2020 Cygnus Research Project

The Foundation for Fraternal Excellence partners with Cygnus Applied Research every few years to design, organize and deploy an Alumni and Donor Engagement Survey. Information gathered leads to series of strategic recommendations that all fraternities and sororities can use to strengthen their fundraising activities, enhance member engagement and generate greater support for programs and services.

The 2020 Foundation for Fraternal Excellence Alumni & Donor Engagement Survey is the largest piece of research ever conducted on behalf of fraternal organizations. It gathered the thoughts and opinions of more than 128,000 alumni in a survey that covered more than 20 different topic areas and measured the fundraising trends from 37 different Greek foundations. After a project kickoff keynote at Seminar 2020, FFE offered a six-part webinar series, hosted by project lead Jeff Dubberley from Cygnus Applied Research, to take participants on an in-depth exploration of the findings and trends.

128,351
Alumni and donor respondents
23
Fraternities
14
Sororities
89%
Aware their fraternity has a fundraising mission

ACCESSING THE SURVEY DATA

The study data is only available to those groups that joined as participants or invested in a sponsorship. Access is based on participation level. For questions, email FFE Executive Director Ashley VanDewark at ashley.vandewark@foundationfe.org.

  • Can view the recording of the kickoff session at Seminar and the the special FFE-Cygnus 2020 Webinar Series
  • Receive the aggregate national findings report and related materials, including the expanded slides from Seminar
  • Receive custom, organization-specific reports comparing their members to the national findings provided directly from Cygnus. If you have questions about your organization’s individual results, contact Jeff Dubberley.
  • Can view the recording of the kickoff session at Seminar as well as the FFE-Cygnus 2020 Webinar Series
  • Receive the aggregate national findings report and related materials, including the expanded slides from Seminar
  • Can view the recording of the kickoff session at Seminar
Sponsorships are still available for those interested in signing up. For your $1,500 investment, sponsors receive:
  • The full 99-page national data report
  • Recordings of the project kickoff session at Seminar and the six-part webinar series from Fall 2020 that takes a deep dive into the data
To sign on as a sponsor, contact Ashley VanDewark.  

 

ABOUT THE PROJECT

The 2020 Foundation for Fraternal Excellence Alumni & Donor Engagement Survey explored the attitudes, opinions and expectations of fraternal members, as well as identified key factors which most greatly influence their decision to contribute philanthropically.

Through the responses of fraternal members and donors, the survey reveals the opportunity that exists to grow both supporter numbers and contributions; identifies the messages members and donors find the most compelling; and determines how fraternities and sororities can forge stronger relationships with members at all stages of their lives. This research has generated an invaluable set of data about our members’ preferences and desires. It allows us to see how alumni perceptions and participation have changed over the last five years and, from this, establish a set of national performance benchmarks for fundraising.