into traditional alumni Engagement programming is

central for increased participation. Non-alumni parents have feelings about the

University similar to our alumni, as documented through surveys conducted by

eAdvancement in 2012 and 2013. The following percentages indicate feelings

described as “a great deal or a fair bit.”

Over the last 10 years, 20% of all registrants have been non-alumni parents, with the

vast majority of parents attending student recruitment and outreach programs. At

presidential events, nearly one third of the audience can be expected to be parents.

In FY14, nearly 3,000 non-alumni parents were event registrants, representing an

88% increase from FY08. Engaged parents are also important donors to the Universi-

ty. In an analysis of student send-off participants, parents who attended these events

were 50% more likely to be donors to the University than those who did not attend.

Showcasing Our Faculty

Stakeholders in Engagement are afforded the opportunity to expand their intellectual

knowledge and re-connect to their academic experience through faculty involvement

with UVaClubs, Lifetime Learning and Cavalier Travels. In the past 10 years, over 440

administrators and faculty from all schools have given presentations to our stakehold-

ers “on the road” and on Grounds. President Teresa Sullivan and former President

John Casteen have given 109 “all comer” State of the University talks with UVaClubs

around the world. In FY14 average event attendance was nearly three times greater at

those with faculty speakers than the overall average of all Engagement events.

Through the commitment of our faculty to Engagement efforts, just over 1,100

faculty lectures have been offered in only 10 years.

Take Pride Emotional Connection

Alumni 96% 83%

Non-alumni Parents 93% 75%

Engagement Programs

Alumni & Parent Travel

HoosNetwork

Lifetime Learning

UVaClubs & Cavalier

Admission Volunteers

Travel Participants FY06-FY14

2,622 Travelers 92% Alumni donors 23% Repeat travelers “This is the level of travel

experience we should pro-

vide at UVA. It is consistent

with our intellectual objec-

tives and fun.”

Engagement Programs

Engagement programs focus on involving stakeholders where they live, learn and

travel through Alumni and Parent Travel, Digital Engagement, Lifetime Learning and

Regional Engagement, which includes UVaClubs and Cavalier Admission Volunteers. In

FY14, over 18,000 stakeholders registered 31,500 times for nearly 1,400 events, and

represented 54% of overall event registration in the University’s donor database.

From the beginning, creating programming to represent the diverse interests of stake-

holders was a key priority. Looking at the event categories over the last three years,

programming is equally divided between five main categories: student recruitment

and outreach, intellectual knowledge, athletic spirit, volunteerism and social

networking.

In the past decade, student outreach has seen the greatest increase, consistent with

the ARTF statement that “if students feel a sense of connection with the University

right from the start, they are more likely to maintain that connection after they leave

the Grounds.” This results in more parent involvement and meets the interests of

alumni who would like more contact with students.

Alumni and Parent Educational Travel—Cavalier Travels

Since 2006, Cavalier Travels has coordinated over 120 travel experiences with U.Va.

faculty to all seven continents. Examples of destinations include Turkey, Egypt,

Vietnam, Peru, Scotland, Italy and Cuba. In some destinations, receptions are held

with local alumni and parents, further connecting U.Va.’s global family.

These trips are well-received, as evidenced through post-trip surveys: 99% said they

would recommend the travel program to a friend and 94% indicated the trip met or

exceeded their expectations. The travel program has specially-designed international

trips and local travel experiences during Reunions with schools and units including the

Nursing Alumni Association, College of Arts and Sciences, Medical Alumni Association

and Virginia Athletics Foundation. Additionally, family-oriented and community

service trips are offered to further meet the interests of stakeholders.

