What if Yeshivas and Schools Kept in Touch with Their Alumni?

From the COLlive Inbox:

This is not a question that gets asked often enough, and frankly, I’m shocked that it’s come this far.

I’m a father from a pretty well-known Lubavitcher family.

I grew up in Crown Heights, went to several prominent yeshivas myself, and sent my children to them as well.

Over the last few years, we have seen a tremendous increase in the amount of crowd fundraisers, and while I’m not an incredibly wealthy person, I am blessed to have more than my family needs, and am often in a position to contribute.

I am telling you all this for a reason.

If I were raising funds for a school, who would I identify as my “target donors”?

Maybe I have a Rolodex of consistent donors and supporters, maybe I call select few individuals who have previously expressed their shared passion and interest for what we were trying to accomplish?

Or perhaps, I would try to call actual ALUMNI from my school?

You see, many of the more prominent and established schools in the Chabad community have been around for at least 20-25 years, and beyond.
That means that a man in his 40s like myself, was likely, at one point, a student in that school.

But what happens after my 1,2,3 or even 4 years as a student in that Yeshiva?

Frankly, nothing.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not looking for a phone call from every institution I’ve even been a part of to contribute to their fundraiser.
But from a donor’s standpoint, even if I did get a call, would I be inclined to donate?

I haven’t heard from you in 27 years!

There seems to be a massive disconnect.

If you, as an institution have been around for 20,30+ years, and you have a reputation of being a stand-up school for generations of Chabad families, totaling thousands of students, you cannot be surprised when your online fundraiser doesn’t reflect that success.

You cannot expect to put a notice out about your fundraiser, and just sit back and wait for your thousands of alumni and their families to come running to your campaign page.
It doesn’t work like that, you haven’t done anything to cultivate this relationship, and unfortunately, the relationship wasn’t strong enough to begin with to sustain decades of complete radio silence.

There is, however, some good news.

I am an alumni of Morristown Yeshiva, and while they do not have a proper alumni database in place, their recent fundraiser saw them making incredible headway in that department, and I feel like there is incredible change happening, with more still to come.

In closing, to mosdos in Chabad: Don’t let the relationship die!

You have a massive opportunity to unite so many, spanning generations, behind a common denominator: Alumni of your school!

As some of the larger donations to Morristown’s campaign would indicate, you never know how strongly this relationship could benefit the mosad down the road.

Thanks for reading.