Case Study: University of California, San Francisco achieves 4× reunion registrations and $50K+ in reunion gifts with Salesforce for Nonprofits (Marketing Cloud)

Looking Past "One-Size-Fits-All” Campaigns to Reach Niche Alumni Groups

University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) faced a challenge during its $5 billion comprehensive fundraising campaign: traditional “one-size-fits-all” email blasts weren’t engaging a diverse alumni base of 67,000+ across 13 reunion years and four professional schools. Alumni officers needed to quickly shift from solely driving event attendance to also cultivating event fundraising, while delivering personalized messages that made alumni feel known and motivated to “come back and give back.”

Using Marketing Cloud, UCSF built dynamic nurture journeys that personalized messaging by graduating year and school, sent multi-month, behavior-driven content (including nostalgic and donation-focused touches), and guided alumni toward reunion registration or gifts even if they couldn’t attend. The campaign achieved a 37% average open rate (high of 68%), a 4.5% average click-through rate (high of 12%), exceeded reunion registrant goals by four times, and generated 158 reunion donors contributing more than $50,000 with no outside solicitation.

University of California, San Francisco

Kristin Salkil

Associate Director of Class Giving