Freelance editorial content writer and strategist specializing in B2B, healthcare, federal tech, higher education, independent education, and philanthropy
I've been off a campus for more than four years, but I still have a fervent wish around graduation time: I wish I'd found a way to make a list of every scholarship recipient who was graduating and get their post-commencement email address. Why? Yes, you can tell a good story about the impact of a scholarship gift from the perspective of a student recipient. A scholarship helps them attend the institution and reduces their need to take on debt to do so. But at that point, you're talking about potential -- not results. You can't talk about what the scholarship helped them *do* with their life. What experiences did they have? Who did they help with their expertise? How did their college degree change the trajectory of their life--and their family's? That's the true impact story of higher ed philanthropy: Not just opening the door to college, but opening the door to a life that can make a difference in the world. These stories can't be told while students are on campus, so you have to keep track of those alumni after they leave. Here's an invitation to my fellow advancement communicators to do something I always wanted to, but didn't: >Work with alumni and development colleagues to cultivate a scholarship alumni database. Alternatively, work together to find a way to denote scholarship-recipient status in your existing alumni record. Start now, with the Class of 2024. >Find a creative way to collect contact information for these alumni, or collaborate with campus partners who may be doing this work already. >Make a plan to check in with your scholarship alumni once a year, or even every two years. Keep a record of what they're up to and how they're doing. >Refer back to this living resource whenever you're in need of a story for a campaign close, to steward a donor, or even to confirm that an alum who's made big news benefited from a scholarship while a student at your institution. If you make this happen, let me know -- I'd love to know how it looks in action!
