Cassidy Brimer
Communication and Media in Gender, Race, and Nation (Class of 2025) Hails From: Whitmore Lake, MI
Office of University Development Marketing and Communications
Project Showcase:
Project Description:
As a Marketing and Communications Intern for the Office of University of Michigan Development, I was responsible for determining and analyzing what made an effective development communications e-newsletter. This was for the purpose of making Leaders and Best (a philanthropy newsletter that goes out to donors at U of M) the best it can be. My work included benchmarking and evaluation of more than 15 other e-newsletters, the completion of interviews with highly regarded newsletter professionals, and doing external research into crucial newsletter factors (including frequency, length, design, format, testing, interactivity, testing, etc). Additionally, I completed an organized record of every Leaders and Best newsletter issue, and gathered the most popular stories from this data for financial year 2022 and financial year 2023. Last but not least, I compiled all important information and findings into a slideshow and presented this to my team. This work has been very valuable by providing clarity and a fresh perspective to the Leaders and Best team about what exactly makes an effective e-newsletter. This information will ultimately be used to further educate people about philanthropy at Michigan, and continue to demonstrate Michigan’s philanthropic impacts.
Project Impact:
The work I did provided clarity to the Marketing and Communications team about many aspects of email and e-news marketing that had changed or shifted within the last few years. With a small but mighty team like OUD MarcComm’s, the staff did not have time to take a deep dive into these topics. I was able to spend many hours researching, and then simmer that information down into a digestible format for my team to absorb.
My internship also allowed me to incorporate what I learned in my D-SIP classes into my final presentation. Learning about how the donor base is changing and the incorrect idea that all donors are rich white men really stuck with me— and is what ultimately inspired me to suggest incorporating interactivity into future Leaders and Best emails. I also learned that philanthropy is not just the donation of money, but also includes the donation of time. Because this is often overlooked, I suggested that Leaders and Best begin to incorporate stories about volunteers giving their time in addition to stories about financial gifts. Finally, the concept of Community Centric Fundraising (as opposed to donor centric) inspired me to educate my team on the topic and suggest that Leaders and Best allow the community to subscribe to the e-newsletter also (not just donors). Overall, I believe my work will contribute to the further development of Leaders and Best, and help the e-newsletter stay relevant, interesting, and impactful.
Skills Learned:
- 1. Researching Skills, because I only pursued vetted, high quality opinions and ideas for external research
- 2. Relationship Building, as I worked closely with team members, and reached out to strangers for help and advice
- 3. Communication, through networking with others, presenting my final project to my team, and advocating for my needs
- 4. Interview Skills, as I pondered how to create a comfortable environment and how to ask questions that leave room for genuine answers
“Teehee”
Cassidy Brimer, D-SIP 2023
Welcome to D-SIP 2023-Project Showcase 