Alumni Relations: Global Trends and Local Realities

1. Alumni Relations: Global Trends and Local Realities Serge. L. Sych Central European University November 26, 2008 Budapest, Hungary

2. World we (will) live in … ? • “[…] Hot, Flat and Crowded”* • Competence, information and technology are becoming commodities** *Refers to the latest Thomas Friedman’s book. **Edward de Bono “The Six Value Medals”

3. Is there such a profession …? • The oldest associations: U.S. - Williams College 1821 and Canada - King’s College 1846 • Classic Anglo-Saxon model: alumni relations as part of development (fundraising function) • Pre-dominant (continental) European model: alumni relations as part of international office (“friend-raising” function) • Emerging model: alumni relations as part of integrated marketing and/or integrated with career services • Alumni relations at pre-school, secondary school and colleges, as well as multinational corporations (usually part of Human Resources or PR & Communication)

4. Latest global trends: alumni groups • Independent alumni associations, integrated alumni organizations and mixed model (3 main types) • The Mississippi University for Women vs. [its] Alumni Association (Inside Higher Ed, 21 Nov. 2008)

5. Latest global trends: students-alumni • “Students are alumni are students …” • Traditional, rigid concepts of student and alumnus are breaking down* • Early network connection, early talent acquisition, life-long learning *Dan Guhr, Illuminate Consulting Group

6. Latest global trends: online communities* • Facebook - 73% • LinkedIn – 53% • YuoTube – 30% • MySpace – 29% • Google – 26% • Flickr – 20% • Wikipedia – 16% • Yahoo groups – 15% • Twitter – 6% * CASE 2008 Survey of Online Social Community Use in Alumni Relations, June 2008

7. Participating in Social Networks • Benefits • Alumni already using these sites • Provides a service that you cannot • Visibility for institution and its alumni • Can drive traffic through your site • Increases communication with key group • “Other side or alternative voice” in addition to official sites • Problems • Only reach some fraction of alumni • Little data back into your office • Likely to be replaced with some other service • Issue of control

8. Latest global trends: economic upheavals • Comprehensive approach to career preparation* • Capitalize on the desire of alumni to be involved with students • Section on alumni careers at both the Alumni Association’s and Career Center’s websites *Sheila Curran, Curran Career Consulting

9. Traditional alumni relations • Traditional (institution-driven “content” and structure) • Alumni Association • Club structure • Events and Reunions • Services to Alumni

10. Integrated alumni relations • Integrated • Mission driven • Identify where alumni can serve as well as be served • Cross training at staff level for external events and affairs

11. Active listening to the customer • Two way communication based on active, aggressive listening • Listening is ongoing • Used to constantly modify and improve the application and use of strategic resources

12. Records • Electronic storage (storage, security, confidentiality, robustness, multi user, multi tasking, data manipulation) • Customized commercial product vs. in-house developed system • “Integrated information system” model • Databases: types and brands (Excel, Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Systems,Raiser’s Edge, Exceed,DonorPerfect, webAlumnus, Oracle-based systems)

13. Basic Information Biographical Details Educational Details Permanent Address Business/Academic Details CRM: Interest & Involvement Course Current Address Employer/University Name Meetings Year, etc E-mail Address, etc Other, etc Information blocks and relationship database

14. Program activities • Events • Membership • Communications • Fundraising & prospect tracking • Gift management • Alumni relations • Volunteer records

15. Data sources • Student records • Services • Alumni groups and volunteer involvement • Individual alumni • Surveys, polls and questionnaires • Targeted mailings • Events • Internet research and on-line communities • Other departments

16. Data enhancement • Internet research and on-line communities • Press cuttings • Directories • Other records and lists at university (data warehousing) • Contacts • Outside sources

17. Data manipulation & retrieval • Segmentation • Flagging • Importing • Exporting - use of other software • Reporting

18. Conclusions • Alumni relations at HEI – not luxury anymore • Contact with alumni is paramount • Information is vital for this task • Your database is only as good as the data you put into it - garbage in, garbage out • Data is only pertinent if it can be processed to produce relevant information • Never lose sight of the needs of the institution -mission driven and integrated with your main constituencies: “applicants-students-alumni-parents-friends-employers-local community …”

19. Thank you! sychs@ceu.hu Serge L. Sych Head of Alumni Relations & Career Services, Central European University Chair of International Alumni Relations (INTAL) group, European Association for International Education (EAIE)