University Advancement

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University Advancement Marketing   2008-2009
Unit Action Plan Presented by Shelly Armstrong,
Ira Childress, Rick Duffett, Ted Halm, Mary Kay
MacIver, Amber MacKenzie, Jeremy Mishler, Sarah
Rice and Susan Starkey Feb. 6, 2008  
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UAM At a Glance  
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• Advancement
• Campaign planning
• Donor relations
• Foundation board
• Major gift fundraising
• Planned giving
• Prospect management
• Prospect research
• Stewardship
•  

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• Alumni Relations/
• Advancement Operations
• Alumni Relations activities/services
• FSU Alumni Association
• Annual giving direct mail, telephone and
  e-mail
• Millennium alumni/donor database
• management/data analysis
• Advancement accounting/analysis
• University gift processing, receipting and
  acknowledgement
• Alumni Association/Advancement Web
• site management
•  

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• Marketing and Communications
• Campaign communications
• Crisis communications
• Image/recruitment advertising
• Market research
• Media relations/public relations
• Photography/videography/
• multimedia services
• Publications/writing/design services
• Web site management
•  

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• Collaboration
• Partnered with Ferris-Grand Rapids to provide
  photography support for advertising campaign and
  Kendall College of Art and Design for their
  award-winning viewbook.
• Collaborated with Admissions to ensure success
  of new Chicago student recruitment initiative and
  recommendations made by the Presidents Blue
  Ribbon
• Task Force on Enrollment.
• Assisted The Ferris Foundation with facilitating
  the 9th Annual Foundation for Excellence Benefit
  noting a 12 attendance increase to 530 guests
  and a 70 sponsorship increase to 160,000.

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• Collaboration
• Worked collaboratively with the University and
  Big Rapids community to host alumnus Chris Kunitz
  and the
• Stanley Cup.
• Teamed up with other units to manage the Bulldog
  mascot and his appearances, creating the
  potential for increased exposure for Ferris State
  University.
• Partner with academic units to engage in
  comprehensive campaign readiness.
• Collaborate cross-divisionally to develop an
  integrated marketing and recruitment plan based
  on the Universitys mission, vision and strategic
  plan.

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• Collaboration
• Expand cross-divisional relationships to
  identify image-enhancing stories.
• Continue partnering with Enrollment
  Services/Admissions to support ongoing/new
  student recruitment initiatives.
• Engage in discussions to determine how
  University videography needs for student
  recruitment and other uses can be most
  effectively met with existing and/or new
  resources.
• Collaborate with University Archives and Record
  Management Program staff to obtain hardware to
  store and protect Ferris State Universitys photo
  history.

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• Diversity
• Identified a UAM Diversity Committee to respond
  to University-wide initiatives.
• Recruited and hired a diverse major gift officer
  team.
• Support the efforts of the Alumni Relations
  office to identify and enhance gift opportunities
  for diverse populations.
• Implement UAM Diversity Committee
  recommendations and partner with other divisions
  to achieve diversity initiatives that require
  marketing and communications support.
• Ensure that all communications produced by UAM
  accurately and effectively portray the diversity
  of the Ferris State University community.

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• Engagement
• Engaged 3,500 alumni and friends at more than
  20 events in Michigan, Florida, Arizona and
  Illinois.
• Expand outreach to alumni in other states.
• Continue to engage alumni by maintaining and
  improving the quality of Crimson Gold alumni
  magazine.

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• Expansion
• Continue stewardship program to engage and
  recognize donors.
• Increase corporate and foundation outreach
  activities.
• Enhance communications and the fundraising
  potential of parents of current Ferris students.
  
• Meet the growing demand for regional/out-of-state
  alumni programming.

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• Expansion
• Continue to commit resources to meet a growing
  campus-wide need for constituent data.
• Continue to provide an optimal level of
  photographic service support to the University
  community.
• Provide adequate graphic design resources to
  effectively integrate University communications.

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• Expansion
• Pilot a program with the College of Technology
  and Office of the Provost to support marketing
  and public relations needs of the College of
  Technology.
• Continue to commit resources for Web development
  and Web design to effectively maintain and
  improve Ferris Web site.

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• Fundraising
• Received 2,588,286 in cash gifts as of 12/31/07
  
• (1 increase).
• Experienced a 15 increase in number of donors,
  totaling 4,110 as of 12/31/07.
• The Foundations investments produced a 19.5
  return on investment, outperforming its
  benchmarks.
• Increased major/planned gifts by 119 to
  1,751,247.
• Strategized to increase the number of alumni
  giving to Ferris via the annual fund in 2007 by
  34 or 4,108 and increased the amount they gave
  by 25 to 297,163.

