Barriers to setting up an Alumni Association
List at least 3 objections you will face (or are facing) when initiating an Alumni Association. How will you overcome each?
3 objectives I am sure to face in an effort to improve our already existing alumni association is
We already have an alumni association-My argument here is to demonstrate how we can improve on our exisiting Association by increasing membership, activity and structure-Having key departments buy-in, setting up an advisory board.
ROI-My argument to this will be the impact on enrollment, placement and retention by improving and having a dedicated individual to run our alumni association
No one to work on community outreach-My argument to this would be to have several members of our advisory committee be made up of community members/contributors/influencers/business owners. In this way the Alumni Association Director can have a direct liason to key people who can assist with the outreach and be linked to their connections.
Manpower - coming from a smaller school, we won't have the dedicated personnel to run a true Alumni department. That role will fall on my department, Career Development. Although initially a challenge, the benefits of an Alumni Association is what we will sell to those challenging our available manpower. We can start small and slowly grow.
Money - this will also be a challenge. How do we overcome it, by doing the little things that don't cost much ($$$) first. Creating a simple newsletter where we can have quarterly updates and articles and send out to all of our graduates. We can also invite graduates to on-campus seminars which don't cost us money but can get the ball rolling.
Marketing - we won't have the marketing dollars available to us to spend on Alumni Association promotions. We will have to go back to the basics when it comes to promoting, i.e. email blasts, word of mouth and staff/faculty buy-in.
Fiona,
You have some great ideas for each of these areas. It looks like setting up an advisory board would be of benefit to two of your three barriers. I'd start there!
Good luck!
June
Gerry,
The barriers you listed are very common issues. But, you have great thoughts on overcoming them. Bottom line, don't let the barriers stop you from moving forward. Get your program started with what you can, keep adding to it, and let the momentum grow. Often just getting started is the most difficult part.
Good luck!
June
1. We are a small school so participation might be a challenge. In addition, our students come from all over the United States so getting them to come back to school might be very difficult. A solution would be for us to communicate using the internet/forums/Skype instead of face-to-face meetings.
2. The start-up costs for a website would be expensive and might be a challenge to convince the Board of Directors. I think an analysis of costs versus possible referrals might be very helpful for them to see.
3. Manpower as we are a small school so it would be another thing that administration would have to do. But, I think that it would be very beneficial for our school and students to start one- something everyone can agree on.
The first challenge our school would face is that we have not kept up to date with our students' new addresses. A possible solution would be to connect with students through email and social media so that we do not have to constantly update students' addresses.
The second challenge would be the initial start-up cost for updating our records. We still have many files from students a decade ago that are not in the computer and trying to update those records, before we kept track of email, is going to be a problem. We will unfortunately have to take the time to manually go through all the records and put them into the computer.
The third challenge would be how few people we have working at our school and hiring someone to run the alumni department is simply not feasible for our school. We will have to figure out what duties each person will do or just have one person run the entire department.
Justin,
It sounds like you have a pretty clear idea of your obstacles in setting up an alumni association for your institution. I believe you also see the benefits. As you mentioned, your challenge is to show the Board of Directors the benefits and help them understand the issue of cost.
But, the bottom line is a RELATIONSHIP - we want to continue our relationship with our graduates and we want our alumni to continue a relationship with us. It can be a mutually beneficial relationship. That's the issue your board is going to have to agree on. The cost/benefit can be somewhat blurred, but the relationship can prove to be very powerful for your institution.
Good luck!
June
Shawnie,
We faced some of these same obstacles when we started our program. One suggestion I would give you is to have your grads complete an alumni profile on your website, giving you all their updated personal information, which you can then enter into your database. You certainly can get the word out via email and social media, but you will be amazed at how "they find you"! If you provide a link off your school's main site, many will find you that way. I would not let the fact that you have out of date records keep you from getting started. You can update as you go - as they come to you and provide their updated info.
