In some higher education institutions, the marketing office is a part of, or reports directly to, the development/advancement office. My college, fortunately, does not fit this model. We work a lot with advancement on various projects, which leads to tension. We differ on our view of how communications should go out.
Advancement's theory seems to be "cast as wide a net as possible." Every communication (magazine, e-mail, e-newsletter, postcard, phone call, or event) should include a direct ask for money. Do not miss out on any opportunity to ask. Don't ask, and they'll never give. The more we ask, the higher our conversion rate to donors. Widen the funnel and you will end up with more gifts; it's simple mathematics.
If I know anything about human behavior, it's that nothing is simple with us. Our department is always concerned with "ask exhaustion." Too much asking turns people off and makes them less likely to give in the future. Our theory has always been "let's make our communications fun." Let's make Facebook a friendly conversational tool; send out postcards and e-mails about fun alumni events; fill the alumni magazine with interesting stories, campus updates, and lots of photos, and so on.
Even for people who want to give, continually asking money from them turns the concept of our college into a negative brand. We, in the marketing department, have to work to turn that brand into something fun and positive. We are confident that once that happens, the gifts will come.
Of course, what makes our job more difficult is that we are marketing to our alumni's subconsciousness. We can't just send out an e-newsletter that says "Your alma mater is a fun place. You now have a positive image of it in your mind. Please donate $100 to the annual fund." Instead, we have to show them--through events, through stories, through engagement, etc. The problem is that we don't always know how our message is received. Advancement can measure in terms of dollars how effective their asking is working. We just have to continue to test and reevaluate.