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• Fundraising
• Developed comprehensive regional
  constituent-based fundraising program and hired
  stewardship coordinator.
• Enhanced prospect management strategies.
• Developed new Planned Giving marketing strategy.
• Conduct internal readiness audit and strategies
  for launching comprehensive capital campaign.
• Increase total cash gifts from 4.5 million to 5
  million in FY09 (excluding in-kind gifts), an
  increase of 11.
• Continue to provide resources for annual fund
  direct mail solicitations and telemarketing to
  build on current successes.

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• Fundraising
• Complete the Jim Crow Museum expansion
• project.
• Complete 2,008 personal visits in 2008 with
  alumni and friends of the University.
• Ensure success of fundraising efforts by
  monitoring and assessing performance measures of
  major gift team.

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• Image Building
• Built awareness of Ferris State University
  through increased exposure on billboards, public
  and commercial radio, media releases, print
  advertising, sponsorships and parade
  participation.
• Formed team of graphic designers from across the
  University to help strengthen graphic identify of
  Ferris State University.
• Collaborated with Academic Affairs and the
  College of Technology to arrange appearances for
  the national championship-winning Rube Goldberg
  team on the Today Show in New York City and
  Jimmy Kimmel Live in Los Angeles.

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• Image Building
• Created the new Points of Pride quarterly print
  publication to celebrate the accomplishments of
  faculty, staff and students.
• Partnered with the Pioneer and 2008 Festival of
  Arts organizers to market and promote the
  festival.
• Continue to expand the Ferris State University
  brand through a statewide marketing campaign.
• Utilize external marketing expertise to assist
  with statewide branding initiatives.

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• Improvements
• Increased stewardship activities including
  enhancing the endowment tracking and reporting
  system and scholarship awarding process.
• Improved financial and graduate roll-over
  reporting processes, as well as streamlined
  systems including pledge reminders, quarterly
  board reports and electronic journal entries.
• Expanded the Millennium seat license to provide
  access to
• All major gift officers and selected staff
  throughout the University.
• Respond more effectively to constituent needs
  through
• ongoing market research program.

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• Student Recruitment
• Produced far-reaching, award-winning
  personalized student recruitment search piece
  and other one-of-a-kind recruitment materials for
  prospective students and their parents that have
  positively impacted enrollment growth.
• Partnered with Television and Digital Media
  Production to publish multimedia content on the
  Ferris homepage that showcases student life and
  academic programs.
• Created multimedia-driven Future Students site
  to give prospective students a real slice-of-life
  experience.

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• Student Recruitment
• Work with marketing personnel and Admissions to
  develop a new Virtual Tour.
• Expand the Ferris presence on the social
  networking sites such as Facebook and YouTube.

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• Technology
• Improved contact data in the Millennium system
  to an 89.02 accuracy rate. This is significant
  considering we made 20,779 address updates and an
  additional 114,289 updates noting changes in
  phone/cell phone, e-mail, employment, etc.
• Completed Phase II of the AlumniFinder Data
  Cleansing Project for The Ferris Foundation which
  resulted in the updates of 12,581 addresses,
  9,674 phone numbers, 170 death notices, 2,258
  e-mail addresses, 8,000 (top 25) wealth scores
  and 14,671 work locations.
• Added tracking and analytical capability for Web
  pages through Google Analytics software.

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• Technology
• Added Lift-Mobile interface that allows users
  of handheld devices to receive a customized,
  text-view of Ferris Web pages. A text-only
  version of the entire Ferris Web site was
  continued for the visually impaired who use
  special text-reading software.
• Utilized in-house staff expertise to produce
  commercial quality video for Ferris Foundation
  Benefit.
• Video Presentation

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• Technology
• Continue using upgraded and expanded Content
  Management Systems to redesign and improve the
  usability and appearance of college Web sites and
  other key areas.
• Continue to seek external expertise to keep
  Ferris State Universitys rankings high in the
  search engine keyword searches.
• Increase the number of registered users of the
  Alumni Online Community Web site (25,000) by
  continuing one-time funding to keep the site
  fully operational and interactive.
• Continue to implement a new platform for the
  Alumni Association Online Community Web site,
  www.ferrisalumni.org.

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• Technology
• Utilize University-Wide Notices to promote
  Ferris in the News, which mentions Ferris State
  University media placements locally, nationally
  and internationally.
• Develop FYI Online into the campus primary
  resource for current news and events about Ferris
  State University faculty, staff and students.

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• Training
• Developed comprehensive training program for
  major gift and administrative assistant staff.
• Established formal mentoring program for new
  employees.
• Expand professional development/training
  opportunities for major gift team to ensure
  campaign readiness and provide them with adequate
  staff support.
• Continue to improve crisis communications by
  supporting the recommendations of the Information
  Technology Communications Task Force and
  participating in Emergency Response Team and
  other training and seminars.
• Engage in campaign communications readiness
• planning.

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• THANK YOU