Alumni Relations Program in the 21st Century

Joel Evans and Susan F. Rice, Ed.D., ACFRE.

What happens when your alumni relations program doesn’t seem to be working? Is there a better model than just “friendraising, the first step to fundraising”?

BBI was contracted to assess several alumni relations programs. Our approach was two-fold: Establish a solid context with a benchmarking study. And, while acquiring this information, interview many of the institution’s own administrators and alums.

In every case, BBI found much to recommend in the programs. While our assessments uncovered dedicated individuals, emerging on-line strategies and creative work, we also found lots of issues. These included:

  • No strategic plan, separate and apart from Development.
  • Few quantifiable objectives.
  • Unclear priorities and inconsistent expectations.
  • Uneven engagement.
  • Low investment in staff.
  • Inconsistent data collection and verification.
  • Disappointing participation rates.
  • Disassociation with the institution, from older constituents in particular.
  • Resistance to institutional investment in alumni because the payoff had not proven to be immediate or generous.

Our tailored reports, in general, touched on the following recommendations:

  • Consider alumni relations as an essential but separate component of college relations. It is not solely a precursor to fundraising. Alumni know when they are perceived that way and react accordingly.
  • Identify and incubate alums as emerging leaders.
  • Segment and play to numerous cohorts.
  • Cultivate partnerships with departments across the institution’s campus (graduate schools, faculty, longtime staff, career services, admissions, community relations).
  • Systematize objectives and track and analyze results yearly.
  • Establish a high-level planning process that engages top alums from across the country.

One of the most important outcomes of the benchmarking was that the maturity and level of investment in alumni programming correlates positively with higher alumni giving performance. And who doesn’t want that outcome?