If we’re honest, most campaign strategies in higher education are still built around one prevailing sentiment: loyalty. You went here. We invested in you. Now, it’s time for you to give back.
However, the 2025 National Alumni Survey produced by RNL (Ruffalo Noel Levitz) makes it clear that this idea doesn’t land anymore, especially with younger alumni. They give, but they give elsewhere. And, not because they don’t care. It’s because we haven’t demonstrated how giving to us means giving to what they care about.
The question isn’t “How do we get them to give back?”
It’s “Why would they give through us at all?”
More than just changing marketing tactics, this shift in mindset requires a fundamental change in our campaign strategy. And that change begins when we:
- Stop using campaigns to validate who we think we are.
- Stop presuming that institutional worthiness alone will motivate donors to give.
- Stop assuming that tradition builds trust.
Trust is built through alignment between what we say and what we do. And alumni, especially Gen Z and Millennials, are watching that closely. They’re not giving because of institutional pride. They’re giving when it connects to their values – mental health, equity, access, climate, justice.
So, what does that mean for campaign branding?
Here are a few places to start:
- We have to stop centering around the institution and start centering around the cause.
- Identify tangible outcomes. Alumni want specifics, and generic “support our students” or “area(s) of greatest need” messages will no longer cut it.
- Giving has to feel like agency, not obligation.
For alumni donors, early gifts aren’t about money. They’re about trust. If someone gives $50, that’s not a transaction. It’s a test. They’re watching to see if it matters.
A good campaign shows them it did.
Maybe that’s where this all leads. Not to bigger asks or louder campaigns, but to quieter questions:
- What do our alumni actually want to change?
- How can we help them do it?
- And are we willing to stop making it about us?
If we are, the strategy shifts. Campaigns stop being nostalgic and become useful, human, relevant, and maybe even hopeful. That’s the real goal – not to remind people of the past but to give them a reason to act in the present.
And to believe it might matter.
