发展办公室 finds new ways to bring people together
When the COVID-19 pandemic sent MU’s 发展办公室 packing for home in March, fundraising and alumni staff had to reimagine their jobs.
On-campus Giving Day activities were canceled and no in-person visits or events with alumni were allowed.
“The pandemic forced us out of our comfort zones and into a virtual space we hadn’t really utilized,” Kylee Rosenbaum, 11届Moss他是校友关系主管. “For me, it felt very challenging, but I also recognized that this was the new norm. We were going to have to learn to adapt to this.”
Adapting meant scrapping Moss’s plans for on-campus Giving Day activities in late April. The annual one-day fundraiser was rescheduled for June 3 and the alumni team started exploring ideas for virtual connections with alumni that would complement Giving Day’s email outreach and robust social media presence.
“For me, Giving Day is more about people engaging with Manchester than anything else,莫斯说。. “Knowing that people were worried about the coronavirus and their finances, we thought let’s not worry so much about fundraising and just focus on connecting with people.”
The result was the best of both worlds. 捐赠日筹得创纪录的235美元,650英镑捐给曼彻斯特基金, and the virtual events that brought people together on Zoom and Facebook Live have forever changed the way Moss looks at alumni outreach.
“It was a fun way to engage with alumni who are not local,莫斯说。. “Even if they are local, they might not be able to get out of the house right now.”
Giving Day featured a coffee hour with President 戴夫·麦克法登，1982年 在Facebook Live上, a cooking class with MU Dining staff, a cookie-baking lesson from education Professor 希瑟·怀特·席林，90年，以及曼彻斯特知识竞赛. Moss asked MU’s music faculty to help with a virtual happy hour, which featured live music from a faculty member, 一个刚毕业，一个是校友. 莫斯说:“这真是有趣的一天.
Giving Day’s overwhelming success has given Moss and her staff the confidence to connect with alumni in other virtual formats.
The 校友 Book Club used to meet in person on the North Manchester campus, but moved to Zoom meetings this summer. 小组阅读 一路走来, a coming-of-age story set on Manchester’s campus during the Vietnam War and written by 迈克尔·莫里斯71年.
“读书俱乐部真的很棒,莫斯说。, who has decided to keep the club meetings virtual after the pandemic. 为什么? Because anyone with internet access can participate, not just people who live close to campus. “We had an alumna from Pennsylvania join us this time, something that could not have happened before,莫斯说。. “She hadn’t been back to campus for years, but she could feel connected with the virtual book club.”
Also getting into the virtual space this summer was the President’s Society celebration, 协调下 Megan Julian ' 07 Sarber, manager of donor relations in the 发展办公室. The event on Zoom attracted 56 participants and included an update from President Dave McFadden, remarks by Board of Trustees Chair John Zeglis, 感谢的表达 海莉·法里斯，20岁, and a time for questions and answers.
“It was fun to try some of the features of Zoom,” Sarber. Before the events, she sent participants a link to a video of rensame Fancher McFadden 1982年 烘烤饼干. “Then we used a poll feature in Zoom to ask participants whether they preferred creamy or crunchy peanut butter. It wasn’t relevant to the President’s Society meeting, but it was fun and helped get people engaged in the conversation as the meeting began.”
Sarber expects Advancement will use the virtual format for other donor events until the pandemic eases.
Even in a post-pandemic world, however, Moss says virtual gatherings aren’t going away.
In August, the alumni office provided four:
- “Judging a Beer by its Cover” with Associate Professor Michelle Calka who talked via Zoom about her experience with diversity in the craft brewing industry, 她的休假研究课题.
- “和蒂姆·布劳赫一起徒步旅行,” associate professor of mathematics who teaches a hiking course and discussed the basics of hiking 在Facebook Live上.
- Jeff Diesburg的水彩画,” associate professor of art who helped participants create a watercolor painting via Facebook Live.
- “Hosta and Shade Gardening Tips and Tricks” a Zoom event with MU’s first lady Renée McFadden.
“I think virtual meetings on platforms such as Zoom are going to be the new norm, 除了面对面的活动,莫斯说。. There is no cost involved, and meetings can be recorded for other people to watch.
“It’s a great way to engage with people who are not able to come to campus and it’s a great way to bring Manchester into their homes,莫斯说。. “People have fun connecting with each other. 它把人们聚集在一起.”
By 梅林达·兰茨，81届