Leveraging Relationships in University Fundraising: An Analysis of Faculty Advisee Groups and Alumni Networks

Fundraising is based on relationship building, yet university fundraisers often underuse data about alumni connections to faculty and to other alumni. Fundraising offices have not prioritized the collection of relationship data, and so despite its importance, it is often missing, hidden, or inaccessible. However, the discrepancy underscores an opportunity. This client-based project used a combination of recommender systems, network graphing, and data visualization to help a university fundraising department discover and leverage its network of alumni and post-docs. The project resulted in two dashboards, one focused on faculty advisee groups and the other an alumni network map. The advisee group dashboard made it easy for fundraising analysts to see each faculty advisor’s alums and post-docs, compare the philanthropy of the groups, and strategize about potential fundraising initiatives based on the data. The network map was created using the results of a relationship recommender system, which suggested relations based on the shared campus experiences of alumni, such as living in the same dorm or participating in the same student club. The network dashboard helped identify previously unknown connections between engaged alumni and their unengaged peers. The fundraising department then used these relationships to create new strategies for connecting with alumni who had been difficult to engage. Together, the dashboards enabled the department to take advantage of relationship-based fundraising opportunities that would have otherwise been missed. The project demonstrated the value in treating fundraising not just as an art, but as a data-driven science.