Tufts University School of Medicine (TUSM) has typically taken a traditional approach to fundraising. School officials knew who among alumni was donating but not why they were donating. They also didn’t know much about those alumni who weren’t donating to the university.

Rebecca Scott, senior director of Development and Alumni Relations at TUSM, wanted to gain a greater understanding of donor motivation and see the correlation between donors and their levels of engagement and connection to the institution.

Scott partnered with BWF to examine and try to increase donor engagement through a commitment to biannual survey work over a three-year period. TUSM completed wave 1 in February 2020, wave 2 in October 2020, and wave 3 in May 2021.

“We wanted to gain a different perspective beyond just giving to understand why alumni are giving and try to increase their engagement over time,” says Scott.

The Engage Dx Constituent Survey was just the right tool to provide TUSM with the intelligence they needed for decision making.