Anniversaries hold so much meaning. They signify the attainment of a milestone, serving as a time for reflection and connection. For those of us in the donor relations world, we understand the importance of acknowledging these significant moments.
Shortly after my arrival at Providence College (PC), the 10-year anniversary of our humanities building was approaching. We didn’t have previously established guidelines for celebrating and stewarding building anniversaries, so my new team and I seized this opportunity to make our mark and flex some creative muscles.
We tackled the project with intention: we wanted structure to inform our approach to anniversaries, striving for equity yet flexibility to tailor milestones to donors’ preferences. To establish the guidelines, we began by brainstorming ideas for internal and possibly external celebration, as well as stewardship touches that showcase impact and gratitude. Additionally, we researched PC’s prior building anniversary celebrations and stewardship to gauge expectations and equity, performed benchmarking against peer and local institutions, and spoke with donor relations experts for best practices. Going through this exercise served us well when presenting our final recommendations to senior management.
So, how did we celebrate the 10-year building anniversary? We held an open house-style celebration during a high foot traffic time of day. The donor was invited but declined to attend. There was a cake-cutting, as well as other treats and mocktails during the celebration. Cards were placed on tables: a photo of the building on one side, a blank space on the other where we asked guests to reflect upon what this space means to them and/or to share messages of gratitude. A photographer was hired to capture the celebration and specific areas of the building, especially those spaces actively used by students.
After the event, we created a photo book that included a message from the president, many photos of significant moments and events held in the building over the decade, photos of distinctive features of the building, and images from the celebration. We scanned some of the notecards into the pages of the photo book, and for those less legible but great messages, we typed the quotes into the pages. Enclosed with the photo book was a Spreengs video card we custom-made with images of the building and college branding. The video featured the president, who introduced a faculty member. The faculty member was intentionally selected as he is an alum who has been working at the college for more than 10 years. The faculty member was filmed in the building, and he did a fantastic job articulating the building's impact from many perspectives.
The team and I not only successfully executed a well-thought-out anniversary milestone, but came away with a process that will allow us to respond proactively for future building anniversaries. If a reader finds themselves in a similar situation and would like to see our final products (including the guidelines), please don’t hesitate to reach out to me at [email protected].