This program both cultivates and stewards major donors, as three out of the seven

top U.Va. donors are travelers. To date, 92% of all travelers are fiscal year donors

and have a combined giving history of $290M. 4

Types of Programs—3 year Average FY12-FY14

Digital Engagement

To meet expanding interests of stakeholders to connect with the University online, the

Engagement Office developed a digital strategy to increase involvement. This strategy

involves a variety of online platforms including webinars, online alumni interviews and

social media postings on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube and Google+. HoosNet-

work, a hub containing informative and entertaining advice-based articles for ‘Hoos

around the world, was launched in February 2015. This new media hub affords the

opportunity for all stakeholders, nationally and internationally, to interact and connect

with fellow alumni and current students. Embedded within HoosNetwork articles and

blog postings are advertisements that promote event attendance, awareness, on-line

donations and overall exposure to fundraising initiatives, as well as messaging from the

University and schools. To date, over 70 alumni and student volunteers are either

active bloggers or regular contributors to the site. Topics covered range from fashion

and travel, to careers and networking, to graduate school, wellness and recipes. In just

three months of going live, the HoosNetwork page received the most sessions, over

7,000 in the month of April 2015 from the alumni.edu website.

Lifetime Learning

U.Va.’s alumni, parents and friends are lifelong learners and want to continually expand

their intellectual knowledge. Each year, approximately 120 faculty lectures are held in a

variety of formats including extended learning programs, talks and panel discussions.

Over the last 10 years, 440 faculty and staff members from all 11 schools have given a

combined 1,164 talks. In addition to these talks, Lifetime Learning offers many opportu-

nities for online learning, including: EBSCO, an online library of five research databases

for alumni; podcasts of select lectures; a faculty blog called “Thoughts From the Lawn”;

and HooReads!, a global virtual book club. Faculty members volunteer their time to

participate in these programs and indicate that they enjoy reconnecting with former

students. Each year, Engagement hosts a faculty recognition event. Since FY07, 23

faculty have been honored with Outstanding Faculty Service Awards.

“This is a fabulous alumni

benefit! I am an alum of

three major, well-respected

universities, and only U.Va.

offers me access to these

excellent research tools. “

EBSCO Library User

Extended Learning Programs

Summer Jefferson Symposium

U.Va. at Oxford Seminar

One-Day U.Va.

Lectures and Talks

Engaging the Mind

More than the Score

Reunion Seminars

UVaClub Faculty Talks

Online Learning

Alumni Library

Podcasts

HooReads!

Webinars

Blogs

Faculty Talk Registrations 740% Increase in 7 years

EBSCO Sessions 711% Increase in 3 years

0

10,000

20,000

30,000

40,000

50,000

FY11 FY14

5,100

41,500

0

2000

4000

6000

FY07 FY14

700

5,900

5

UVaClub Activities

Student Outreach

Jefferson Book Award

College Fairs

Congratulatory calls

Accepted Student Receptions

Student Send-offs

UVaExpress

International Dinner

Student Ambassadors

Athletic/Sporting Events

Game watching parties

Tailgates

Championship & Bowl

events

Recreation leagues

Professional sport outings

Intellectual Enrichment

Faculty lectures

Book clubs

Museum tours

Personal enrichment classes

Welcome to the City

Happy hours

Roasts, galas, BBQs

Professional networking events

Volunteer Service

Cavalier Cares local services

Board participation

UVaClubs and Cavalier Admission Volunteers

The greatest area of growth and transformation since the formation of the

Engagement Office lies within the Regional Network programs: UVaClubs and Cavalier

Admission Volunteers. Currently there are networks in 136 locations that represent

95% of all Engagement events and 82% of all event registrations. Since 2005, these

networks have engaged 43,000 unique alumni, parents, students and friends who

have registered over 115,000 times for 8,500 events.

These networks are independent volunteer organizations that operate under a shared

partnership model with Engagement. Engagement staff provide guidance and feed-

back to volunteer leaders as they develop a regional calendar of events that meet in-

dividual local interests in concert with the needs of the University. Volunteers are

chosen locally and represent the full diversity of our alumni and parent population.

Since FY07, Engagement has committed time and resources to tracking events and

registrations. In a 2013 survey of club metrics at peer institutions, U.Va. was second

in the number of events recorded, and first in the number of individual registra-

tions. Without registration information, the University, schools and units would not

be able to leverage this active form of involvement or identify patterns of behavior.

