Where can Miami University find 12 people to donate $75 million? The answer is within its ranks of Miami Mergers.
Miami's division of university advancement recently completed a month-long study to indicate the likelihood of Mergers-alumni who marry each other-to donate more money to the university than non-Mergers.
Jennifer Clark, director of alumni membership and marketing, said as of April 1 there are 26,334 Mergers, out of Miami's current 146,235 living alumni.
Brad Bundy, associate vice president for university advancement, said in 2008, 25 percent of the money given to the university came from Mergers.
"This was not as high as I would have thought," Bundy said. "We're going to do a better job of actively engaging Mergers, so that more are inclined to give."
Bundy said the current outreaches to Mergers are in conjunction with the bicentennial year and the final two years of the For Love and Honor campaign. Bundy said focusing on the Merger pool of alumni helps improve the number of participants who donate to the university, because each Merger couple counts as two donors.
Each Valentine's Day, Miami mails valentines to Mergers as a reminder of their ties to the university.
Bundy said in early January 2010, in order to make sure the mailing of valentines to Mergers is the most effective it can be, Miami is going to start a phone-a-thon to all Mergers to ensure addresses are correct. Bundy said 96 percent of the Mergers are "mail-able" and give the university updated addresses, whereas the rest of the alumni population is 80 percent "mail-able."
Bundy said Mergers are much more likely to stay in touch with the university than non-Mergers.
"We are going to start a direct solicitation beyond just the annual valentines," Bundy said.
Bundy said Miami would like to see every alumni give a gift during the bicentennial year to the Bicentennial Student Center (BSC). The goal for the BSC is to have 71,809 alumni donate. Bundy said if Miami can secure all of those gifts, it will be the single largest recognition of donors in the United States.
Both Bundy and Susanne Sadler, director of development for the BSC, agreed some focus is going to be turned to "Miami Families," which consist of three or more generations of Miami alumni.
"We're trying to encourage family gifts, because the BSC will represent the family room of the university," Bundy said.
Sadler said the university knows all of the final rooms that will be included in the BSC.
"Now we'll work on figuring out the room's sizes and locations before deciding which rooms Mergers will donate," Sadler said.
Bundy and Clark showed enthusiasm for this year's alumni weekend-June 18 to 21-during which more focus will be paid to the Mergers.
Clark said Miami will be trying to enter the Guinness Book of World Records for the largest number of marriage vow renewals at the same time. Clark said at 4:15 p.m. June 20 near the Upham Arch all the Mergers that attend alumni weekend can choose to have their vows renewed at no charge.
"We're calling it the 'Miami Merger Moment,'" Clark said. "The current record is 629 vow renewals in Pittsburgh in 2007, for the city's 250th birthday."
Bundy said a continuation to the Mergers study is in place with more results to come in a variety of areas involving alumni pools beyond Mergers.
According to an Engagement and Giving document, statistical analysis will be focused in a number of areas, including those with Greek affiliation, geographic distribution and season ticket holders of intercollegiate athletics.
"We're going to be looking at alumni activities during their time at Miami and because of those how likely are they to donate," Bundy said.
Bundy said more research will be done on Mergers, including how likely they are to send their children to Miami.
"With the Mergers, we still have some room to grow," Bundy said. "We as the development office and alumni association pay attention to the phenomenon that is the Mergers."
