Key Takeaways

• Alumni participation in engagement activities reduced by 50% in over 20 years to 9%.
• Millennial alumni segments who engage in giving are more interested in whether their gift has value and in seeing the impact.
• Higher education institutions leverage virtual happy hours to create a fun atmosphere where they can share a drink and interact with their alumni online.
• According to a survey by Cuseum, 77% of alumni relations professionals think that they should personalize their alumni engagement more effectively.

Introduction

Overview

• There is no clear history regarding alumni associations. However, the first alumni list was recorded at Yale University in 1972. This list prompted other institutions, such as Williams College, to do the same.
• While there is no specific definition for alumni engagement, most colleges and universities consider it as the attitudes, behaviors, or activities of a college/university's alumni, including attending events, volunteering, giving, and communications involvement.
• Alumni engagement provides a way for alumni to maintain some connection with their alma mater, and their involvement provides significant benefits for the institution.
• Examples of engaged alumni benefits for colleges and universities include financial support, internship opportunities, and student referrals.

Changes Over the Past 30-50 Years

• Several factors, such as reduced state funding for higher education institutions and the Great Recession, led to higher tuition costs over the Consumer Price Index (CPI). This increased cost enabled institutions to generate adequate revenue to improve their academic offerings for students.
• However, it also affected alumni's attitude toward giving or participating in any alumni engagement activities.
• In 2018, alumni giving represented 26% of the total funding for universities and colleges. However, alumni participation in engagement activities reduced by 50% in the past 20 years to 9%.
• Since the economic recession in 2008, most colleges and universities in the US have struggled to achieve pre-recession alumni engagement rates without success. Higher education institutions have had to evaluate their alumni engagement efforts and include fundraising as an integral aspect of their strategic planning.

 

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• However, engagement activities such as annual events and class reunions are no longer as relevant to alumni. They do not have as much impact on alumni engagement with colleges and universities as they used to.
• The alumni's graduation year also has a relatively low impact on relationship-building between the institution and the alumni.
• Compared to earlier generations, the millennial alumni segment hardly responds to social status approaches and acknowledgments used in previous donor recognition programs, such as developing a donor wall or listing. Instead, those who engage in giving are more interested in whether their gift has value and in seeing the impact.

Recent Innovations/Initiatives

Data-Based Personalization and Engagement

• Changing alumni expectations push organizations to create more data-driven, personalized, and engaging experiences. This shift is enabled by technologies and solutions such as customer relationship management (CRM) platforms for higher education, data analytics, and marketing automation.
• Jenny Jones, a former alumni relations professional at the University of North Carolina Charlotte, believes that "the trend toward personalization drives alumni relations. Alumni want to know exactly what they’re giving to; how the college or university will use these funds; and how their contribution benefits the institution, student, or faculty member." Her statement confirms the change in alumni attitudes described above.
• According to a survey by Cuseum, 77% of alumni relations professionals think that they should personalize their alumni engagement more effectively.
• The COVID-19 pandemic was another factor contributing to the trend. Since the institutions couldn't collect the usual data on alumni engagement, which used to be limited to event attendance and fundraising, they had to revamp their alumni engagement reporting. Experts predict that they will increasingly collect data from various sources, "from social media interactions, email engagement, mentor-mentee engagement, to volunteer participation."
• For example, Thomas Aquinas College used gamification for its Alumni Giving Weekend, which allowed it to garner vast amounts of data on the alumni and achieve a high participation rate of 45%.

Letter Writing Campaigns

• Colleges and universities also leverage letter writing to foster relations between alumni, alma mater, and current students.
• For example, the University of Colorado Colorado Springs, supported by a joint partnership between its Alumni Relations and Annual Fund and Enrollment Management offices, launched the Write-a-Mountain-Lion campaign initiative.
• Through this initiative, "hundreds of alumni wrote 3,000 handwritten letters to incoming students."

Virtual Happy Hours

• Higher education institutions also leverage virtual happy hours to create a fun atmosphere where they can share a drink and interact with alumni online.
• Northern Michigan University's Alumni Association implemented virtual happy hours successfully with 20 attendees and expanded the program for alumni board members.

 

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Research Strategy