Through tracking participation, we have learned that alumni event registrants are

twice as likely to be donors than the general alumni population. Participation is

clearly key; increased engagement leads to increased involvement and, for many,

increased giving.

The Regional Engagement program at U.Va. is a recognized leader and has earned two

Grand Awards for UVaExpress and Western US Weekend as well as one Award of

Excellence for overall alumni relations programming from CASE III, the professional

association for advancement.

6

Annual Giving

The Alumni Relations Task Force concluded that in order to increase private

philanthropy, the University must complement its successful major donor

fundraising strategy with Engagement programs that reach all alumni. In FY14, the

University‘s central annual giving operation was integrated within Engagement.

This strategic move allows for greater synergy to motivate our broad base of

engaged stakeholders to become invested annual giving donors.

The annual giving team focuses on University-wide campaigns through integrated

marketing appeals. This includes one-day giving events such as GivingToHoosDay

and #TJBDay for Need-Based Scholarships as well as the President’s fundraising

appeals, Phonathon, University priorities and Parent and Young Alumni Annual Giv-

ing. Annual Giving also collaborates with Engagement programs to distribute giving

messages where appropriate and supports fundraising activities in local UVaClubs.

Since FY11, giving though the President’s letter has increased 61%, with nearly

$3M raised for schools, representing approximately 60% of gifts. The Phonathon,

over the last year, has seen dramatic results by implementing revised training for

callers, new donor-centric scripts and targeted segmentation. In the last year the

Phonathon saw a 60% increase in cash and pledges, with 60% total dollars raised

for schools.

University wide, over the last six years, giving to annual fund accounts has

increased 20.5%. At the end of FY14, $68M had been received compared to $56M

in FY08. Since the publication of the ARTF, the number of donors has increased

44%, from 33,000 in FY03 to 48,000 in FY14.

“Individual philanthropy is

very important to me. U.Va.

has been a good steward of

our philanthropy and has

done a good job of stating

the case for need. The

University has a bright,

bright future.”

U.Va. Donor

7

School Involvement

Alumni make up the largest percentage of our invested stakeholders, and participants

come from every school. The College of Arts & Sciences represents the largest

constituency of participating alumni, as well as the largest percentage of alumni

across all schools. When comparing the percentage of constituents by school who

register for Engagement events to the percentage breakdown of all alumni by school,

alumni from the College and Commerce are slightly more involved and alumni from

Education, Law and Nursing are slightly less involved than the corresponding overall

school percentage.

Engagement’s programs promote events to all alumni and schools; schools can then

leverage particular events by encouraging attendance from their alumni and

providing personalized follow-up. This allows schools to more closely connect with

their alumni around the world, where they may not have existing programming. The

Lifetime Learning program provides a platform for school faculty members to share

their message across a broad population. Some lectures are co-sponsored with

schools and have included follow-up messages for information and philanthropy. In

other instances where schools have hosted events for their alumni and wanted a

larger audience, Engagement has used its integrated marketing vehicles to promote

these events to all alumni in a given region. As the University moves to a new activity

-based financial model, Engagement and Annual Giving will adapt its activities to fur-

ther enhance opportunities not only for the good of the University, but for individuals

schools as well.

8

Alumni Registrants by

Preferred School

FY05-FY14

Architecture 1,277

Arts & Sciences 23,252

Batten School 95

Commerce 4,808

Darden 1,615

Education 1,386

Engineering 4,627

GSAS 841

Law 1,730

Medicine 288

SCPS 71

School of Nursing 961

Undergraduate Alumni

Identify Most Closely With

65% University as a Whole

9% School

8% Department

11% Student Organization

5% Class

eAdvancement Survey 2012

Alumni Demographics

by School FY14

CLAS & GSAS 51%

Architecture 3%

Commerce 8%

Darden 5%

Engineering 11%

Education 12%

Law 9%

Medicine 3%

SCPS <1%

Nursing 4%

Batten <1%

Rounded to nearest whole number

Stakeholder Model for Engagement

University of Virginia alumni, parents and friends are the primary stakeholders for

Engagement programming and partner with schools, foundations programs, faculty

and staff to develop a holistic engagement strategy.

