Social media has enormous potential, but using it effectively requires careful attention to your constituents.
McMaster University is using social media to reach alumni and donors on their own terms. Rather than reach out to alumni as a monolithic population, they strive to form individual relationships with each alumnus and alumna.
We asked Erin O'Neil, digital engagement alumni officer, and Dave Dawson, public relations coordinator, to discuss McMaster's strategy.
Holding a major event takes a lot of work. It means coordinating across multiple offices and organizing alumni, volunteers, students, and faculty.
But that didn't stop King's College from taking on an ambitious project to combine fundraising, mentorship, and volunteering into a single event that has been so successful that it's become an annual tradition.
We spoke with Frederick Pettit, King's College's vice president for institutional advancement, ahead of his team's CASE D2 conference panel, "Honors, Dollars, and Role Models," to learn more about the event and how they pulled it off.
Student loan debt is on the rise. We all know that.
How, exactly, the $1.2 trillion in debt held by students and alumni nationally affects alumni engagement—and how to fix it—is more of a mystery.
American Student Assistance is a financial literacy nonprofit dedicated to improving the lives of students and alumni with student loan debt. We spoke with Jonathan Sparling, a campus engagement and education consultant for ASA, to find out what increasing student debt means for alumni engagement.
Independent schools face a unique set of challenges when it comes to young alumni engagement.
For one, their alumni graduate four years younger than their post-secondary counterparts'. It takes another four years for independent school graduates to begin giving in an adult capacity.
It is the task of these schools' alumni relations offices to keep alumni engaged in the interim.
We asked Phillips Exeter Academy's Assistant Director of Student and Young Alumni Programs Michelle Curtin to discuss Exeter's strategy for keeping young alumni engaged.
It's no surprise that the college with the oldest alumni association in the country should continuously top the list of schools with the highest alumni giving rates.
And we weren't surprised to see the Williams Switchboard flourish as soon as it launched in August 2014.
In the 15 months since then, more than 1,800 Williams students, alumni, staff, and parents have signed up to post more than 900 asks and offers.
The Williams Switchboard has become the go-to place for Ephs of all ages to exchange advice, look for places to stay, and find rides to and from campus for reunions and breaks.
We asked Williams's Assistant Editor & Social Media Specialist Francesca Shanks about Williams's success.
Sometimes, alumni engagement is more art than science.
That art requires a deep understanding of and affinity for your alumni community. So who better to engage that community than alumni themselves?
Willamette University in Salem, Oregon has taken that point to heart. Willamette succeeds in engaging its young alumni by leveraging the generosity of its broader alumni network.
We asked Devin Bales, Willamette's alumni and parent relations associate, and a Willamette alumnus himself, to shed some light on Willamette's most successful strategies.