The Advancement Office at Coe is committed to promoting the college, building relationships, and garnering resources. Every class at Coe College has benefited from previous generations of alumni, whose success and generosity enable current students to fully capitalize on their collegiate experiences. However, an alarming trend has developed of late, whereby the percentage of alumni who give back, specifically to the Coe Fund, is on the decline. As the following chart illustrates, Coe College is currently in the bottom third as compared to our peer ACM Colleges in percent of alumni giving:
I have been at Coe for 15 years, and typically travel to visit alumni about half of the time, usually with President Phifer. Coe’s Development Officers and Alumni Director Jean Johnson travel a similar amount, if not more. All of us compare notes on our travels, and form various opinions. Our most prominent judgment about alumni is that there exists a deep-seated admiration for Coe, and a conviction that this is a place that changed thousands of lives for the better. However, after literally thousands of visits, we have noticed a real anomaly that leaves us perplexed: despite widespread affection, both overall giving and the participation rate among our alumni are extremely low compared to institutions in the Associated Colleges of the Midwest and other peer groups. It is our hope that this survey will give us information to address the issue.
This survey focuses on the Coe Fund. We hope to learn if you and other alumni understand what the Coe Fund does, and why it is so important to the college. Are our communications about the Fund appropriate, interesting, or even read? Does “participation rate” (from above) resonate with you, and are you aware how it is used? Do we use effective media to communicate, do you enjoy hearing from student callers, and do advertisements for the Fund in the Courier attract your attention? Would you rather make a restricted gift than a Coe Fund gift? And so on.
Honest responses to this survey will help us make decisions about the Coe Fund that could have a profound effect upon the college for years to come. Given all the tremendous advances at your alma mater over the last 15 years, the anomaly that is the Coe Fund continues to confound. Help us learn more, and in so doing, help strengthen the place that has done so much for so many.
Coe has retained The Alford Group to conduct this analysis, and for your convenience, this survey will be posted online on the coe.edu site for a period of two weeks. I am also including a direct link to the survey; please click: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/CoeCollege to share your opinions. The Alford Group will keep your identity in strictest confidence, and all data reported back to Coe College will be in an anonymous format.
If you are unable to access the survey electronically and would like a hard copy, please contact my Assistant, Nancy Roth at nroth@coe.edu or 319.399.8555 to request a paper copy. Finally, to illustrate the importance of this effort, I have contributed an iPad2 that will be given to one lucky participant. Awarding this anonymously will be difficult, so, to qualify, please send an email to o-advancement@coe.edu with the words, “I qualify” in the subject line.
Thank you for your help. Your input will make a difference.
Sincerely,
Dick Meisterling
