Wooing Millennials

Millennial alumni are famously unsupportive of their alma maters, and Susquehanna University is no exception. Ron Cohen, who oversees advancement for the university, has an unconventional solution: Stop asking for money.

Until 2012, Susquehanna, like many other colleges, pushed seniors to make a small gift before graduation. But in the minds of many students, they were already teed up for at least a decade of “donations” to Susquehanna—in the form of student-loan payments.

“We might have asked them three or four times whether they would participate in the senior gift campaign,” says Mr. Cohen, whose title is vice president for university relations. “We were setting them up to say ‘No, no, no.’”

Now the university is focused on getting graduating seniors and young alumni to say yes to involvement with the university—even if that involvement isn’t accompanied by a check. It’s a philosophical shift that more college development offices are embracing. Even if millennials are providing scant support today, the thinking goes, as long as they stay connected to the institution in a meaningful way, large gifts are likely to come when the young alumni, now in their 20s and 30s, are older and wealthier.

Susquehanna now gives graduating seniors six options for the senior campaign, and asks them to participate in at least one. The students can still make a gift if they choose, but they can also make a nonfinancial contribution, like telling the admissions office about a potential applicant who might be a good fit, or agreeing to participate in SU Serve, a coordinated day of university volunteerism.

“If we get them saying yes, it becomes harder for them to say no—and that’s what we want the case to be over the next 50 to 60 years,” Mr. Cohen says.

James Langley, a Washington-based fund-raising consultant who spent 30 years in academe, says that among the colleges he works with, the proportion of alumni who have given any amount to their alma mater for 10 or more consecutive years peaked among classes that graduated in the 1970s. It had been declining before the millennials even came on the scene, he notes.

Fund-raising experts say colleges are wise to develop stronger ties to young alumni, even if their gifts don’t cover the cost of the outreach efforts. The long-term risk—that the millennial generation never becomes a major source of support—is too great for most colleges to ignore.

Other institutions are also finding new ways to connect with young alumni. For a new fund-raising campaign to mark its 125th anniversary, Whitworth University, in Spokane, Wash., is asking alumni to contact the university to record the financial or service contributions they make at any nonprofit. The goal is to raise awareness about Whitworth’s role in making the world a better place.

An added benefit for the university, notes Scott McQuilkin, vice president for institutional advancement, is that it gains a greater sense of which of its younger alumni are most civic-oriented. “At some point they will need to become our most-important financial supporters,” he says.

Some institutions are scaling back their investments in tailgate parties and happy hours to provide more career-focused programming for young alumni. Dan Klamm, a 2008 Syracuse University graduate who works at his alma mater, was promoted to a new role 30 months ago—figuring out how to strengthen connections with the more than 10,000 young alumni of Syracuse in New York City.

He has since organized discussion panels in the city on topics like personal finance, becoming a first-time manager, apartment hunting, and entrepreneurism.

“If the young alumni have the sense that the university is behind their professional ascent, they’ll be more likely to give back in future years,” Mr. Klamm says.

Colgate University is supporting alumni who assemble around common interests, like a recent session on New York City real estate organized by the Colgate Real Estate Council, a group of alumni working in commercial real estate.

Timothy C. Mansfield, Colgate’s associate vice president for advancement and alumni relations, has shared the idea with development officials at other colleges, and picked their brains on how best to engage millennials.

“We’re all buzzing about which schools are doing this right,” he says.

So far, few have hit the sweet spot. In a 2014 report on millennial-alumni giving by the research firm Achieve and The Chronicle of Philanthropy, three-quarters of responding young alumni said they would give to another nonprofit before they’d give to their alma maters. Most cited a strong “emotional connection” to the other charity. More than half had not made a financial contribution to their alma mater, and nearly two-thirds of that group cited lack of money as the primary reason. A third said they thought their donation would go to better use elsewhere.

Indeed, many young alumni cringe when their alma mater’s name shows up on their phones. But Kyle Robertson, a 2011 Susquehanna graduate working for JP Morgan Chase in New York City, says several of his classmates were surprised to get a call from Susquehanna asking them to participate in SU Serve, the day of service held each April. Mr. Robertson, who serves on the university’s alumni board, says his classmates expected to be hit up for money, and were happy to learn that the university cared about the volunteering they do. “It’s a much more positive experience for the alumni,” says Mr. Robertson, who gives more than $500 per year to Susquehanna.

Mr. Langley, the fund-raising consultant, says sincere efforts to connect with alumni will pay off down the road.

“If I’m in the congregation and we’re working together and sharing values, then when you pass the basket, I understand what it’s about,” he says.

Engaged millennials are also likely to become part of a committed core who help find other supporters. The University of Massachusetts at Amherst tries to reach young alumni through UMass Gives, an annual 36-hour crowdfunding effort for specific projects on campus. The university has enlisted 200 “ambassadors"—supportive alumni, many of whom are influential on social networks like Facebook and Twitter—to help promote the campaign, which began two years ago and is held each spring.

Colleges are also handing out perks that were once reserved only for those who could write big checks. Colgate alumni who have graduated within the past three years can join the Presidents’ Club, which features free admission to special events and invitations to swanky dinners with Colgate’s president, by donating just $100 per year. Susquehanna, which has long recognized major donors at an event during the fall, is now including alumni who make significant nonfinancial contributions in such areas as student recruiting and career development.

Mr. Cohen says he hit upon the idea after learning about a 26-year-old alumnus at another institution who was voluntarily attending college fairs on behalf of the college and making meaningful contacts with about 100 prospective applicants per year. Of those 100 students, 20 might apply, and perhaps three would enroll—enough to generate partial tuition revenue of $20,000 per student per year. That adds up $240,000 for the college by the time each student graduates.

Says Mr. Cohen: “We have way more people who can do what that 26-year-old has done than can write a check for $240,000.”

Corrections (3/11/2015, 9:07 p.m.): This article originally contained two errors about Dan Klamm, a Syracuse alumnus and official. He was promoted 30 months ago, not 18 months ago, and his new job involves building ties with the university’s 10,000 young alumni, not 10,000 alumni, in New York City. The article has been updated to reflect those corrections.

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