donors
raised in online donations in 6 months
Centenary College of Louisiana is a private college in Shreveport, Louisiana, with an alumni strength of over 10,000. Founded in 1825, it is the oldest chartered liberal arts college west of the Mississippi River and is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS).
Consistent with its affiliation with the United Methodist Church, the College encourages a lifelong dedication not only to learning but also to serving others. The college is Louisiana's only Tier One National Liberal Arts College and is ranked as one of Princeton Review's "382 Best Colleges."
Centenary College of Louisiana used multiple tools to cater to diverse alumni needs. The challenge with multiple tools was that they failed to sync well and integrate with one another, adding to delays and more complications for the team.
While Centenary College of Louisiana has a 9-person Development Team, a large portion of the engagement and fundraising programs is overseen by only two members - Saige W. Solomon, Director of Alumni & Family Relations, and Jena McKinzie, Director Of Development.
While the college spent time and energy on encouraging alumni to donate, the giving experience was unoptimized for mobile devices which often led to a significant percentage of alumni dropping off without completing a donation.
While Centenary College of Louisiana organized frequent giving campaigns, setting up these campaigns often required some level of dependency on the technical teams, leading to long delays.
From designing an event page to minor support requests like changes in text, images, and donations amounts had to go through the IT team, acting as a major constraint and reducing the overall efficiency of the team responsible.
With a centralized platform facilitating online donations and consistent engagement year-round, Centenary College of Louisiana School raised $108,843 in just 6 months.
Giving pages can now be configured completely by the Development Team eliminating dependencies and unnecessary delays.
Seamless donation experience plays an integral role in the success of Centenary College of Louisiana’s giving campaigns. The donation process is now quick, smooth, and can be completed within a few seconds. Donors also have the flexibility to choose which fund they want to donate to and can opt between recurring and one-time gifts.
All donations and donors’ real-time data can be tracked on the dashboard optimized for mobile devices. This makes it significantly easier for the Development Team to access and monitor the progress of giving campaigns on the go.
The periodic reports help the team get an accurate picture of all fundraising data.
Centenary College of Louisiana’s targeted approach for fundraising makes email outreach highly effective. Here’s how the college leverages the platform for its email outreach:
1. Pre-existing email templates: With pre-existing email templates, the staff was able to quickly create emails, focusing on the content and not having to worry about the design. In case of any customizations to these emails, the team was able to make quick edits without involving the technical team.
2. Dynamic groups: Reaching out to over 10,000 alumni was never an easy task. With the ability to create dynamic groups based on filters such as location, class year, alumni interests, etc., the college can segment its large alumni network into smaller niche groups and then personalize the messaging to suit the needs of that particular group.
Centenary College of Louisiana continues to amplify its donations with Almabase. Take a look at their ongoing fundraising campaigns here.