Partnership Power

Tout Your Alumni

A 2012 billboard campaign helped build awareness for Red River College's brand, so it was natural for the Canadian institution to also feature outdoor ads in its spring 2015 "Our Grads Get Hired" campaign. The college also added a twist: It invited companies to nominate RRC alumni employees to be recognized as workplace VIPs, regardless of their title. Businesses paid up to 50 percent of the costs for the print and/or digital billboards, which incorporated the logos of both RRC and each company. The outcome? Partnerships with 41 organizations, more than $41,000 in revenue from cooperative advertising fees, 600 new student applications resulting from targeted digital ads, and improved public perception of the college's impact on the province's workforce.

Red River College's advertising campaign received a 2016 Circle of Excellence Award, Silver.

Professional Development from Day One

Guide to Onboarding Success

To prepare for the September 2016 launch of a £600 million campaign, University College London's Development and

Alumni Relations Office (DARO) needed to hire and onboard dozens of employees—many new to working in advancement and higher education.

The result was Destination DARO, a program initiated in 2015 to ensure that new staff members comprehend their roles, DARO's values and strategic objectives, and advancement's impact on UCL. During the first three months, the Destination DARO Passport guides employees through a range of activities to deepen their understanding of DARO's work and the university, from speaking with a scholarship student to visiting a UCL museum.

University College London earned a 2016 Circle of Excellence Award, Gold, in the professional and staff development category.

All-the-Feels Video

When Campus Becomes Home Away from Home

The opening scenes of The Journey Begins evoke the mix of nerves and homesickness a freshman experiences in her first few weeks on campus—and then viewers see her joy as she starts to find both her way and her squad through a campus dance class. The 75-second video from Colgate University aims to achieve two goals: introduce the New York institution's rebranded annual fund and encourage alumni to give. The video, featured on social media and emailed to all alumni, became the university's most successful based on both audience consumption and gifts received within 24 hours of its launch.

Colgate University won a 2016 Circle of Excellence Award, Gold, in the short fundraising videos category.