Unlike the University of Toronto, its faculties, and its colleges, University of Toronto Libraries (UTL) has no alumni. For those of you who have yet to receive an email from your undergraduate institution asking for a donation, universities often rely on their graduates for some portion of their fundraising. Alumni are a majority of donors for academic institutions, and from annual drives to major gifts and planned giving, these institutions mark them out as a primary audience for their donor campaigns. Unlike the rest of these UofT institutions and divisions, however, UTL does not have official alumni. They have no master list of past students which they can tap into in the same way that UofT, its faculties, and its colleges do. And yet, UTL directly contributes to the journey of every single UofT student. Even if you have never walked into Robarts, your online readings, the research for your papers, and the majority of the study spaces you occupy all exist courtesy of UTL.
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| Robarts Library, in all its peacock-esque glory. (Source.) |
So what is the biggest challenge facing Michael Cassabon, the newly-minted Director of Advancement for UTL?
It’s how to make the ask. For those in the field (development, fundraising, advancement, whatever you choose to call it), “the ask” is the moment when an organization asks a potential donor for support. It is carefully planned, generally with months to years of research and preparation involved. It is catered to its recipient, from groups to individuals. “The ask” is a key step in any fundraising campaign.
When you’re an academic institution with no official alumni, however, the question of how to make contact with your past users looms large.
Now, UTL has a history of making successful asks. They accounted for 8% of UofT’s Boundless campaign, the most successful fundraising campaign in Canadian history. They have the ability to develop UTL resources not just with money, but also with gifts in kind. The construction of the Robarts Common is a success story unto itself.
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| UofT's Boundless campaign was an historic success. (Source.) |
But how can UTL mobilize all their unofficial alumni? Cassabon is convinced that it all comes down to highlighting the mark UTL makes on every student, whether or not they realize that this is the case. An addition challenge UTL faces is that Cassabon’s team consists of only four people, meaning that they don’t have the personpower to seek out donors individually. Through clever campaigns they must convince donors to come to them, and this means tapping into real stories which highlight the important impact UTL has on students.
The trick in any institution, I learn from Cassabon, is to identify who has the stories. Narrative is a powerful way to bring a community together in a shared goal, something he has seen throughout his career. Here at UTL, the keepers of those stories and the mediators of students' experiences of UTL, are librarians, archives, and front-line staff. Centering the work they do is integral to the ask, and essential to demonstrating to alumni that it is worth it for them to return to the UTL community to make their mark as donors.
What is next for UTL? Well, another campaign, the ongoing development of the Robarts Common, and of course, the weaving of compelling stories to welcome alumni home.
