Philanthropic giving to universities in the United States increased by 3% in 2024, according to CASE Insights on Voluntary Support of Education. Can your academic institution be a part of this trend? Absolutely! 

With today’s challenging political and economic backdrop, academic leaders are increasingly relying on university fundraising to support the post-secondary experience for students and researchers alike. In fact, college fundraising accounts for an average of 10.2% of an institution’s educational and general expenditures.

Without strong support from alumni, foundations, and non-alumni individuals, universities risk losing their important role in preparing the leaders of the future. It’s the leaders of these academic institutions who must find creative and effective measures to keep the giving going strong.

In this article, you’ll learn the fundamentals for creating a university fundraising strategy that works. After reviewing the common challenges to development efforts, we'll cover best practices to inspire meaningful giving with tools that save your valuable resources. You’ll be able to craft a plan to execute for the benefit of your university — and the future leaders enrolled.

How is university fundraising structured?

Development professionals responsible for university fundraising know their work is multi-faceted. There are many different sources of college fundraising, including: 

• Alumni giving: This method works directly with the individuals most invested in your institution: former students! Alumni giving focuses on engaging graduates to support the next generation of leaders.
• University foundations: Leadership can set up non-profit organizations to directly support the university through contributions from non-student donors.
• Endowments: With endowments, universities invest financial gifts and use the income to support their institutions for the long term. Often, this investment income must be used for a specific purpose, like updating buildings or funding research.
• Grants and institutional giving: Many individuals, corporations, and governments offer grants for universities and colleges. These funds typically require an application and evaluation process.
• High-impact donor relations: Cultivating top donors demands extra effort from leaders. Developing strong relationships with high-value donors can inspire continued giving and make it easier to ask for large or urgent contributions.
• School- or program-specific efforts: These targeted, time-bound campaigns are especially effective when working with a segmented audience of your alumni.

For a long-term fundraising strategy, it’s best to incorporate all of these forms of support, but creating this structure takes time. To prioritize your university fundraising strategies, start with what seems most realistic with your team’s current capabilities. Once you have clear progress with one source, you can implement new opportunities from this list as your capacity grows. 

Common challenges in university fundraising

To find the most success with different college fundraising ideas, you must prepare your team to avoid some of the most common pitfalls. Here is a look at challenges you may run into.

Low alumni giving engagement

The national average of alumni who give to their alma mater is a surprisingly low 7.7%, according to a 2025 survey by U.S. News & World Report. And most of these gifts weren’t the mega-donations that make headlines.

The most recent State of Alumni Giving Report by Hanover Research states that the majority of donations were less than $500. One-time gifts of $10,000 and more were just 3% of all donations, the report added.

University leaders often look to alumni as the main means of support, as they are the most invested in the future success of the institution. If engagement is low, you'll need to be creative beyond conventional fundraising approaches to reach your goals.

To overcome this challenge, focus on holistic alumni giving efforts. Keep them engaged by building stronger relationships rather than only asking for donations. This may mean expanding and segmenting your email list to send regular e-newsletters, invitations to targeted alumni networking events, or even promoting the work of alumni. 

Changing donor habits and priorities

Approximately three-quarters of American adults reported giving to charities in 2025, according to a survey by the Associated Press and the NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. However, the majority of adults under the age of 45 have given nothing, regardless of their income.

At the same time, there’s been a rise in donor-advised funds, according to the National Philanthropic Trust’s 2024 report. These funds provide avenues for charitable giving, but advisors also determine the payout rates based on the fluctuations in fund assets. 

These funds aren’t the only giving mechanisms that are influenced by economic conditions. Changes in the stock market, inflation concerns, unemployment rates, and more can impact donors’ willingness to give. Individual donors are less likely to support even their favorite charities and schools when they are concerned with trends in their savings.

What’s more, donors are more likely than ever to prefer restricted giving. When they know exactly how their contributions will be used, they often feel more secure in donating. General support campaigns can still yield impressive results, but you may wish to incorporate targeted campaigns for specific projects, too.

Technological limitations

Another common challenge university fundraising professionals encounter is outdated tech. Schedule time to review — and update, if necessary — your donor management system to ensure you're taking advantage of every fundraising opportunity available to you.  Modern alumni fundraising tracking systems connect directly with donations-focused email marketing platforms and other customer relationship management tools.

