The second-annual fundraising event successfully drives greater engagement with INSEAD
The INSEAD community rallied together for the 2nd Annual Giving Day, doubling the total funds raised and participation rates from last year.
The 13 March event raised €681,453 from 1,507 donors—compared to €320,000 and 717 donors last year—with participants turning out online and in person to support INSEAD and Dean Ilian Mihov’s vision to transform the world by using business as a force for good.
“We are deeply grateful that so many alumni, students, faculty and staff came together in support of INSEAD,” says Dean Mihov. “Philanthropy and alumni engagement play a critical role in the future success of INSEAD, providing the resources and support we need to serve as a force for good in the world. Together, we can develop the next generation of leaders who will transform economies and communities for the betterment of all.”
IAF Chair Emma Goltz MBA’98J attributes the strong turnout for Giving Day to INSEAD’s distinct vision and mission. The opportunity to help shape the future resonated with alumni, she says.
“The message that Ilian has communicated to the alumni community over the last five years is very relevant,” she says. “We have a critical mass of alumni; we have a crazy world. People are motivated to do something to solve some of the problems, and now we’ve given them the means to do that.”
Gift allocations demonstrate trust in Dean
To increase engagement in this year’s Giving Day, INSEAD, the IAF and the National Alumni Associations worked in partnership to promote the event in local communities around the world.
“Close collaboration between INSEAD, the IAF and the INSEAD Alumni Association (IAA) helped fuel the success of this year’s Giving Day,” says Sadia Khan, President of the IAA. “At this moment in our history, it is incredibly important to bring together INSEAD alumni in support of the school to further its mission of educating responsible leaders for tomorrow.”
Nida Januskis, Associate Dean of Advancement, adds that today’s dramatically changing world needs more leaders who value social responsibility, creativity, open-mindedness and entrepreneurism—and INSEAD develops those kinds of leaders.
“The Giving Day results show us that donors have trust in the school, they have trust in the Dean and they have trust in the future,” she says.
The greatest proportion of gifts were allocated to the Dean’s Innovation Fund (formerly the Dean’s Annual Fund), a result that speaks to donors’ trust in Dean Mihov’s leadership and vision for INSEAD. The Innovation Fund is unique in that it offers flexible financial resources that Dean Mihov can use, at his discretion, to invest in new opportunities and strategic initiatives that advance INSEAD’s mission.
“The Dean’s Innovation Fund fuels innovation, gives us flexibility and makes a huge impact,” says Januskis.
The second- and third-highest giving allocations were to the Robin Hood Scholarship and MBA Scholarships for Women. Scholarships are key to ensuring gender, nationality and economic diversity in the classroom, which is fundamental to the INSEAD learning experience, says Januskis.
“You learn from people who are not like you,” she says. “Our donors are passionate about funding scholarships that support diverse students.”
Donations of all amounts came from INSEAD alumni, faculty, staff, students and friends in more than 70 countries. The top five classes with the highest participation were MBA’09J, MBA’07D, MBA’13J, MBA’14D and MBA’13D.
The reach of social media
Young alumni—defined as alumni who graduated from INSEAD in the last 10 years—were the most active donors in this year’s event, thanks to the active role of our Young Alumni Initiative (YAI) ambassadors. A big social media push, funded by a generous donor, helped increase this engagement. The campaign made targeted investments in social media marketing, including ads on Facebook and LinkedIn that resulted in more than 128,000 impressions. Donors were also encouraged to share their Giving Day experiences on social media, tagged with #INSEADGivingDay.
This peer-to-peer outreach propelled the initiative forward, with about 40 percent of gifts coming from young alumni, says Goltz. “Many people today are connected to their alumni community by social media, rather than relying on their physical location,” she says. “Our alumni shared that they made a gift across classes and oceans.”
Goltz hopes the momentum becomes a trend, with next year’s Giving Day doubling the 2018 totals. “I’d like to us to have 3,000 donors next year and raise over a million with this initiative,” she says. “Giving Day has become an annual tradition for INSEAD. Any gift, no matter how small, is incredibly valuable.”
