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Practical tools for engaging your program alumni
Every organization knows that alumni engagement is critical to ongoing success, but the “how” of maintaining meaningful relationships with alumni is a puzzle to solve. In our Alumni Playbook, you’ll find actionable insights for engaging program alumni, with the goal of finding the sweet spot where your programming is both impactful enough to meet your goals and attractive to your alumni base.
Quote from Alumni Playbook
There is no one-size-fits-all approach to alumni engagement. A successful strategy should reflect the core experience and should naturally differ from community to community.
Step-by-Step Instructions
With real-world examples and insights from organizations like Teach for America, Yale University, the Wexner Foundation and the University of Virginia, this guide walks you through five steps to building sustainable alumni engagement:
- Step 1: Create a vision
- Step 2: Get to know your alumni
- Step 3: Build strategic programming
- Step 4: Measure, iterate and innovate
- Step 5: Maintain a lifelong community
Tried and True Methods
Next, the playbook features guidance on six ways to put your goals of better alumni engagement into action—whether that means creating forums for conversation on social media, fostering mentoring opportunities, pursuing strategic partnerships, offering educational opportunities, inviting alumni to volunteer or encouraging niche interest groups.
Case Studies
The playbook ends with a selection of case studies from seven organizations who have found success with alumni engagement. Included to provide inspiration for innovative engagement initiatives, these seven case studies show how things like micro grants, conference delegations, scholarships, networking opportunities, fundraising, virtual communities and more can have a lasting impact on the allegiance of alumni.
Bonus Content
Readers will also enjoy the list of resources and further reading on the topic, which includes tips, best practices, sample strategic plans, social media insights and awards programs.
