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RALLYERS
ARE FRIENDLY AND GENEROUS, BUT DON’T
TAKE THEM FOR GRANTED
Three years ago, Campbell Rinker created the R4 Matrix
of alumni personalities. Now, using a much larger
sample, we have reconfirmed and expanded our understanding
of the four basic alumni personalities.
In this newsletter, we describe one type of alumni.
The remaining two types will be covered in future issues.
The personalities were defined based on responses to
a series of 20 questions about current and desired
involvement with their alma mater.
Alumni Personality 1: Rallyers
Rallyers
(20% of U.S. alumni) are unabashed in their enthusiasm
for the institution and their interest in
supporting it and staying involved. They are the most
active across the board, but desire to be even more
active. Their activities have no strong biases. Athletics,
academics, social and professional networking – all
appeal to Rallyers.
Rallyers are active as alumni because they were active
as students. Almost without exception, Rallyers had
great student experiences. They made friends, and have
tended to maintain those friendships as alumni.
Rallyers are three times as likely as any other segment
to participate in alumni activities, and four times
as likely to be current dues-paying alumni association
members. Their attrition rate as members is much lower
than that of other segments.
Demographically,
Rallyers tend to be a little on the younger side
(median age: 36), and therefore are a
little less likely than other groups to have children.
While not all Rallyers are rich, wealthy alumni (incomes
over $150,000) are more likely to be Rallyers than
any other personality. They also are inclined to give – five
out of six have made at least one gift to the institution.
While most
of your best-giving, best-participating alumni are
likely to be Rallyers, not all Rallyers
give and participate – so they still represent
an opportunity for marketing, especially since they
are so favorably inclined. About half have never attended
an alumni event or activity, and two-thirds have never
joined the alumni association as a paying member.
A key to relating to Rallyers is identifying and keeping
up with them, particularly from a young age. One way
to identify them is to look for alumni who were active
as students (if student involvement is documented).
Another is to look at who tailgates before football
games. Perhaps the best way, though, to track Rallyers
is through other Rallyers, as they tend to stay in
touch with one another.
Campbell Rinker has developed a survey-based model
to identify which of your alumni are Rallyers. If you
are conducting an alumni survey, be sure to contact
Campbell Rinker to get details about adding a handful
of questions that can be used to classify your alumni.
About the only danger with Rallyers is burning out
the best leaders among them by asking too much of too
few.
In short,
Rallyers don’t need to be sold on
the worth of the institution; they desire – and
are inclined – to be positive. However, they
need to see that positive feelings can and should be
translated into tangible support and participation.
This isn’t difficult, because Rallyers tend to
feel a duty to support their alma mater. But their
giving and participation should not be assumed – they
still need to be invited to give, join and participate.
Methodology notes: Data based on
Campbell Rinker’s
AlumniPoll 2002, Campbell Rinker’s syndicated
online survey of more than 3,000 North American alumni.
Data were weighted to match national proportions for
public/private enrollment, as reported by the Chronicle
of Higher Education. Segments were defined through
K-means cluster analysis.
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