When I started working Educational Advancement in 1993, alumni relations teams were seen as an educational institution’s “friend raisers”, while development staff focused on bringing in the dollars. In those days, Alumni Relations (AR) crafted programs and events based on alumni affiliation with particular sports, academic departments or graduation years. They did not participate in fundraising or make “the ask” for a gift from grads.

How times have changed. According to alumni relations expert Andy Shaindlin, in a recent LinkedIn article: . . . alumni relations teams [have moved] toward increased partnership with their fundraising colleagues. It’s common these days for alumni offices to participate openly and fully in capital campaigns, “Day of Giving” events, and crowdfunding efforts.

Another big difference between then and now: today’s AR offices tailor programs to each generation and interest group by asking about, and listening to, what alumni need and want. Access to a wide variety of social media platforms and sophisticated data analytics extend both the reach and personalization of programs and appeals. Expectations of alumni relations results have grown accordingly.

In an era of growing concern for student mental health, and for support of students who need and deserve financial aid, two case studies illustrate some innovations, and outstanding outcomes, from today’s alumni relations programs. While these studies focus on students and alumni, they could be equally relevant when thinking about an organization’s volunteers, clients, or other participants.

1. Kind Mail - Western University Recipient of a Gold Award for Best Alumni Initiative in the 2017 CCAE Prix d’Excellence competition Kind Mail provided a meaningful opportunity for alumni worldwide to connect with current students and send supportive messages.

By polling alumni, Western found a topic that resonated: reaching out with a kind word to students during the high-stress exam period. Further testing of topics showed “my former room in residence” generated great response.

Western’s AR staff put out a Twitter call for interested alumni to participate. Respondents received a web form they could personalize, viewing it online as a postcard with the message “Hey, I used to hang around here too!” accompanied by a cartoon image of socks on a clothesline.

To enhance and simplify the user experience, embedded prompts suggested messages. Respondents could preview their completed postcard and submit it online. Alumni were encouraged to provide a social media handle with their submission, so student recipients could thank the sender if they wished.

Social sharing features allowed alumni to easily broadcast that they had participated in Kind Mail with their network, further leveraging the campaign.

AR staff hand-wrote each digital submission onto a printed postcard that was mailed to the current occupant of the grad’s former residence room. Not only did this extra step increase the warmth of the campaign, it ensured the postcards would be noticed.

The pilot goal of 200 submissions was far surpassed with 1,376 submissions – delivered to 1,376 students over 4 days, exceeding Western’s goal by 588%. These results validated the social media outreach approach, and the importance of listening to alumni before developing engagement initiatives.

For more details, visit the Kind Mail viewing site https://secure2.convio.net/uwo/alumniSocial/kindMailViewing.html And a sample social conversation during the campaign is viewable here. https://secure2.convio.net/uwo/alumniSocial/kindMailViewing.html

2. The Hepburn Alumni Challenge - Lakefield College School Independent school Lakefield College School set several ambitious fundraising and alumni engagement goals, impelled by a challenge from alumnus John Hepburn: a 1968 grad who would provide $400 per alumni gift up to $3 million over a 5-year period. Any 5-year pledge once fulfilled would earn an additional $1,000 from Hepburn. All funds flow to a bursary program for offspring of LCS alumni in need of financial support.

Behind the Hepburn Alumni Challenge was a carefully crafted strategy to triple alumni participation in a single year (from 10% to 30%) and to attract new donors, especially among young alumni. Not only did the initiative promise increased major gifts and a more robust annual appeal - instilling a multi-year giving habit - it also aimed to signal alumni commitment to LCS.

A decade and class captain network formed the backbone of the Challenge. LCS devoted a year of preparation to elements including a dedicated website, program branding and messaging, short story videos (one for the launch and another for the final push), a brochure, and text-to-give capability.

Dedicated program leadership, a schedule of engagement and follow-up with all alumni (donors or not), and grassroots social media activity were essential elements.

By year 2, the Challenge had achieved 35% alumni participation, crowning LCS as “the decisive alumni participation leader in Canada” (the next highest school reported 14% alumni participation). Most impressive, 50% were new donors; 71% had graduated after 1990; and 96% made a 5-year pledge. They gave from 24 countries, 21 U.S. states, and 11 provinces / Territories. The total financial impact is $3.7 million.

In the Challenge process, LCS found 250,000 lost alumni, exchanged 25,000 e-mails, and sent one million hand-written Thank You notes. Meeting the goals was a challenge to staff as well as alumni!

The Hepburn Alumni Challenge isn’t over. LCS has set a goal to reach 40% participation by sustaining those who gave in year 2, win back lapsed donors, and recruit new donors from the Class of 2017 and others.

The 4 keys to success, according to LCS Senior Programs Officer, Adam Bishop:

1. Preparation over a long-time horizon;

2. Comprehensive institutional support;

3. Listening to alumni; and

4. Adaptability.

As noted by Andy Shaindlin in his article about today’s integration of alumni relations, fundraising and institutional priorities: We want to see which behaviors correspond to desired outcomes, such as a relationship between event attendance and giving, or membership and volunteerism. These engagement pathways will illuminate where to invest time, effort, and budget.

This is indeed a new and exciting era in Alumni Relations.

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Mark Hazlett has 25 years of advancement leadership experience in post-secondary education. Since 2008 Mark has led CCAE as its Executive Director. During these years, Mark has led three strategic planning exercises; has been instrumental in growing membership and professional learning participation; and in 2014 coordinated a major educational advancement research project. Most recently, Mark worked closely with the CCAE Board to expand the staffing capacity of CCAE.

Prior to joining CCAE, Mark held advancement leadership positions at the University of New Brunswick, Laurentian University and Queen’s University. Mark was an active CCAE volunteer from the time of the association’s inception in 1993, serving as President from 2003-05.