Fundraising

Fundraising

The Office of Advancement seeks to maximize philanthropic support through a donor-centered culture that advances the College’s mission and priorities. Our professional staff engages alumni and friends through the annual-giving program, cultivates relationships with prospective major donors, and encourages donors to leverage various gift-planning vehicles, often as their ultimate legacy.

This section of the advancement hub describes these three fundraising areas and the resources available to your academic unit.

Annual giving

"Annual giving" is a much broader concept than the management of an annual fund, and it cannot always be measured with exactness. The university's annual-giving program leverages a multichannel strategy to stimulate regular, IU-wide giving to all funds in the College and throughout Indiana University. The IU Foundation defines annual giving as cumulative annual support up to $10,000 per year. 

In partnership with the IU Foundation, the College's Office of Advancement develops and implements strategies to retain, recapture, and acquire donors, as well as identify prospective major donors through giving behaviors. Giving behavior also dictates where a donor is asked to give; if an alum contributes to your academic unit, for instance, they will be asked to renew their support for the same purpose.

More than 90 percent of major donors begin their philanthropic journey with IU through an annual-giving appeal.

Calendar

Campaigns are implemented on a quarterly basis, aimed at retaining active donors, recapturing lapsed donors, acquiring new donors, and upgrading current donors. Strategies are developed in partnership with the IU Foundation’s annual giving team, and we would like to include academic units in the planning of these campaigns.

To learn more about our campaign strategies, please contact Director of Annual Giving and Donor Relations Gillian Johnston.

How you can help

We encourage our academic units to lean into crowdfunding opportunities—such as IU Day—as they are the best opportunity to acquire new donors and raise money for special projects and initiatives.

Learn more about crowdfunding

If you would like more information about crowdfunding opportunities and are interested in participating in one, please contact Director of Annual Giving and Donor Relations Gillian Johnston.

We encourage you to help us enhance the donor experience by improving your online presence and giving pages. Enhanced Fund Pages (EFPs) are more likely to appear when a donor visits MyIU, and they are more likely to be recommended when donors search for other funds to support. A few simple ways to enhance your giving pages include adding photos, videos, testimonials from donors and beneficiaries, and compelling language that describes how a gift to the fund will make an impact.

Learn more about Enhanced Fund Pages

Research shows that fewer clicks required to access a giving page will increase the likelihood of a gift being made. To that end, please ensure your academic unit’s giving opportunities are easily accessible from your unit's homepage.

Major giving

The IU Foundation considers a gift of $50,000 or more to be a "major gift," which can be funded during one’s lifetime or after. Major gifts can support student scholarships, fellowships, faculty, research, experiential learning (student research, study abroad, internships, etc.), program support, and many other areas.

The College’s major gift officers travel coast-to-coast to cultivate relationships with alumni and friends who have been identified by giving behavior and capacity to be major gift prospects. From time to time, major gift officers will be in touch with your academic unit to learn about priorities and strengths that will enhance their ability to build relationships and match giving interests with your priorities.

Gift officers document interactions with major gift prospects—including phone calls, in-person visits, and other engagement efforts—which can all be found in a university system called Crimson. If you do not have access to Crimson, click here to begin the request process.

We encourage you to document your conversations with alumni and friends, and to share that information with our office, via the button below. This will help as we identify individuals who may be interested in supporting your academic unit’s priorities in a major way.

Send us an update about your alumni

To learn more about the professionals cultivating these relationships, visit the Office of Advancement's staff page.

Gift planning

With a little planning, donors can include a gift within their overall estate or financial plan that preserves IU’s mission and provides them with tax benefits in return.

Gift-planning options encourage donors to consider gifts other than outright gifts of cash to help them make the contribution that they want to make but think they cannot afford. These planning concepts connect donors’ own financial estate and tax-planning priorities with their interest in supporting IU.

The IU Foundation employs several gift-planning attorneys who assist the College and our academic units when someone has been identified as a gift-planning prospect.

Arbutus Society

When IU alumni and friends let us know in writing that they have made a planned or deferred gift to IU, the IU Foundation invites them to join the Arbutus Society. Such gifts have no minimum requirement and can take the form of:

  • A bequest through a will or trust
  • A charitable life income plan such as a charitable remainder trust or a charitable gift annuity
  • A gift of property subject to life estate
  • A gift of life insurance
  • A retirement plan asset

Learn more about gift planning

In 2024, the College launched our own legacy giving society, which includes various stewardship activities such as in-person gatherings and communications aimed at helping ensure documented commitments are realized.

To learn more about the College’s legacy giving society, contact Director of Annual Giving and Donor Relations Gillian Johnston.

Questions?

If you have any questions about major-gift fundraising or gift planning, please contact Senior Director of Advancement Josh Lodolo.