Chris Marshall Advancement Consulting
GPS for Alumni Relations

The CMAC Blog

Our musings on alumni and donor engagement…

Featured
Going from Good to Great in Alumni Engagement
Going from Good to Great in Alumni Engagement

The problem is that there are few volunteer opportunities at most colleges and universities. The existing ones are often different types of boards or councils with few spots available. Most of these boards exist almost exclusively to create more events! I firmly believe that more events aren’t the answer.

Alumless with Howard Heevner, Cal Berkeley
Alumless with Howard Heevner, Cal Berkeley

Check out this Alumless episode from Friday, July 19th, 2024, where we dive into annual giving strategies. We're thrilled to feature Howard Heevner, Executive Director of Annual Programs at UC Berkeley. We'll discuss systemic challenges in annual giving, innovative approaches to connecting with rising generations, and the findings from a major alumni giving study. Plus, hear about Howard's insights on providing personalized giving opportunities and the impact of giving days on universities

Alumless with Charlie Melichar, Foster Avenue
Alumless with Charlie Melichar, Foster Avenue

We've got a great show for our Alumless community this week. Join us for a conversation with Charlie Melichar, Principal at Foster Avenue. In the episode, we'll discuss best practices for campaign communications and how advancement leaders connect mar/com work with engagement.

A Warm CMAC Welcome to Melissa Schipke!
A Warm CMAC Welcome to Melissa Schipke!

If you caught last week's episode of Alumless, you heard the big news: Melissa Schipke is joining our team to help roll out a new practice area for CMAC offering managed services for engagement analytics.

Alumless with Melissa Schipke and Jenny Cooke Smith
Alumless with Melissa Schipke and Jenny Cooke Smith

Join us for a special edition of Alumless, where we delve into the world of alumni and donor engagement metrics. Our esteemed guests, Jenny Cooke Smith, Senior Director, CASE Insights Solutions, and Melissa Schipke, Founder and CEO of Tassl, bring their extensive expertise to the table. On the show, we’ll explore what the CASE Insights survey on Alumni engagement has taught us about the field and what we've learned about metrics.

Alumless with Sallie Sistare, Denison University
Alumless with Sallie Sistare, Denison University

On this episode of Alumless, we're featuring special guest Sallie Sistare, Executive Director for Alumni and Family Engagement at Denison University. We'll chat with Sallie about the school's unique value proposition and how they've worked to develop and strengthen approaches to providing students and alumni involvement opportunities in the career space.

Going from Good to Great in Alumni Engagement
Going from Good to Great in Alumni Engagement

Although we’re routinely hired when a team is going through a total rebuilding phase, advancement vice presidents, more often than not, look to us for help going from good to great.

Alumless with Andrew Gossen, Cornell University
Alumless with Andrew Gossen, Cornell University

Don't miss this must-watch episode of Alumless with special guest Andrew Gossen, Executive Director for Communications, Marketing, and Participation in the Office of Alumni Affairs & Development at Cornell University.

How to move beyond an alumni engagement plateau

I’ve often been critical of technology solutions in the alumni and career services space throughout the last few years. I’ve discussed alumni network platforms like Graduway and PeopleGrove. I’ve questioned the effectiveness of solutions like Handshake designed to help students land jobs and internships. I try to keep the conversation going about the technology we're using because I care about finding solutions that work for our stakeholders and help us meet our goals as engagement strategists. 

There is no perfect solution, of course. Nevertheless, critical evaluation and reflection on these tools are essential even as we continue to ingrain them into our programs and processes.

As tough as I’ve been on network platforms and other technology solutions, one thing is clear — most colleges, universities, independent schools, and many different types of educational organizations have all bought into these solutions and allocated significant resources towards their successful implementation. Senior administrators in career services offices and on alumni teams have also put a lot of professional capital on the line in ushering in the technology. Implementation and strong usage of these network development tools is really important for most alumni and career teams.

We’re now approximately a decade into the era of alumni network platforms in higher education. Educational organizations have found success particularly in identifying alumni interested in participating as volunteers. As alumni and students onboard the network platforms for the first time, the information that’s captured is hugely helpful for engagement and fundraising teams. 

However, I think the question remains whether or not alumni network platforms solve the problem of scaling up alumni-student connections and mentoring programs sufficiently. Do these one-size-fits-all network platform solutions consider the needs and behaviors of the majority of end-users? 

On average, I’m receiving feedback from senior alumni and career services leaders that they're plateauing at about 5-10% of contactable alumni elect to activate accounts in alumni network platforms, and fewer engage consistently after the first log-in. The percentage is much lower for students.

To me, those percentages sound like a success story. If 5-10% of alumni sign-up for a network platform, that’s good, so long as there's also active participation. I’ve written about digital community building before, and it’s clear that the best ones grow over time with a slow and steady win the race mentality. So it’s ok that a small percentage of alumni and students have activated accounts on network platforms. That’s the way it should be with online communities. However, those early adapters must be cultivated like volunteers, and new members need to be courted with determined outreach in an ongoing capacity and given jobs to do that sparks activity. Activity is the key to growth, not marketing. It’s tough to keep activity flowing in online communities, and they require constant management and stimulation.

So, what about the other 90-95% of alumni and an equally large percentage of students that do not elect to participate on network platforms? Are we comfortable saying those unengaged alumni won’t offer professional advice to students or recent graduates?

It’s hard for me to believe that 90,000 out of 100,000 contactable alumni wouldn’t help a graduating senior providing that such a request was relevant, simple, and didn’t take much time. 

I’ve always believed that reaching and engaging a larger percentage of alumni and students can be achieved if we pay careful attention to providing solutions that don’t require participants to adopt a new digital behavior. 

So perhaps before we ask alumni and students to download an app, create an account, set up a profile, and engage in a new network platform that requires more significant integration into the lives of our end-users, it’s worthwhile reflecting on how to get that massive percentage of unengaged to participate. 

That’s why I’ve joined Protopia because its no-app solution was specifically built for the unengaged alumni and students that want to connect but are frankly app’d out or who need a little motivation. I believe that it’s the right solution to layer on top of the network platform to start engaging the majority of alumni and students that are too busy for another app don’t opt-in because they already switch between an average of 35 different apps a day. 

Protopia can also be used to create a pipeline for volunteerism in a network platform. The students and alumni who ask and answer questions using the Protopia AI-powered solution can be further cultivated and approached by staff to join network platforms. It’s crucial for students and recent graduates to understand how to develop their professional networks. 

The reality is that alumni network platforms aren’t going anywhere and have been helpful overall, but growth still needs to occur to reach engagement goals and activate alumni and donors. That’s where Protopia comes in. The philanthropy campaigns of the future depend on ramping up engagement. 

Ryan is an engagement strategist and consultant with Chris Marshall Advancement Consulting  Washburn & McGoldrick, and Network Catalyst with Protopia. Follow Ryan on twitter @RyanCatherwood or on Instagram @rcatherwood. Listen to the web show Alum-Less live on LinkedIn, every-other-Friday at 11:30 am ET, or check out the podcast edition.

Ryan Catherwood