Give Them What They Want
CURRENTS Article The University of Connecticut is devising new communications strategies, including experimenting with email segmentation, to make its philanthropic messaging relevant.

Graduates Rank Email as Most Effective Communications Tool
Article College and university alumni believe email is the most effective way for their alma maters to communicate with them, according to the results of a survey exploring donor motivation as well as the communications and philanthropic preferences of graduates.

Season's E-Greetings! Great Examples of Year-End Outreach
Jen Doak for the CASE Social Media Blog
Sample Collection This post includes a sampling of video and Flash e-cards and tips for effective year-end communications. It links to a compilation of samples on the College Web Editor blog, where readers shared links to greetings from their institutions in the comments.

Mobile E-mail Use Popular Among Young Adults
Article Adults between the ages of 18-24 are 46 percent more likely to access e-mail on mobile devices than mobile users on average, according to a media study by digital marketing company comScore. They're also less likely than in previous years to use web-based e-mail.

AdvanceWork: Manic Monday
CURRENTS Article E-mail marketers aren’t sending their messages on the days recipients are most likely to read them, according to a recent eROI study. “How’s Monday for You?” reports that marketers send more than 2.3 million e-mails on Thursdays, but only 24.2 percent of those messages are read. By comparison, 34.6 percent of the more than 1 million messages sent on Mondays are read.

Winners at Heart
CURRENTS Article Profiles of 12 winners of CASE’s 2004 Circle of Excellence awards. The winning alumni relations programs offered creative ways to generate revenue, use technology, or support a campus cause. In the development categories, campuses showed how to use flash e-mail annual giving solicitations and speech-writing students to attract donors. Communications winners relied on humor, creativity, and unconventional publications. And top advancement services shops highlighted the importance of identifying top campus prospects, working as a team, and maintaining accurate data.

AdvanceWork: Why So Formal?
CURRENTS Article Stanford University recently tested four different salutations on an e-mail to alumni inviting them to participate in an online survey. Surprisingly, young alumni responded better to a formal salutation than to an informal or generic one.

Many Happy Returns
CURRENTS Article In the two years after launching a free monthly e-mail alumni newsletter, the Stanford Alumni Association conducted three surveys of recipients. The results provided information on reader preferences for length, format, and content. Data also suggested that the newsletter promotes positive feelings and a sense of connection with the institution. An additional study of giving records found higher donor participation among newsletter recipients.