Ep. 38: Get More Donors by Naming Squirrels on Giving Day

If you could officially name a squirrel at your alma mater (or turtle, or goose, or whatever critters roamed your campus when you did), would you? The only correct answer is yes.

And that’s that Caty Allgood and Brooke Preston were counting on when they implemented a Squirrel Naming campaign for Ohio University’s Giving Day. After hearing about this idea from colleagues at Ole Miss, they figured out how to implement it themselves without any extra technology or investment.

And the results were incredible: In their first year with the Squirrel Campaign, they raised almost half a million dollars more than the previous year and had an increase of over 750 donors. They beat their own records again in year two. Plus, the campaign encouraged participation from current students, Ohio friends, and so many wholesome comments to keep it going for years to come.

At the end of the episode, Caty and Brooke surprise your host Day with her very own squirrel certificate! What an honor. Take a look.

Guest Names:
Caty Allgood, Executive Director, Annual Giving, Ohio University
Brooke Preston, Associate Director of Creative Strategy, Ohio University

Guest Socials:
Caty - www.linkedin.com/in/catyallgood
Brooke - www.linkedin.com/in/brookepreston

Guest Bios:
Caty Allgood currently serves as the Executive Director of Annual Giving at Ohio University. With a career spanning 18 years, she’s a seasoned Advancement professional who has served in roles in major giving, gift planning and annual giving. Caty received both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Ohio University and feels incredibly fortunate that she now has the opportunity to raise funds to make an OHIO education possible for others. Caty’s team won a CASE Grand Gold award in 2022 for their Give Like Gary Campaign and continues to incorporate creative strategies into their annual giving appeals, most recently introducing a very fun and successful squirrel naming campaign into their annual OHIO Giving Day. Caty spends her free time with her husband, their 4-year-old son and their 1-year-old Yorkie.

Brooke Preston (OHIO B.S.S. ’02; MC ’23) is the Associate Director of Creative Strategy for Ohio University’s award-winning University Communications and Marketing team, where she leads the brand copywriting team and manages brand and marketing collaboration across 12 departments within the Division of Student Affairs.
Brooke is also a published comedy and satire writer, editor and teacher, former faculty for The Second City, and is the head writer of the annual Thurber Prize for American Humor awards ceremony. Her writing has been published in The New York Times, Real Simple, The Cut, McSweeney’s, Men’s Health, Paste and more. She lives in the Columbus suburbs with her husband, tween daughter and two doofy labs.

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Connect With Our Host:
Safaniya Stevenson
https://www.linkedin.com/in/safaniyastevenson/

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