alumni relations: global trends and local realities serge. l. sych central european university...
TRANSCRIPT
Alumni Relations: Global Trends and Local Realities
Serge. L. SychCentral European University
November 26, 2008 Budapest, Hungary
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”
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)
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)
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
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
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
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
Traditional alumni relations
• Traditional (institution-driven “content” and structure)– Alumni Association– Club structure– Events and Reunions– Services to Alumni
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
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
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)
Business/Academic DetailsEmployer/University Name Address, etc
Educational DetailsCourse
Year, etc
CRM: Interest & InvolvementMeetingsOther, etc
Permanent AddressCurrent Address
Basic InformationBiographical Details
Information blocks and relationship database
Program activities
Events Membership CommunicationsFundraising & prospect tracking Gift managementAlumni relationsVolunteer records
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
Data sources
• Internet research and on-line communities
• Press cuttings
• Directories
• Other records and lists at university (data warehousing)
• Contacts
• Outside sources
Data enhancement
• Segmentation
• Flagging
• Importing
• Exporting - use of other software
• Reporting
Data manipulation & retrieval
• 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 …”
Conclusions
Thank you!
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)