Staying Connected

Students make the call to alumni for support of JMU

Students fill the small trailer, each one sitting at a computer, enthusiastically selling his or her product to the customers on the other end of the phone. Their products — JMU pride and generosity. The customer — JMU alumni, parents of current students and friends of JMU.

A caller's hand goes up, the signal that he or she just has received a pledge and needs a manager to confirm it. The caller removes his or her headset and proudly hands it over to a manager. This one was big — $250 to the College of Arts & Letters. It's all in a night's work for the students who are behind the Madison Connection.

The Madison Connection is a group of about 35 students who raise over $600,000 a year to benefit student academics at JMU. These students call alumni, parents and friends — which is any person other than an alumni or parent who wishes to contribute — of the university, throughout each semester to ask for monetary donations.

"The program reaches out to alumni and parents providing personal contact, possibly the only contact, with a current student," said Amy Waters, director of the Madison Connection, and the only non-student working in the organization. "Updates on the exciting news and developments are also provided, as well as giving them thanks for past gifts."

Senior Joe Ciarallo, the Madison Connection's student manager, said, "The money that we raise here is really important to the university because it goes into the academic fund for the students. Since the recent budget cuts from the state have been deep, we need this money more than ever."

The money that is pledged can be specified to go into any department, scholarship or academic program if the giver so chooses, according to Ciarallo. If the callers do not specify where they want the money to go, it is pooled into the general academic fund and later distributed where needed.

From the general fund, money then is given to the designated areas of the university to support such things as scholarships, student internships, faculty chairs, building projects, programs and more, according to the Madison Connection Web site, www.jmu.edu/madisonconnection.

Unrestricted moneys in the general fund are distributed to areas with the greatest need, as determined by President Linwood Rose, and various vice presidents and deans at JMU, according to Waters.

The Madison Connection operates from September through April, five nights a week from 6 to 9 p.m., and one afternoon each week from 2 to 5 p.m. During these calling shifts, about 16 callers are on duty, attempting to reach nearly 1,200 people each shift, according to Waters.

Each night of calling can be different from the night before because a different segment of people are called. There are two main groups that are called — givers and non-givers — and within these groups, there are further distinctions. Segments are groups of alumni or parents who are pooled together based on their giving history, according to Ciarallo. Some examples of common segments are new givers — alumni or parents who have never been called before, lybunts — alumni or parents who donated last year and sybunts — alumni or parents who donated at some point, but not last year.

The average pledge from this group between givers and non-givers, people who have never before donated, is about $70, according to Waters.

These three segments make up most of the calling shifts throughout the semester. There is one other segment that the callers usually enjoy much more, however. The capital gift officers make up the segment that yields the highest pledges out of any other segment. Donations from these alumni usually average from $500 to $1,000, and often are given each year.

Making a call to ask for such a large sum of money may seem difficult, but callers are well prepared. They are given scripts for each calling segment, which include answers for most replies they might encounter from the person on the other end of the phone.

"Even when we have a script in front of us, it's still a challenge," said senior Diane Arnold, a caller at the Madison Connection.

It is through a series of "asks" that a caller will receive a pledge, according to Ciarallo. "We usually start off with around a $250 to $500 ask for most calling segments, depending on their giving history," Ciarallo said. "If they have given a lot in the past, we try to shoot for a higher amount for this year."

Even though the students get paid, the actual job that they are doing is paying off in their lives, as the money collected goes into funding their own educations, according to Arnold.

"The Madison Connection is important to the university, and to me personally, because some of the money goes into helping students who need financial aid, and I benefit from that," Arnold said.

Even after current callers and students graduate, the Madison Connection will continue to strengthen the degrees of graduates by building a bigger, better name for JMU with the donations to the Madison Fund, according to Waters.

In order to work at the Madison Connection, students must submit an application and attend an interview with several student managers. After they are chosen, the new callers go through several days of training, according to Ciarallo.

"We look for an outgoing personality, knowledge about JMU and dependability when hiring new callers," Waters said.

According to senior Amanda Krasnoff, a caller at the Madison Connection, "There are three two-hour sessions of training where we learn what to say during the calls, and two hours of computer training at the call center. Plus, we get paid for the training."

The Madison Connection also is a great way to maintain open dialogue with JMU alumni, according to Ciarallo. "Instead of them receiving a letter or an e-mail,
a call is much more personal, and often that leads to more support," he said.

In addition to the benefits that JMU receives from the monetary donations to the Madison Fund, the callers at the Madison Connection also benefit by gaining a sense of accomplishment. Raising money for their fellow students is something to be proud of, as some members have shared.

"Once I got a $600 pledge on a really slow night, and that made the whole night of calling worth it," Krasnoff said. "It's a really great feeling when that happens."

Besides the calls that leave the students with large donations to file to the Madison Fund, most of the Madison Connection employees simply enjoy having conversations with the people on the other end of the phone.

"Calling the old women who were here before the name of the university changed to James Madison [University] is my favorite part," Arnold said. "They are so friendly and talkative, and I like to hear what the university was like back then."

Calling for the Madison Connection may not be for everyone, Arnold said, as it is a tough job where people aren't always nice, "but, when you do get those extremely friendly people, it makes the job worth it."

Junior Catherine Epstein, student manager, remembers a few semesters ago when a student called an alumnus who claimed he could not chat with the caller because he was "busy making future JMU alumni."

While many alumni and parents are happy to be contacted by JMU, some people are less than thrilled, according to junior Doug Stanford, a caller at the Madison Connection.

Although the students at the Madison Connection get paid about as much as other student employees on campus, the callers leave their shift with a great sense of pride for what they are doing for their school.

"Alumni donate to JMU through the Madison Connection because of the personality and enthusiasm of the student on the phone," Waters said. "We have 40 percent participation and raise over half a million dollars a year. A letter in the mail is not capable of that — students are."