June
June, that has worked really well for us so far. We created a Facebook page for our school and have had a lot of graduates come out of the woodwork to "like" our page. It has been great to find out everyone's updated contact information.
1. Needing a director. We just hired a retention specialist and I believe it would fit to begin with him.
2. Budget is always an issue because we have buy in but no one know what all is truly involved like your course has really opened my eyes.
3. Getting the school department to buy in. This will take time but we can do it.
Randy,
I'm glad to hear your eyes have been opened to all that's involved in setting up an alumni program. There are certainly many barriers that need to be faced and then addressed, but I hope you are also seeing the incredible benefit of developing and maintaining a relationship with your graduates. Our alumni are of GREAT value to our institutions. It sounds like your job will be to sell that to others at your institution.
Good Luck!
June
Definitely the initial cost of setting up a website...getting buy ins.....maintenance of the website and newsletter....having the time....
We already have a great referral system in place among past, present students as well as a great referral between employers and job placement but keeping it lively will be a challenge after overcoming the above issues....it will take someone's time and time means pay....even advisory boards can be a challenge if it is not during there working hours. I would like more sugestions talking to someone that has actually done this with no pay cause I see that as a big issue. If this is to be a FREE Alumni Association where does the funding come from...sure you can say future students but again we already have this in play without the association in place.
Buddy
Three objections we will be facing when initiating an Alumni Associations are:
1. Participation-It can be very difficult getting students to return as many come from out of state and some move out.
2. Student records- Keeping student files updated.
3. Manpower- entirely being dedicated to this association itself.
Ginny,
Certainly, in order to provide a FREE service, your leadership needs to see the value of maintaining a relationship with your graduates.
I, personally, believe that our grads are living, breathing, walking advertisements for our institution. We pay LOTS of money for marketing. Why not tap into our own student's stories for this? If you are able to gather Alumni Success Stories via your alumni website/association and can put them on your websites, share them with employers, make success story posters to display at your campuses or even their workplaces, put together an Alumni Success Story Book, or even share them with your staff/instructors as a source of encouragement, there is power in a story!
To see an example - take a peak at several of the alumni success stories on the bottom of the home page of this website - www.alumni.pmi.edu
If you can get your financial decision-makers to see the value in this, they'll provide the budget.
June
Anna,
It sounds like you've thought through some of your issues in setting up an Alumni Association.
Let me comment on a couple of the ones you mentioned. Most institutions use an Alumni Website as their main method of building and maintaining a relationship with their graduates. If you think in those terms, then having students in other states is not an issue and, frankly, in today's world our students find us if we have a website for them to go to. We don't even need to spend a lot of time and money finding them, they actually come to us via the internet. If we provide a place on that alumni website for them to update their information, it allows us to keep in touch with them.
June
June
3 barriers I see are
1 Locating our long list of alumni
2 Setting a budget
3 Getting organized and implementing the association
so it is effective and proves its worth to the school.
Francis,
It sounds like you have a clear idea of your barriers - and they are all common ones. Your next step is looking at a way around or over your barriers and, perhaps, coming up with some creative/out-of-the-box solutions for your particular institution.
June Gudeman
1.) Funding for the department. The best I can do is reqest for it, and try to see upper management support and buy in.
2.) Staffing. Everyone has a job at the school already and most people do not want to work past their job descriptions unless getting paid for it, which ties back into #1-funding - to over come we'd have to pay for the work being done and that ties back into buy in from the upper management.
3.) Graduate support - getting alum to join. They have to see the benefit. They have to see the WIFM- What's in it for me. Showing opportunites of joining would be 1 way to over come.
Christian,
There are certainly many barriers that need to be faced and then addressed, but I hope you are also seeing the incredible benefit of developing and maintaining a relationship with your graduates. Our alumni are of GREAT value to our institutions. It sounds like your job will be to sell that to others at your institution.
Use your contacts with alumni to gather their success stories and then begin to creatively share those stories. Our graduates are walking breathing advertisements and investing a little in them is 'way' cheaper than the money we give our marketing departments.
June
