subject: Contact previous and potential sponsors by tracing your alumni [print this page] Contact previous and potential sponsors by tracing your alumni
If you've been trying to raise funds and find sponsorship for your university or college, targeting your alumni members could prove to be a highly effective route to help your worthy cause; these people have a shared affinity with your campaign and as potentially high earners they can provide you with a regular source of income. However, due to today's ever increasingly mobile society, remaining in contact with your alumni isn't always an easy task.
Since they left the hallowed halls of University, your alumni are likely to have moved home several times and, in the case of female graduates, changed their name through marriage. Locating these individuals can seem like a rather fruitless exercise, but thanks to the internet, it is now easy to find your missing alumni members, encourage philanthropic giving, and build a strong and rewarding relationship.
When your alumni left your establishment, you would have had some contact details - whether that was a home address, telephone number or email address - and if these stayed the same in the years since they left you, contacting them for support would be as simple as sending an email or picking up a phone.
Unfortunately the chances that these details have remained the same are highly unlikely, especially if there has been a long period of time since your initial contact. During this time, your alumni members could have possibly changed their name, address and telephone number, without remembering to let you know - historically, this could've meant contact was lost indefinitely.
However, now there are a number of data companies that offer people tracing services, and you can utilise their expertise to find alumni. Drawing from a huge range of databases of up-to-date information, these services may enable you to find the missing information you're looking for and get in touch with your prospective donors instantly.
Some of these services also provide you with the ability to perform further investigations, which can allow you to build some background intelligence about your alumni members giving you a clearer understanding of their current situation. Such activities could mean that you are privy to details of an individual's financial standing, which enables you to target potentially high-earning alumni members.
Investing in the services of specialist people tracing companies, can prove to be a highly rewarding exercise and might just be one of the most productive starts to a fundraising campaign you ever have.
