CASE Connects: Focus on Business Schools-Recording

Video Transcription

Video Summary

In this Case Connects webinar, Andrew Flather, Director of Reunion and Leadership Giving at INSEAD, presented an overview of INSEAD's advancement and fundraising strategies centered around its global alumni community. INSEAD is a top-ranked independent business school with campuses in France, Singapore, Abu Dhabi, and San Francisco, boasting nearly 73,000 alumni worldwide. Andrew detailed how the advancement team of 68 staff spans fundraising, donor relations, alumni engagement, and operations, focusing particularly on the Reunion and Leadership Giving team of five members.<br /><br />The school's hallmark fundraising event is its highly popular alumni reunions held every five years per MBA cohort, attracting over 3,200 attendees annually across three reunion weekends. These events leverage strong peer networks and volunteer committees—over 200 volunteers per cycle—to drive engagement and philanthropy, raising millions each reunion year. Volunteers assist with outreach, data validation, personalized solicitation, and spreading messaging via personal contacts and WhatsApp groups.<br /><br />Data shows reunion years generate significantly higher giving, especially among donors 15-35 years post-graduation, and volunteering correlates with increased donor generosity, underscoring volunteer engagement’s role as a cultivation tool. Future plans include expanding volunteer involvement beyond reunion years, building leadership giving portfolios (€10k-€50k gifts), enhancing project-backed giving to emphasize impact, and growing regular giving programs to stabilize revenue. Andrew emphasized the importance of personal relationships, peer influence, and meaningful engagement in sustaining INSEAD’s global philanthropic success.

Keywords

INSEAD

alumni fundraising

leadership giving

alumni reunions

volunteer engagement

philanthropy strategies

global alumni network