Kansas State University Alumni Association

Kansas State University, which is commonly shortened to K-State, is an institution of higher learning located in Manhattan, Kansas, and is the oldest public university in the state of Kansas. K-State originally was named Kansas State Agricultural College, and was founded during the American Civil War on February 16, 1863. K-State ranks as one of the nation’s “cutting-edge schools,” according to a guidebook that pinpoints today’s hottest majors and the innovative colleges that offer them.

Kelly Law, Associate Director of Business Development for the Alumni Association at Kansas State University, is a 2001 graduate of the University. When she started at her position for the alumni association, she inherited the ornament program, which was in its 7th year. “Up until the time that I began handling the program, our focus for each ornament was based primarily on buildings throughout the campus.” She found that the market had cooled a bit for that subject matter so she started looking into milestones at the University, as well as traditional marks and icons.

She worked with the University’s legal department to release the marks for use in the upcoming ornaments. In 2009, the ornament depicted “Willie the Wildcat” the mascot for K-State. The response was overwhelming. The sense of nostalgia and team spirit seemed to boost sales for that year’s ornament, as well as interest in collecting the previous 11 ornaments.

The program is marketed differently, depending on the subject matter of each year’s ornament. Standard outreach includes ads in the alumni magazine to members, ads in “Powercat” illustrated (a subscription-based athletics newspaper, the Association’s website and through their newsletter. Alumni, students, staff and fans of the University alike make up the buyers of each year’s ornament. Law finds that there is a large group of people who return each year to buy the ornament. She calls these “the collectors”, who purchase not only for themselves, but as gifts for friends and family as well. The ornaments are also given to the Association’s board members at the holidays.

The ornaments are sold exclusively through the alumni association offices, and cannot be found in campus bookstores or stores in the town. This exclusivity has worked for the alumni association’s fundraising efforts thus far. “We get calls throughout the year from alumni,” says Law. “They want to know all about their alma mater from how the sports teams are doing, to how the weather is on campus. But mostly, they want to know when the new ornament is available for purchase”.

For more information on the K-State Alumni Association, please visit the website at http://www.k-state.com.

 Download a PDF of the Kansas State University Alumni Association Customer Success Story