How West Virginia University maximized its resources to capitalize on fundraising efforts.

West Virginia University (WVU) strategically approached its fundraising efforts by embracing tools and services in the LEARFIELD family. Working in collaboration with Paciolan’s marketing team, WVU went all-in on its digital marketing efforts. For its Time2Climb digital media campaign targeting football and basketball ticket buyers and a lookalike of their donors, WVU allowed users to raise their hands for potential donations.

The lead generation ads on digital provided a new way for WVU to reach potential donors. ​

These campaigns were powered with Fanbase data, a LEARFIELD data product. Fanbase helps organizations better understand their fans by appending third-party data to enrich fan profiles. Armed with this data, the Paciolan digital marketing team can deliver targeted campaigns based on fan profiles. In this instance, Fanbase data helped identify ticket buyers who were not yet donors but had the capacity to give.

By applying the Fanbase data to the digital lead generation campaign on Facebook Ads, WVU garnered new warm leads. Next, WVU took advantage of LEARFIELD Amplify‘s expanded development-focused services. Alex Boatman, a Development Specialist on the WVU LEARFIELD Amplify team, called leads generated from the Time2Climb campaign to discuss their willingness to donate.

Boatman secured a $100,000 contribution and an additional $100,000 donation scheduled for next year through discussions with a potential donor! The best part was that this donor had only ever given $100 historically towards the Mountaineer Athletic Club. The following week, the donor delivered the $100k check to the WVU office. The staff has formed a relationship with this donor and checks in with him regularly.

After starting his career in the development vertical with LEARFIELD Amplify, Alex Boatman is now working full-time for the West Virginia University Foundation as a Major Gift Officer. Boatman is one of many staff success stories that grew their fundraising career within the LEARFIELD Amplify family.

This story, like many others, reinforces the power of tapping into available resources like Fanbase and the importance of collaboration.

Co-Author Credit: Brenda Ramsey, Creative Director, Paciolan