From the Nominator

"Swatober is a beloved annual tradition among young alums. After a pandemic pause in 2020, we were unsure if we could bring back the lighthearted, playful challenge our young alums had grown to love--and if so, was this the right time? 

Working closely with internal partners and consulting with young alumni volunteers, we decided that something fun and refreshing would resonate. Thus, our Back to the Future-inspired Swatober theme for 2021 was born. To bring a renewed sense of joy and levity, we relied on video, email, and social media to communicate the Back to the Future theme. Our video, shot and edited to feel like a movie trailer, featured our dean of admissions (also an alum) ​​alongside a current student. We featured the video on Facebook, reaching over 9,000 people and generating 1,300 engagements (clicks or views).  

We also had a goal to increase the number of young alumni making recurring gifts. Our initial plan to use socks as a physical incentive for recurring giving fell through, so we quickly pivoted by collaborating with our colleagues in individual giving. We identified a challenger who was willing to match each recurring gift with a $400 donation. In addition the $100 challenge gift for all gifts, this meant recurring donors were triggering a $500 matching gift.  

The results were phenomenal: 25% of all donors to the campaign made a recurring gift and we saw an astounding 84% increase in recurring young alumni gifts from all previous Swatobers combined."

From the Judges

Incentivised challenge recurring gifts and managed to increase the recurring gifts by 30%. With all in-house existing staff and no budget, their video was great and helped to maximize their ROI.