Alumni relations is the
misunderstood sibling of fund raising. The two have much in common —
interacting with people who are no longer studying and working at your campus —
and one can lead to the other. But they are different. Good alumni relations
has many non-financial benefits, and if it becomes "all about the
money," you risk alienating both regular alumni and major donors.
Administrative work can be
partitioned in many ways — one of which is to distinguish between internal
versus external tasks. If, for example, you chair a chemistry department, you
may spend most of your time on internal functions, reacting to the needs of
chemistry majors, professors, and staff members. Externally, you may talk with
alumni at commencement or when they come back to guest lecture in a class.
Occasionally you will meet with a graduate to "seal the deal" on a
potential donation.
Good
alumni relations will not only benefit your department, school, college, or
university, but also make you a better leader.
Don’t
underestimate the value of alumni relations. Its benefits are not always
obvious to a regular faculty member but become readily apparent to a department
chair. Among the many ways your unit can make good use of its graduates:
As
they progress in their careers, alumni can serve as invaluable mentors and role
models for students. You can make the extent and loyalty of the alumni network
a selling point of your program. In the classroom, too, students react well to
alumni making connections between the curriculum and employment outcomes.
Alumni
are the ultimate and fairest "student evaluation" of the strengths
(and weaknesses) of your program. Talking with alumni two, five, 15 years out
and beyond gives you a 360-degree view of the quality and relevance of what you
purport to teach.
Graduates
can be brand ambassadors and recruiters. Peer-to-peer marketing is the most
powerful persuasion tool. Satisfied alumni who feel grateful (and still
engaged) to their major or to the institution will recommend you to parents or
potential students.
Alumni
can help you, as a leader, make the case to senior administrators that
investment in your program pays off. Deans and presidents pay attention to what
they hear from alumni (positive or negative) and that may affect your unit’s
standing and budget — and your career.
Don’t
conflate alumni relations and fund raising. The two can intersect, but it’s
important to conceive of them as separate enterprises with different
rationales, until they organically converge.
Further,
to land a major gift you have to inculcate somebody who has the following
qualities: affinity, capacity, and philanthropy. In brief, a donor must (1)
care about your program, (2) have discretionary money available to give, and
(3) have the will to donate.
Some
alumni have none of those qualities. The vast majority of alumni have the first
quality. Many appreciate their education in, say, political science or
electrical engineering, but they don’t have a large sum of discretionary money
lying around to give you. Others may have the capacity to give but don’t see
your cause as the worthiest option.
Yes,
many alumni will eventually give something, and
a few (that 5 percent) will give a lot (that 95-percent figure). Good alumni
relations should be an end in itself, and not just because you hope it will
bring in money.
Thus,
a common caution you hear in regard to fund raising also applies to alumni
relations: Administrators who get too caught up on external work — to the point
of ignoring internal concerns — put the success of their program and the
viability of their career in jeopardy. Thriving at your institution and in your
career is about keeping both of those types of responsibilities in balance.
As
soon as you become an administrator with alumni (or really any external)
responsibilities, make a list of potential zones of ethical trouble.
Circumstances will differ, but knowing "the rules" by heart is your
basic task and will save you upset and confusion later on.
For
most alumni, their last deep, engaged experience with the institution happened
in their early 20s. And as students, even graduate students, they may not have been
privy to the politics, folkways, and mechanics of academe. Your job is to
champion your program’s important causes and explain the challenges to the
alumni, and then help them find ways to re-engage, if they are so inclined.
At
the same time, just listening to alumni is itself rewarding. Many of them will
predate your arrival on the campus as a faculty member or administrator.
Learning your institution’s back story from "outsiders" will give you
perspectives you may not have heard as an "insider."
Comments