Professional Interview: Alexandra Rigby

Professional Interview Overview

In order to gain professional insight for our campaign, Alexandra Rigby was interviewed via
Zoom on Nov. 2, 2022 at 5 p.m. Alexandra is the Executive Director of the University of
Pittsburgh’s Health Sciences Alumni Relations. We decided to interview Alexandra because she
has spent most of her career working in a nonprofit organization. She gave detailed and
informative answers to all of our questions, as well as provided the answers we needed to
support our campaign. She talked in great detail about the importance of stories and the
difference they can make in donor relations.

Preview Questions
These questions will allow participants to introduce themselves and help them to have a basic
understanding of everyone else in the group.
● What organization do you work with?
● What tactics worked for you in the past and why?
● Do you print mailers?
● How/where do you go about printing mailers?
● What tactics worked for you in the past?
● What could we do/purpose or gather to make us stand out from other groups?
● As being in the non-profit profession what do you think we could do that would make
their life easier?
● Do you have any suggestions for things we should try to stay away from?

Transcriptions

Emma: Hello how are you?

Alexandra: Good you?

Emma: I'm good, thank you.

Emma: Thank you so much for meeting me. Our group is so thankful for this.

Alexandra: Sure. Happy to, sorry I'm a few minutes late.

Emma: Oh no, honestly take all the time you need.

Alexandra: I’m happy to help however I can.

Emma: We just have a few questions. We really just needed a professional viewpoint on a few
things. So first off, what tactics have worked for you in the past, and why do you think they have
worked?

Alexandra: So, when you say tactics can you give me some context?

Emma: So, like print mailers, thank you cards, stuff along those lines.

Alexandra: Sure, so I would say, you know, depending on the project, but in the scope of your
work, try to attract a younger demographic. We've actually seen some success with mailers, but
self mailers so nothing where we're asking anyone to send anything back. Think postcards with
a QR Code’. You know, something kind of bright and shiny that doesn't make it straight into the
trash when people pull it out of their mailbox. We've seen quite a bit of success with email.
Email can be hard with acquisition though, because unless you have their data already it's hard
to, you know, contact people that you haven't yet brought into the fold. So from that standpoint,
we have seen some success using targeted social ads.

Alexandra: We've used, on a few occasions, social ads that speak to the demographic that we're
looking for so using those keywords, age range filters, things that people can self identify on.
Probably the least successful social avenue that we've explored is LinkedIn. What I found with
LinkedIn is that young people are told to make a LinkedIn when they're in college and then they
don't pick it back up until it becomes relevant for them. A lot of 18-24 year olds may not be
active on their LinkedIn because they made in high school or college, but then once they start to
get into a more professional field or more professional network and they're finding that that's
where their employer is, their institution, they're philanthropic interests, where they post some of
those key messages. Then, they kind of circle back to Linkedln once they're in their late twenties
– I would say late twenties, early thirties, at least in my experience. The only other thing that we
have had some success with is calling as well. Not so much calling and people answering the
phone, but people calling and being able to leave a voicemail and then action following that, so if
that's helpful.

Emma: Yeah, kind of like getting that human interaction.

Alexandra: Exactly.

Emma: Alright, so my next question is, do you guys print mailers at all?

Alexandra: We do a lot of print mailers for events and for fundraising. In terms of raising dollars,
we do have a cohort of people who only give by mail, they're not necessarily our younger group,
but we do have a solid group of people who prefer to make their gift online or not online, through
the mail a check. They want to see the mailer and then they'll type in the link that's on it and go
online to give. If you're looking at fundraising, I try not to spend, oh gosh, like even on an
invitation more than a dollar, 25 per person on the list to keep costs down. The other thing that
we will do from a mailing perspective to be mindful of our budget, is if we know we have good
email data, we will email like a save-the-date for example, or an event invitation, and then we will
only mail to those who do not have an email address. So that way we're kind of conserving trees
and being green and conserving our budget, which in non profit is always important.

Emma: And then, are there any specific ways that you think works best to cut through the noise,
kind of beat out your competition and reach your target demographics?

Alexandra: Yeah, I think it's storytelling truthfully, and it's not always the whole story either, if that
makes sense. Picking one part of it and really humanizing it and speaking to impact, I think has
resonated the most with the various populations I've worked with because at the end of the day,
people want to know where their money is going. People want to know what the organization is
doing, and if you can find a specific example, that does tend to cut through the noise. The one
thing that is interesting though is that what works for you might not work for me, right? Maybe
you care about, I don't know if it's Boys and Girls Clubs, right, maybe you care about after school
programs. Maybe’ I care about the fund that keeps the lights on. Being able to look at your
population and even segment it is so important. You may spend a little more time in design work
to hit certain demographics or target markets, but hitting them with the right messaging, so you
yield the best results.

Emma: I love the wording you use with stories, because that goes perfectly with our campaign
actually. It's titled Stories of STEM, and our whole thing is based around like the mailers, they're
thank you's, and they are like little storybooks, essentially. They have personalized stories of the
people, like the kids, that are in the STEM programs.

