Call you maybe BY JESSICA SAIN-BAIRD
PHOTOGRAPHY BY EARL RICHARDSON
S KU ENDOWMENT OFFICES IN LAWRENCE BEGIN TO EMPTY AT 5 P.M.,
the student call
center in the basement just starts to fill up. About 60 KU students each semester — 24 a night — make calls to alumni. The students update alumni contact information, share what is new at KU and solicit for donations. In fiscal year 2013, student fundraisers raised more than $1.2 million for KU — but Ethan Rempel, assistant director of telephone campaigns, believes the worth of the call center goes beyond a dollar value. “Our student fundraisers benefit from the experience of talking to alumni just as much as the school benefits from alumni contributions,” he said. Student fundraisers stay busy. Each student dials about 200 numbers during a shift, and they spoke to 12,453 alumni in fall 2013 alone.
“ I was calling an alumna who had given in the past but not in two or three years. It was right after a big alumni weekend, and a lot of alumni had just been here. She said it was so funny I had called, because she and her husband had just talked about what they wanted to give. We talked about all the different designations they wanted to donate to, and it was $2,500 to this building, $2,500 to this program and $1,000 to that program. It ended up being a $9,000 pledge. It showed the importance of our call center and keeping a relationship with our alumni.” — KRIS BORDEN, SENIOR, ACCOUNTING: FUNDRAISER 2 1⁄2 YEARS
“The most fun call I’ve had was talking to a college friend of my
“A lot of alumni don’t always get the chance to
mom’s. My mom had told her to expect a call from me, because
make it back to campus. It’s nice to just be able
she’s a music alumna and I call them a lot. When I finally did get
to share updates about KU.”
hold of her, she yelled, ‘I finally get to talk to you!’ She ended
— BETHANY BOESCHEN, SENIOR, MICROBIOLOGY
up giving $50, and I had a nice time talking to her.”
AND PRE-PHARMACY: FUNDRAISER 2 YEARS
— TED OLIVER, MASTER’S STUDENT, MUSIC COMPOSITION: FUNDRAISER 1 1⁄2 YEARS
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KU GIVING | WINTER 2014