Its rare that a student might pass through four years at the University not having a class or several classes at the iconic Lincoln Hall. In fact, its almost unheard of.
When ground finally broke on the long-awaited renovation of this historic building, we celebrated completing a long-term effort. But not the Marketing and Communications team in the College of Liberal Arts & Science. They knew they had a unique opportunity; and that spawned a communications and fundraising effort called The Lincoln Hall Project.
The Lincoln Hall Project is unique effort that leveraged the ongoing renovation of Lincoln Hall to help raise millions of dollars for scholarships, increase interest in and awareness of the college and the University of Illinois, encourage alumni to engage with their alma mater, and reinforce the importance of higher education.
Here are just a few successes of this multi-faceted project:
- So far the Project has helped raise more than $2.2 million for scholarships through donations and naming opportunities linked to the renovation.
- Storyography, a component devoted to gathering stories of life at the University, so far it has received more than 100 story submissions in the form of written memories, photographs, and audio recordings.
- This Old Hall, a regular video series highlighting interesting aspects of the Lincoln Hall renovation, including the old stage cyclorama, rebuilding the slate tile roof, refurbishing the bust of Abe Lincoln, and other topics – all featured on the web as well as aired locally on our own UI-7.
- Regular news updates on Lincoln Hall and related events through the project website, LAS News magazine, the college’s email newsletter, and other avenues have garnered off-campus attention, including a profile about the Lincoln Hall Project in Currents magazine.
- Many news outlets in the Midwest and elsewhere reported on an anonymous submission to the Storyography project in which an unidentified alumnus confessed to stealing the bust of Abe Lincoln from Lincoln Hall in 1979.
While we still don’t know the identity of that alumnus, we do know that the Lincoln Hall Project owes its success to a true team effort. We are delighted to present the 2011 Innovation in Marketing Award to the LAS Marketing and Communications team: Patrick East, Dave Evensen, Holly Korab and Holly Rushakoff.