Alexandra: Yeah, I think that that is something that resonates with people across the board. I
mean, I do that now. You know, I work with deans, department chairs, in some cases students,
and asked them to write a personal note. We've also done things like IPhone videos, and
embedded them in emails to send out where people can say, hey Emma, thank you so much for
giving and that goes a long way. You know, philanthropy is the long game, right? You know, you
have to get them to believe in you and then commit financially and then hopefully keep you in
their philanthropic interests because at the end of the day, the only thing they get is the
satisfaction of helping another person or another group of people. So those mailing touch
points and things go a long way. Even if they do seem a little pricey out of the gate.

Emma: In the business of giving.

Alexandra: Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. It's a fickle business, but a fun one.
Emma: Exactly. So, as a nonprofit professional, what do you think we can utilize in order to make
our clients' lives just a little bit easier.

Alexandra: So your goal is what, to acquire new younger donors?

Emma: Yes, it's more of a younger demographic that they're leaning towards.

Alexandra: Yeah, you know, I think, I think for me, we always talk about something that's turnkey.
When I work with consultants who we hire to bring in and kind of look at what we're doing and
advise, the ones we tend to go with are the people who have the most attainable plan, right
step-by-step. I think really gearing what you're providing to the client, making it attainable. The
other thing that I always look for, because that's kind of what you're doing for this client is, if you
hope that they're going to take some of the bones that you put together and implement them,
right? What does that look like? You know, in terms of scalability. And not that you have to map
out that whole plan, but you don't want to give somebody something that's so successful that
then they can't sustain it or they can't grow it so, and it sounds silly, but simple things work, you
know, simple, simple things, you know. I think people have
de-emphasized the hashtag, but what's interesting is less people are using hashtags with the
people that are using hashtags, I think effectively are the ones who are using it as a marketing
tool to pool and curate their LinkedIn content, what they're seeing on Instagram and all of that.
So I think, something that's turnkey and ready to just go with as little gaps as possible, is always
so helpful, because I'm sure if they haven't told you already, they are probably a small but mighty
team.

Emma: Going off of that, do you have anything that you would suggest that we should stay away
from, anything that would be kind of out of the realm or anything?

Alexandra: I think staying away from events. I would say, I don't know if you have the opportunity
to communicate with your client anymore or if they do regular events, right? Like if they have a,
even if it's like an orientation event for new kids and their families or if it's a culmination of what
has happened throughout the year that they do already, you know, latching on to something like
that to say, “We know that you're inviting these families and these kids and you know, this group
of people to this event that you do every year and spend money on anyways, wouldn't it be cool
if we extended the invite to some other people that were hoping to get involved?” They could see
first hand and talk to those families about the impact that the STEM programs have, right, but I
would stay away from events. I would stay away from social media only. I think it's really easy to
get caught in the mystique that can be social media. I mean without knowing what their staff
looks like, right? It has to be social media that's accessible to everyone, but still innovative and
relevant. Right? And I think one of the hardest things for nonprofits to latch onto are like the
Spirit Halloween costume trend that just like took over everything last week, right? it's really hard
for a nonprofit to hop onto something that fast because they are small but mighty teams, right?
If they're putting their effort into that, it means they're taking something else away. So I would
stay away from, you know, trying to do something viral. Think about something that's more
consistent and sustainable.

Emma: Alright, thank you so much. Everything you said was so helpful just like the last time
when you visited, everything you said both times, was amazing and perfectly lines up with what
we're going for.

Alexandra: Oh, that's wonderful, however I can be a resource. Please feel free to reach out. I do
this all day every day, both from sitting across the table and asking people to give and the
building out the, you know, overall strategy, marketing communication. Who's doing what, when,
where, why, how, what does it look like, feel like, sound like. So however I could be a resource.
Please do not hesitate to reach out.

Emma: Thank you so much. We really appreciate it.

Alexandra: Of course.

Emma: All right, have a good night.

Alexandra: Yes, you too Emma, it was great connecting.

Insights:
● In regards to print mailers and a younger target audience, there has been success in
sending something kind of bright and shiny that doesn't make it straight into the trash
when people pull it out of their mailbox.
● Picking one part of the campaign and really humanizing it and speaking to impact, has
resonated the most with various populations because at the end of the day, people want
to know where their money is going.
● The only thing donors get is the satisfaction of helping another person or another group
of people, so those mailing touch points and things go a long way.
 Quotes:

➔ “Yeah, I think it's storytelling truthfully, and it's not always the whole story either, if that
makes sense. Picking one part of it and really humanizing it and speaking to impact, I
think has resonated the most with the various populations I've worked with.”

➔ “You have to get them to believe in you and then commit financially and then hopefully
keep you in their philanthropic interests because at the end of the day, the only thing they
get is the satisfaction of helping another person or another group of people. So those
mailing touch points and things go a long way.”