Take a critical look at the giving pages on your website. Are they mobile-responsive? Update your website to make it easy for people who operate primarily on their cell phones or tablets.

How to inspire alumni giving

Now that you know how to avoid common challenges, let’s look at best practices you can integrate to drive alumni giving beyond your current levels.

Integrate fundraising into other engagement efforts

Development is built on strong relationships, which is why university fundraising should always include targeted engagement efforts. Create opportunities for giving at alumni-only networking events by having a table dedicated to donations and email sign-ups. Encourage mentorship opportunities between alumni and staff through an email campaign segmented for each school in your university. Remind your graduates of the long-term value of a relationship with their college by sharing profiles of graduates who are doing great things with the school’s support.

At the same time, remember that giving requests should sometimes be separate from relationship-nurturing efforts. For example, alumni audience engagement should include in-depth alumni magazines and e-newsletters with exciting updates, articles relevant to alumni interests, and annual reports showcasing achievements, plus video-rich social media content to keep them engaged online.

To increase alumni engagement, Wake Forest University highlights the impact the school makes on its graduates through dedicated profiles. Image Source: Wake Forest University.

When you do ask for donations, consider adding incentives. For example, you could produce bags or t-shirts with your university logo or a unique donor-exclusive graphic for your alumni to wear with pride.

Tailor your alumni outreach

Graduates will have a wide range of interests and connections within your university, so you must target your ask as narrowly as possible to grab their attention. For example, a new building remodel in the business school probably won’t be of interest to your art school graduates. However, donation requests for science equipment or study abroad grants will catch the attention of those who benefited from those opportunities while in school.

You should always personalize messages so they speak directly to the recipient. To do this, create different email templates for different segments in your email list. This way, you can focus on the specific giving priorities that are most important to each group. 

Another way to tailor your alumni outreach is to connect university fundraising to philanthropy efforts by the various sororities and fraternities on campus. Work with current leadership to develop outreach strategies that they’ll be excited to support.

The goal is to prioritize human connections when developing your college fundraising ideas. Most people are motivated to donate because they believe in a cause or an idea, so tap into their passion to connect them with your institution. For instance, if your school has a journalism program, its graduates may be excited to fund a new weekly student newspaper. The MBA grads may prefer donating to a business mentoring program. Be specific while knowing what your alumni care about.

Utilize an alumni matching program

If your school has a good relationship with employers who often hire your graduates, you may be able to double or even triple your donations through matching gift requests. Sponsored programs make it easier and more attractive for alumni to give. Even the university officials may be willing to match alumni contributions — have you asked them?

Your university sponsors can also be powerful higher ed fundraising partners. Step back and take a big-picture look at the businesses and organizations associated with the school. You may discover new giving opportunities!

Update giving day traditions

Giving days — dedicated days in the calendar year to encourage alumni to donate — are an increasingly popular way for colleges and universities to raise funds. If you haven’t scheduled one yet, now’s the time. If you already have a giving day on the schedule, start this year’s process by evaluating last year’s results. Look for what worked well and where you can improve.

Try adding a theme to this year’s event to increase interactivity. You may wish to create in-person or virtual events, such as talent shows or cocktail hours. Or, you can design a giving day with a specific funding priority, such as increasing your endowment or funding the construction of a new building.

Boston University raised more than $4.5 million on Giving Day and added a video thanking donors as part of the campaign. Image Source: Boston University.

Try breaking up your giving days by having events for the entire university as well as for each school. This way, you can be even more targeted and creative in your fundraising asks. For example, if you have a theatre program, you could encourage alumni to donate with a fundraising show!

Higher ed fundraising strategies to implement

Of course, you'll need to do some administrative work on the back end to make the most of your strengthened relationships. Implement these strategies to keep donations going.

Build exclusive donor groups

Everyone loves being asked to join an exclusive club, so organize a legacy society for those who have committed to planned giving. Invite high-level donors to university events, such as commencements and building openings. To engage repeat donors, organize creative events like cocktail hours, day trips, or sports nights in different cities.  

The goal is to show your most valuable supporters that you appreciate them and are invested in growing your relationships with them.

