Notes from the Nest

UND Alumni Association & Foundation Wins 2024 Circle of Excellence Award from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education

CASE Awards Celebrate Outstanding Achievements in Educational Advancement

Grand Forks (7.30.2024) -- The University of North Dakota Alumni Association & Foundation (UNDAAF) has received a prestigious international Circle of Excellence Award from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE). 

The Silver recognition in the category of Special Events | In-Person – Multi-Day Events comes for the first-ever Notes from the Nest gratitude event. 

Notes from the Nest attracted more than 2,000 students to the Memorial Union October 16-17 of last year to write thank you notes to scholarship donors. The event was made possible through a campus-wide partnership among the UND Alumni Association and Foundation, UND Student Finance, and several colleges, schools and departments. After the notes were turned in, students enjoyed free pizza and donuts and entered their names into a scholarship drawing. Students unable to attend in person had the option to submit messages of gratitude virtually. 

We are thrilled to see Notes from the Nest honored by CASE at the international level!DeAnna Carlson Zink,  UNDAAF CEO

More than 40 volunteers – including student ambassadors and representatives from UND colleges and university staff – helped pull off the massive letter-writing campaign. 

Student participant Cole Guttormson said that creating a hand-written thank you note was important. “It shows the people that you don’t take it for granted, and that you really do appreciate it. Every college student needs the money. If you just blow it off like it’s a little thing, they might not feel like helping other students in the future,” Guttormson said when interviewed at the event. 

CASE’s Circle of Excellence Awards are the premier recognition program for educational advancement. These peer-selected and adjudicated awards celebrate colleges, universities, and schools whose talented staff have advanced their institutions with resourcefulness and ingenuity.

One of the CASE judges praised the UND event for a “novel approach that was highly effective and can serve as a model for building relationships.”

“We are thrilled to see Notes from the Nest honored by CASE at the international level,” said DeAnna Carlson Zink, CEO of the UNDAAF. “This recognition is a testament to the hundreds of hours of planning that went into this event and to the thousands of students who answered the call to say “thank you” to their donors. Ultimately, the goal is to make sure those donors know how much their gifts mean to those who benefit from their generosity.”

“We at the UND Alumni Association and Foundation share this award with all those who helped make Notes from the Nest a success,” said Jenn Lukens, UNDAAF Director of Stewardship & Donor Appreciation. “That includes the students who turned out in droves to recognize their donors. As it was our first-ever Notes from the Nest, we didn’t know what to expect so we were thrilled to see that turnout and experience the students’ positive energy.” The second Notes from the Nest gratitude event will be held October 14-15.

A Complete Gratitude Experience

Students are directed through six stations at the event. Each includes instructions to follow, interactive opportunities, or incentives, giving the students - and their donors - a complete gratitude experience.

2023 By the Numbers