Uni­ver­si­ty of South Car­oli­na: Search for ​‘the face of Y’ALL’

Exhibited by
Lola Mauer
Added
June 16, 2011
Medium of Communication
Face to face, online
Target Audience
Individuals, legacy
Type of Charity
Education/University
Country of Origin
USA
Date of first appearance
March 2008

SOFII’s view

Y’ALL stands for Young Alumni Leaving a Legacy and this exhibit chronicles an associated endeavour, the search for a face, or rather a couple of faces, to promote it. What happens then is young students, former students and fundraisers all have some fun together on the back of a great idea (see related exhibit describing the Y’ALL campaign). 

Watch the videos, and see if they don’t make you smile. Even if it doesn’t make you rush out to apply to be the new ‘Face of Y’ALL’, who wouldn’t want to be a student at this place? 

Creator / originator

Lola Mauer, Steve Farwick, the Pursuant Group, University Publications (postcard component).

Summary / objectives

The Face of Y’ALL campaign aims to recruit the new face of young alumni for the University of South Carolina (USC). The ‘new face’ will help to represent the university and launch a new fundraising campaign to encourage young alumni to donate. 

Background

The University of South Carolina launched the Face of Y'ALL campaign in the spring of 2008 to find ‘the new face’ of young alumni among graduates of the last decade. This campaign gives alumni a voice in their alma mater (the school, college or university that one has attended) and the chance to help classes of the last ten years leave a solid legacy for the university. 

The campaign was launched using two videos and a direct mail campaign. Out of the top five entries to become the Face of Y’ALL, two people will be chosen. (Watch the YouTube video here). The two winners of the campaign will represent all young alumni for a year at university and networking events and will be named as the official spokespeople for all of the university’s young alumni. These two people will appear in the University of South Carolina’s publications as the Face of Y’ALL and help make decisions about future young alumni initiatives.

Special characteristics

The University of South Carolina is the first to embark on such an idea, so the two winners will help start a new tradition at their alma mater.

The campaign targets the future of the university’s alumni base, volunteer boards and donors and it will eventually turn into a fundraising initiative.

Results

Nearly 1,000 graduates of the last decade have signed up for more information, enabling the university to capture much needed biographical information. The campaign has been a phenomenal way to encourage the involvement of young alumni and educate them about the importance of philanthropy.

The university has received praise from around the United States and the campaign will be nominated for a CASE (Council for Advancement and Support of Education) award later in 2008.

Merits

This campaign is the first of its kind among universities in the United States of America (USA), so we hope it will prove to be a powerful tool for other universities to implement.

Other relevant information

At present the phrase Young Alumni Leaving a Legacy (Y’ALL) appears to apply only to annual fund donations and not to bequest initiatives, but adding this dimension to the campaign will be easy and SOFII is sure that before long the University of South Carolina will be receiving substantial bequests (legacies) from its alumni, directly as a result of this charming initiative.

Get Cocky indeed! At the auditions Ashley seems to be taking the search quite seriously, but one or two of the others just look like they're having fun.
Click the image to see Cocky running rings round the Dean. Who says fundraising isn't fun?
The five lucky finalists have been chosen.