For this edition of Almabase Spotlights featuring K-12 Schools, we shine the spotlight on Westminster Schools of Augusta’s I Donate My Year Initiative, celebrating the love and loyalty between alumni and their alma mater.

💙 I Donate My Year Initiative

What motivated this successful campaign was a simple question — “How can we better connect with our alumni?”. The Alumni Office at Westminster Schools of Augusta wanted to engage their alumni, irrespective of the size of the gift. This alumni-centric approach primarily focused on how to bring their alumni back in contact with the school, and then keep them engaged through their event calendar that’s packed with some amazing opportunities for their alumni.

This idea paved the way for I Donate My Year (IDMY) campaign. Launched at their Giving Tuesday 2020, through IDMY campaign, the alumni could donate an amount equal to their graduation year — for instance, an alum who graduated in 2020 could donate $20.20, $202.00, or $2,020.00. This was not a big ask and gave alumni, especially the younger constituents, flexibility to make a contribution as per their own convenience, unlocking higher participation from all segments of the alumni community.

To promote the campaign, they started with a core group of well-engaged alumni, who then helped spread the word amongst their peers. They also sent out emails and text messages to their alumni on their Giving Day, asking for their support. This worked wonders for their campaign, and almost tripled their donor participation, increasing it from 4% to 11.5%. Thanks to their great social media strategy, an alumni-centric approach and their constant efforts to engage with their alumni, I Donate My Year campaign was a huge success and continues to drive participation from their alumni.

Westminster would like to thank 2004 graduate Robert Watts for chairing the launch of the IDMY program and all alumni who helped make the campaign a great success.

🌟 Our Source of Inspiration

Wesley Brown serves as the Director of Development at the Westminster Schools of Augusta. He oversees donor relations and manages fundraising initiatives to advance the mission of the school. During his time at Westminster, he has led an annual fund campaign that has raised more than $860,000 for the school. Wes graduated from Georgia College with a bachelor’s in Mass Communication. After college, he completed an internship in political journalism at Georgetown University.

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