University of Virginia Engagement Stakeholders

Engagement and Annual Giving have long-standing partnerships with several

University offices, programs and foundations. Examples include: International

Welcome Dinner and student engagement programs with the Office of the President;

college fairs, congratulatory calls and accepted student receptions with the Office of

Admission; research library collaboration with the University Library; co-sponsoring

of MLK community events with the Office of Diversity and Equity; parent orientation

activities with Student Affairs; regional tailgates and socials with VAF; Festival of the

Book events with the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities; HooReads! partnership

with the Miller Center; and many on-going collaborations with the Alumni

Association including Western U.S. Weekend and joint strategic planning. The

Phonathon provides calling services to 13 schools, foundations and programs.

With this shared stakeholder model for Engagement, the University will continue to

be a leader in connecting alumni, parents and friends to each other, their school,

their student experience and the University.

Staffing and Financial Resources

University Advancement’s Engagement and Annual Giving is comprised of 26 staff

members, 55 student employees, 170 student volunteers and 1,400 alumni and

parent volunteers. The total budget for Engagement and Annual Giving in FY14 is

$2.33M, of which $486,000 is used for Engagement program operating expenses.

The office is led by Cindy Fredrick, who has 23 years experience with the University,

serving as a founding member of the Engagement Office and former Executive

Director of Madison House, the student volunteer center at U.Va. Collectively, the

leadership team within Engagement and Annual Giving has over 70 years experience

working at the University of Virginia.

Partnerships with

Offices, Programs and

Foundations

Office of the President

Executive VP & Provost

Vice Provost for the Arts

Vice Provost for Global

Affairs

Dean of Admission

University Library

Center for Politics

Virginia Foundation for

the Humanities

Executive VP & COO

University Bookstore

VP for Diversity and

Equity

VP for Student Affairs

VP for Research

Intercollegiate Athletics

Virginia Athletics

Foundation

Alumni Association

Jefferson Scholars

OLLI

Miller Center

Madison House

9

Overview Highlights

9,000 events, including 1,200 talks by 440 faculty, administrators and coaches

51,000 unique registrants (41,000 alumni) for 135,000 event registrations

2,700 percent increase in registrations over 10 years (from 1,100 event registrations in FY05 to 31,500 in FY14)

New Initiatives or Programs Developed over the last 10 years

Accepted Student Receptions - Events in April to inform accepted students about U.Va.

UVaExpress - Bus transportation and hospitality program for incoming international students

Cavalier Admission Volunteers - Regional networks focused on student recruitment and student programming

International Welcome Dinner - Dinner for all incoming international students and parents

UVaClub Student Ambassadors - Current students serving as liaisons to their hometown region

Hoos Up for Coffee - Parent to parent regional conversations

15 in 2015 Volunteer Cavaliers Care - Stakeholders committed to 15 hours of volunteer service in 2015

Extended Learning - Continued U.Va. at Oxford, Summer Jefferson Symposium and Civil Rights South from SCPS

EBSCO online alumni library - Five research databases for personal and professional use

HoosReads! - International virtual book Ccub featuring U.Va. faculty authors

One-Day UVa - Visits to historical or cultural sites with U.Va. faculty

Faculty Speaker Recognition Reception - Annual outstanding faculty of the year recognition and reception

HoosNetwork - Web-based hub to share stakeholder content and advice through social media

Alumni & Parent Travel - Service trip to Vietnam with Nursing Alumni Association

GivingToHoosDay - One-day giving campaign

Integration of parents into alumni engagement programs

Integrated annual giving and engagement programs

Awards and Recognition

CASE (Council for Advancement and Support of Education) District III

2013—Award of Excellence in Fundraising Annual Fund, Rotunda Society

2011—Grand Award in Special Projects, Western United States Weekend

2009—Grand Award in Special Projects, UVaExpress

2008—Award of Excellence in Overall Alumni Relations Programs

10

SELECTED ACCOMPLISHMENTS FY05 to FY14