The Challenge
Syracuse University’s Office of Alumni and Constituent Engagement runs a robust peer-to-peer fundraising strategy for its annual Giving Day. Board members and key alumni volunteers are recruited to reach out to classmates and friends via email, text, and phone to encourage gifts to the university.
The problem wasn’t knowledge. Volunteers understood the case for support and knew why they were asking. The problem was confidence. When the moment came to actually have the conversation, many froze.
Kim Infanti, Executive Director of Alumni and Constituent Engagement, identified several recurring objections that tripped volunteers up: donors saying “Syracuse already has a huge endowment,” or “I’m still paying back my college loans.” Volunteers also struggled when conversations veered off-topic, like alumni frustrated about changes in athletics. These are real, emotionally charged moments that no amount of reading a script can prepare you for.
Traditional role-play training couldn’t scale to the number of volunteers Syracuse needed to prepare, and it was difficult to create realistic, repeatable practice opportunities in the limited time before Giving Day.
The Solution
Kim partnered with Practivated to support Syracuse’s philanthropy committee, all volunteer leaders, as they prepared for Giving Day.
Kim and Mallory Erickson (Practivated’s Founder & CEO) worked together to build custom practice scenarios tailored to Syracuse’s specific challenges, including:
- Calling a classmate to ask for their first-ever gift to Syracuse
- Responding to “But Syracuse already has a ton of money”
- Navigating conversations that veer into athletics frustrations
Volunteers practiced these real, dynamic donor conversations in Practivated’s low-stakes AI-powered environment—building the muscle memory and confidence they needed before reaching out to actual donors.
Because Practivated doesn’t require any data integration or access to sensitive donor information, the platform was easy to implement without going through a lengthy IT review process which is a critical factor for a university setting.
The Results (In Kim’s Words)
“One of the hardest parts of preparing alumni volunteers to ask their classmates for gifts isn’t providing them with the content, it’s building their confidence. Board members and key alumni volunteers can know why they’re asking and understand the case for support, but still freeze the moment they’re actually in the conversation.
Practivated changes that. The ability to practice real, dynamic donor scenarios in a low-stakes environment is exactly what volunteer training has been missing. After just one hour in Practivated, our volunteers shared that they felt more at ease and definitely more ready to actually make the ask for Syracuse Giving Day.
For any advancement team working on a peer-to-peer strategy, this tool is relevant with very real results, and it’s also so much fun!”
— Kim Infanti
Executive Director, Office of Alumni and Constituent Engagement
