This was a crowdfunding campaign for an expendable fellowship fund for Latinx students. It was created in 1986 but we found there was very low awareness about it (including among current students) and funding had dwindled over the years. The goal of the campaign was to secure at least $75,000 to fund a $15,000 fellowship for each of the next five years.

Latinx alumni volunteers were recruited to help build the campaign page and promote it to their networks after it launched.

We created a postcard announcing the campaign that was mailed about a week after the start of the campaign, to a list of alumni and donors who: had previously given to the fellowship or another Latinx fund at the university level, subscribed to our latino.alumni listserv, and/or our records showed were members of the Latinx Management group while they were students. (The QR code on the postcard will go to the archived crowdfunding page, which also has a video featuring our volunteers).

Additional email blasts and social posts went out, including some from our volunteers. The email in the attachment shows two messages - the original e-appeal and a follow up email (a "fake reply"). The majority of revenue was driven by ONE very passionate and well-connected alumnus!

With anticipated matching gifts, we raised over $80,000 and nearly half of the donors were first-time donors or reactivated lapsed donors.

After the campaign concluded, donors of $1,000+ were invited to the home of our lead volunteer for a dinner hosted by him and his wife. We had 10 guests, including a current student recipient of the fellowship, and had a wonderful evening!