Category: Blog

Strategies for Recruiting and Retaining Alumni Reunion Volunteers

DO YOU HAVE A SUCCESS STORY IN ALUMNI VOLUNTEER MANAGEMENT? Gwen Doyle, program manager at Academic Impressions, is looking for success stories to feature in upcoming events and articles. If you have tried something innovative and effective in managing your alumni volunteers, we encourage you to share your story. Contact Gwen Doyle at 720.988.1258 or email gwen@academicimpressions.com. by Casey Hudson (Academic Impressions) Volunteers are vital to the success of any alumni event—especially a reunion. And maintaining a large and enthusiastic volunteer pool requires a variety of recruitment techniques, appropriate training, and an engaging volunteer experience. During a recent Academic Impressions training, Andrea Petrie, director of development for Marquette University’s College of Nursing, and Taylor Schult, senior engagement officer at Marquette, discussed ways to make the volunteer experience more alumni friendly as a part of an overall plan for building better reunions. Here are several highlights. Using All the Resources You Have to Recruit Volunteers Is your advancement shop taking full advantage of the human and digital resources available for recruitment? Petrie and Schult recommend some simple techniques that can easily be adopted or adapted to fit into any recruitment strategy: Personally invite previous volunteers to volunteer again. Ask volunteers if they […]

Making Summer and Special Sessions Successful: 4 Key Factors

by Ken Smith

A NEW SERIES This is the first in a series of articles from Ken Smith, Virginia Tech’s vice provost for resource management and institutional effectiveness. Smith has both chaired and staffed multiple committees charged with overall improvement of special sessions operations at Virginia Tech. He holds a PhD in Educational Leadership from Virginia Tech. You may also be interested in Smith’s recent podcast, “Approaching the Academic Calendar More Creatively.” More colleges are considering offering special sessions outside the traditional academic calendar. In some cases, institutions are moving beyond summer and winter inter-sessions to provide condensed terms in May (immediately following spring term) or August (immediately preceding fall term). There are even “spring break” sessions that offer opportunity for very compressed but innovative courses. Special sessions not only provide the institution with financial gains by generating additional tuition revenues; they also offer opportunities to improve student success, completion rates, and job readiness. For example: For faculty, special sessions can offer not only extra pay but also an opportunity to try out innovative approaches to teaching a course. Because of the shorter time frame, many special session courses are delivered with a mix of on-line and in person instruction.  Certain types of […]

Annual Giving: Building the Case for Support

by Heather L. Greig

PRACTICAL STRATEGIES IN ANNUAL GIVING This article is the second in a unique series by Heather Greig of the University of Florida. The previous article in this series was “4 Keys to Building a Stronger Advancement Team.” A strong case for support is critical to the long-term success of your annual giving program—whether you are fundraising for unrestricted or restricted funds. Your case for support should address the following key questions: By creating a robust case, you will be laying the foundation for a strategy that will maintain your organization’s place among the top philanthropic interests of your alumni. The competition in the marketplace is significant, and less complex non-profits can more transparently communicate the answers to these three key questions. Without a strong case for support, annual giving programs will continue to face challenges in acquiring and retaining donors. Building the Case for Support: Unrestricted Funds When developing a case for support for an unrestricted fund, most organizations face a challenge overcoming the “black hole effect”. Consider the following when building this type of case: Building The Case for Support: Restricted Funds When raising money for restricted funds, the challenge takes on a different form. In this instance, the […]

Saving on Administrative Costs through Shared Service Agreements: 2 Case Studies

by Mark Polatajko

Given depleted funding sources and scrutiny over the costs of higher education, institutions across the country are recognizing that traditional modes of operation are not sustainable; many are instead looking at more efficient models of shared operational and administrative services. The reality of established cultures and organizational structures at nearly all institutions make generating these efficiencies a sincere challenge. However, several institutions have successfully navigated these challenges to create shared delivery models that generate efficiencies and guarantee much-needed funding for the academic mission. Wright State University in Dayton, OH has developed a unique model for funding operational and administrative services. Here are two case examples illustrating their approach — and highlighting what you can learn from their model. Example 1: Enterprise Print CHALLENGEWright State was facing rising costs across its print production and office print footprint resulting from antiquated equipment, an outdated capital expenditure model, declining print production volume, idle capacity with heavy investment in fixed costs (i.e., labor and equipment), and decentralized, non-strategic deployment of print devices.SOLUTIONWright State led the development of a consortium for enterprise print services across multiple institutions that would leverage pricing and generate economies of scale. The key elements for deliver were quality, service, value, […]

Handling Footage in a Campus Crisis: Others’ Footage

by Cindy Lawson

THE NEXT LEVEL IN CRISIS COMMUNICATIONS This article is part of an ongoing series by Cindy Lawson on taking your crisis communications and response planning to the next level. The previous articles in the series include: Presidents’ Advice for Campus Leaders in a Crisis Social Media Triage: How to Create a Social Media Incident Command The crisis hits unexpectedly. My mind kicks into gear. My first thoughts are: get the facts, determine the messaging and identify who needs to receive which messages, how often and through what mechanisms. We know this drill. However, not once in all the myriad of crises I managed during my more than 30-year career have I ever asked, “What pictures do I need? Should I take any at all? For what purpose? Should we use them on a website or disseminate via social media?” I have posted pictures of vigils or presidents speaking at press conferences, but short of that, it’s been the farthest thing from my mind. Yet why should this be the case? If a picture says a thousand words, why isn’t it at the forefront of my mind? It should be. As I recently grappled with these questions, I interviewed Jamie Moncrief, […]

