“Bringing the Aggie Spirit to You” was a joint initiative between Donor Engagement, the Office of Gift Planning, and the Marketing department at the Texas A&M Foundation put into motion after the beginning of the pandemic. Membership in the Heritage Society is extended to donors who have designated the Texas A&M Foundation as a beneficiary, in any capacity, of their estate. The majority of our Heritage Members are in the COVID-19 “high risk” demographic because of their age. The Office of Gift Planning had four events scheduled for their Heritage Members during the spring across the state of Texas, which were all quickly canceled for the safety of our donors.
Utilizing our events budget, we decided to partner with an underutilized asset, the Texas A&M University Press, a full academic publishing company located on the Texas A&M campus, to connect with our Heritage Members when we couldn't meet with them as originally intended. The concept was to offer a complimentary book to every Heritage Member to let them know they were being thought of during this time when they might not have in-person contact with many people.
Following the success and engagement with the book request, we then worked together again to host an exclusive Zoom Author Chat, where we connected members from the Texas A&M Press, the Office of Gift Planning, the author of a featured book, and our Heritage Members together.
