"The College Review is an email newsletter published six times a year in January, March, May, July, September, and November. Its primary audience is young alumni (defined as graduates of the last 10 years) of the University of Chicago’s undergraduate college. The College Review is also sent to fourth-year students and parents of all current college students.
During UChicago’s most recent philanthropic campaign, which concluded in 2019, we realized we needed to work harder to connect with young college alumni to achieve the campaign’s ambitious engagement and participation goals—and to build a pipeline of engaged alumni for future campaigns. After almost a year of researching successful email newsletters and developing a content strategy, we sent the first issue of College Review in February 2017. We knew young alumni weren’t reading print as much as older alumni and that email newsletters had become increasingly popular with this age group. And because young alumni tend to move frequently, an email address is often the most reliable way to stay in contact.
While the newsletter includes “Support the College” link at the very end, the goal is not short-term fundraising, but long-term engagement."
From the Judges
These are so well done! The strategy is solid—data-led, research-based, and smart—and the content is creative and compelling and youthful. Great open rates! As one judge said, “I like that they had a vision for the style and feel of the communications, as well as what they wanted to accomplish. They did this right.”