7 Tips for Effectively Managing an Admissions Team

by W. Kent Barnds

One seasoned enrollment manager offers practical strategies for making your admissions team high performing, high morale, and effective. When I took on my role in 1997 as director of admissions at Elizabethtown College, the extent of my leadership and management experience consisted of serving as captain of my college track team several years before. While I’d worked hard as an admissions counselor and was beginning to feel a genuine connection to admissions work and higher education, I did not think of myself as a leader. I suspect my experience is fairly common among those who find themselves (or will find themselves) in positions of leadership in an admissions office: lots of enthusiasm, little experience. Though I still make mistakes, I’ve learned a few things about leading and managing an admissions team. But for this post, I asked my own team for some feedback about what does generally work, and what doesn’t. Responses to my inquiry resulted in my first observation about self-management and reinforce how important it is for admissions leaders to solicit feedback from team members! I hope these observations are helpful. UNDERSTAND YOUR TEAM Understanding the characteristics and acknowledging the complexities of the team is a must. Most […]

Hazing Prevention: It Pays to Be Proactive

by Keith Ellis, Daniel Fusch

A few weeks ago, Sigma Alpha Epsilon announced that it would end pledging entirely, as an attempt to reform the fraternity’s culture and prevent hazing. Various news sources commented on how the decision came on the heels of a Bloomberg investigation that had dubbed SAE the “deadliest fraternity” after finding that there had been nine deaths at SAE events since 2006. Wanting to learn more about the implications of SAE’s move and what institutions can learn from the story, we reached out to Keith Ellis, the University of South Carolina’s director of residence life, who has been recognized nationally for his efforts in hazing prevention, risk management education, and leading change in fraternity and sorority communities across the southeastern United States. The following is a transcript of our interview with Keith Ellis. REVIEWING THE CHALLENGE Many campuses only become aware of hazing issues after a crisis, prompting a reactive approach to fix the problem. Hazing prevention initiatives are not new, but often fall flat because they do not take into account the underlying cultural change that must occur to address this systemic challenge. Preventing Hazing: An Interview with Keith Ellis Daniel Fusch (Academic Impressions): Keith, thank you for sharing your […]

Clery Act Update: Why October 2014 is Critical

by Bev Baligad (Lansing Community College) and Lisa LaPoint (Academic Impressions) A recent amendment to the Clery Act require significant updates to your Annual Security Report (ASR), and your institution needs to address these changes appropriately and proactively in this October’s report. To place the recent changes in context, Academic Impressions brings you this video infographic (below), and to clarify what you need to review before October, we’ve interviewed compliance expert Bev Baligad, J.D., the director of student compliance and training and student Title IX coordinator at Lansing Community College. Video: A Clery Act Timeline What You Need to Do: An Interview with Bev Baligad AI: Bev, what questions should compliance officers and safety officers be asking? What should they be thinking about as they prepare to update their ASR? Bev Baligad: I would be asking: Which components of our current ASR need to be changed? Are we truly meeting the needs of the students at the same time that we are meeting federal compliance requirements? Has our ASR template evolved over the years, or has it stayed the same? Has our institution done a good job at keeping an eye on the regs as changes have come about, or are […]

5 Steps to Spring Clean Your Major Gifts Portfolio

by Ashlyn W. Sowell

A COLUMN FROM GETTYSBURG COLLEGE This article is the second in a series by Ashlyn Sowell, Gettysburg’s associate vice president and campaign director. In her previous article, Sowell reviewed 4 lessons about campaign communications and volunteer management that she and her team at Gettysburg learned — from their volunteers. You can read that article here. Today, Sowell, with input from Gettysburg’s director of prospect research, walks through critical steps in reviewing your major gifts portfolio. We hope you will find this article useful and share it with your colleagues. We also recommend these related upcoming trainings: After the winter of 2014, I think everyone is looking forward to spring. And with spring comes that throwing open of the windows, getting rid of clutter, and giving everything a good dusting.  It can also be the perfect time to review your major gifts portfolio to usher in new prospects and to let go of the old. I was struck by the news in the VSE reports that just came out recently. Giving in higher education is up and the highest it has been in five years.  That’s great news and speaks volumes to the work done by gift officers in partnership with […]

Beyond Friendraising: The Shift to Metrics-Driven Alumni Relations

SIGN UP FOR AI TRAININGS FOR FREE WITH AI PRO! We want to take a moment to thank you for reading our publication, and let you know about AI Pro, our new membership service that includes free access to 50 recent online trainings for advancement professionals, as well as many upcoming trainings! Membership also includes a discount on registrations for AI conferences. It’s a great way to train your entire team for less. We hope you’ll find out more here. by Gwen Doyle, Daniel Fusch, and Erin Swietlik (Academic Impressions) Academic Impressions recently conducted a survey of nearly one hundred alumni relations professionals. We asked about what measures of alumni engagement they had in place — and the extent to which these measures inform program improvements, new projects, and strategic planning for alumni outreach. Measuring “return on investment” on alumni outreach efforts can be a touchy subject — and a particularly difficult activity to attempt. At AI, we wanted to track the shift toward more data-informed decision making in alumni relations, and learn more about how alumni relations professionals across the industry are addressing this challenge. Here is what we learned. Are Your Peers Assessing the Return on Alumni Relations […]