Audit your donor lists

If you aren’t sure which donors are your most valuable — or even what type of donor you’d like to target with your next fundraising email campaign — it may be worth the extra effort to evaluate your donor data organization practices. Weed out any outdated information, identify new details worth adding, and ensure that your team understands the protocol for updates.

Then, you’re ready to start segmenting your general group into smaller ones. The more refined your audience is, the easier it is to personalize your messages to what most interests them. 

Change your communication strategies based on donation frequency or value. That is, the emails sent to your high-value donors should include large contribution requests that align with their previous donations. Show that you respect them as a supporter by sending infrequent donation requests. Donors who support on a lower level, on the other hand, can receive more frequent, smaller requests.

Nurture donor relationships to improve donor retention

The best way to strengthen donor relationships and increase donor retention is to keep your institution top of mind. Think of this like a friend. You’re more likely to value friendships with people who reach out regularly, share their good news, and talk to you about the things you’re interested in. 

Start this process before a student graduates. Share all the ways alumni benefit from long-term relationships with the school at a pre-graduation cocktail party or coffee hour. Invite them to sign up for your e-newsletters and surveys to get them engaged right away.

Let’s underscore that last point: Don’t make every interaction with your donors an ask for money. You can certainly include ways to give in your email messages, but prioritize relationship building over financial support. Share good news, updates about alumni, and successes from past campaigns they may have contributed to.

Create short, strategic campaign timelines

Offer your supporters multiple opportunities and reasons throughout the fiscal year to give to the school. Instead of having one big campaign, space out university fundraising with short campaigns focused on a single initiative. Remember: Attention spans are short! Keep outreach and donation pledge timelines between one and three months in length.

While it seems like you’d be less likely to raise large amounts in shorter timeframes, remember that little wins add up. Some campaigns require longer timelines to meet bigger goals, such as major capital fundraising initiatives. But sprinkling in smaller goals along the way will give supporters extra incentives to make a difference for their alma mater.

Include fundraising goals in academic planning

Reach out to department heads beyond the development and alumni relations departments when discussing timelines and smaller campaigns. You may be surprised at the needs, ideas, and goals of each school and departmental staff. They’ll especially appreciate working with you if your work directly improves their academic efforts.

What’s more, combining university fundraising with academic goals allows you to leverage the relationships departmental staff and leaders have with their current and former students. Talk with them about new ways to foster these relationships for the long-term success of the school.

Include online giving options for donors

You’ll need to meet your donors where they are, and today’s professionals aren’t far from their devices. Give alumni the option of receiving SMS texts to keep them up to date on university news and fundraising opportunities.

At the same time, make sure your donation pages are optimized for both desktop and mobile viewing. You may even want to utilize a university mobile app to connect with donors, as well. By integrating your digital marketing efforts, you can streamline the donation process and foster stronger donor relationships. 

How universities are implementing AI and automation

Speaking of technology, don’t be afraid to adapt! Consider integrating artificial intelligence (AI) into the university fundraising process. University leadership is utilizing AI more than ever to automate repetitive tasks, personalize outreach, and get insights into which alumni to target for bigger asks. AI can save you significant time when crafting relevant messages that improve engagement and lead to more donations over time.

As you experiment with AI in marketing and fundraising, check in with your donors to see how they’d like to receive communications. For example, if they use social media to connect with you, you could consider building an AI-powered chatbot for your most popular platforms. Just remember to be transparent with your audience about how AI is used in your processes.

University fundraising starts with strategy

As you work to refine your university fundraising strategy, it’s best to break up the work into chunks. Start by identifying the different types of support — from alumni gifts to growing your endowment to finding grants — and prioritize which make the most sense to pursue based on the development department’s capacity.

Then, brainstorm new ways to connect with each school’s graduates. Remember: The more segmented and targeted your alumni audience, the easier it will be to craft messages and fundraising campaigns that resonate and help you meet your goals.

As you work to implement all the strategies in this guide, you’ll want to use the best available tools for engaging your alumni. Constant Contact's multi-account system helps higher ed institutions maintain brand control and streamline marketing efforts. With features like lockable email templates, automation sharing, campaign approval, central send, and more, you can ensure every email and SMS message will be professional and effective. Request a demo to explore how Constant Contact can help save time and drive results across departments.