ALUMNI WANT TO HELP CURRENT STUDENTS...AND THEMSELVES
In which
areas are alumni most open to additional involvement?
Based on data from Campbell Rinker's
AlumniPoll 2002, we conducted a simple “gap analysis” – subtracting
actual involvement from desired involvement for a variety
of activities. We calculated the gap for each activity,
then sorted by size to identify the degree of opportunity.
Results show that alumni are most interested in engaging
in activities that will directly benefit people – either
current students or themselves.
The two greatest gaps are in the areas of mentoring
(helping current students/alumni benefit from their
skills and experience) and using the institution's
career resources. In each case, nearly half of alumni
have a high level of interest in these activities,
but fewer than one in five actually has a high level
of participation - a gap of more than 30 percent.
Chances are, many of your alumni are willing, even
eager, to help mentor a current student or recent grad.
This is a great opportunity to encourage and assist
your students while developing increased alumni involvement.
The same goes for career resources. Your institution
probably works hard to place new grads in good jobs.
But with most alumni undergoing multiple job changes
and career shifts, making resources available to alumni
can have an immediate,
positive impact. Access to such resources could easily
justify the cost of membership in a dues-based alumni
association. Or, alumni career services could more
than pay for itself if structured like a placement
service, where the employer (or
employee) pays a percentage of the first year’s
salary.
Of course,
other areas offer opportunities as well. Alumni are
eager to stay in touch with friends and
to keep abreast of institution news. And don’t
underestimate the potential of alumni in recruiting – especially
recruiting themselves and their kids/grandkids as students.
(Once again, we see the potential of linking alumni
relations and enrollment management.)
Even in areas such as giving, more than twice as many
alumni want to give generously than actually do. Some
of that gap is likely to be attributable to a perceived
inability to give. But some of it may be based on the
need to hear more about the school's needs and be appropriately
invited to give. So take heart, advancement staff!
To view
a graph of the gap analysis, CLICK
HERE.
The graph shows difference between the percentage of
alumni giving high ratings (4+ out of 5) to desired
involvement and the percentage giving high ratings
to current involvement. BUT WILL INCREASED INVOLVEMENT
IMPACT ALUMNI GIVING?
Of course,
the cynical reader – especially one
with fund-raising responsibilities – will say, “This
is all fine and well, but will the effort to increase
alumni involvement actually lead to increased giving?” Great
question. The short answer is: yes and no – it
depends on the activity. The long answer will be the
subject of the next edition of The Alumni Report.
METHODOLOGY NOTES
The data
were drawn from AlumniPoll(TM) 2002, Campbell Rinker’s
syndicated online survey of more than 3,000 alumni
from four-year and two-year institutions
across the U.S. and Canada. Data were weighted to
match national proportions for public/private and
four-year/two-year enrollment, as reported by the
Chronicle of Higher Education.
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