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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.

Four tips for building an alumni volunteer pipeline

Ask any advancement leader what they’re focused on when it comes to engagement; almost to a person, they’ll express the desire to enhance their university’s alumni volunteer pipeline. We know those alumni who volunteer are significantly more likely to make a gift and be lifelong members of the school’s philanthropic community. Therefore, a crucial element of successful fundraising campaigns is a ready supply of volunteers not just today but years into the future. 

So, what are the most critical components of building a volunteer pipeline in university advancement? A lot goes into it, and it involves working collaboratively across the whole unit, particularly alumni engagement, communications, and annual giving teams, but development too.

Tip 1: Select, deploy, and optimize conversion points for tracking across published content to acquire new volunteers

Engagement acquisition is a crucial component of building a volunteer pipeline. Alums that are unengaged or lightly engaged might be volunteers in the future, but they need to be activated and start down that path. When we think about building a pipeline, we want alums and donors that might be future volunteers to signal their interests by interacting with our content.

Tracking email click-throughs and other engagement activities across digital assets is essential because those interactions are often the earliest indicators that the alum might be a future volunteer. For example, when an alum shares a story as a post in a LinkedIn Group, reads an article from an e-newsletter, comments on a blog, or answers a survey question, those interactions reflect participation that needs to be tracked on an individual's record to build a volunteer pipeline of likely future participants.

Many universities focus on building a volunteer pipeline but do not have essential components to maximize and manage conversion points that function as the front door for volunteerism. 

Tip 2: Create meaningful, lightweight opportunities for alums and donors to volunteer, no matter where they live or how much time they’ve got available.

Fantastic programs that ask alums to volunteer as advocates, like this one at the London School of Economics or this micro-volunteering opportunity at CQUniversity in Australia, provide universities with an entry point for volunteerism. When an alum asks, “How can I help?” there’s a clear answer no matter who they are or where they live, and the time commitment is low. To develop a strong volunteer pipeline, engagement teams need to deliver fun programming options that offer alums and donors the opportunity to contribute by creating and sharing content with their advice and reflections.

Companies like SocialToaster gamify this type of micro-volunteerism and help cultivate brand ambassadors by awarding points to those sharing more university-created content on their social media accounts.

New AI-powered technology created by Protopia helps build and scale a volunteer pipeline by providing alums and donors with lightweight, personalized engagement experiences delivered by email without asking them to sign-up for anything.

Tip 3: Create formal volunteer roles for online communities and network platforms 

At the next stage, brand ambassadors participate in opt-in platforms with mentoring functionality like Graduway and PeopleGrove. These volunteers must be cultivated and treated warmly and made to feel welcome. We often operate with (or are forced into due to staffing levels) a “set it and forget it” mentality when developing volunteers in online communities. Volunteers need jobs and motivation to come through which requires a personal touch and tenacity on the part of our team members.

Those alumni participating in large-scale mentoring programs or as leaders of online groups are a natural fit for recruitment to serve on our board-based volunteer opportunities. 

Tip 4: Ideally, alums serving on volunteer boards of different shapes should be selected because they’ve been moved along the pipeline and have a history of engagement. 

As a consultant, I’ve encountered several situations where universities use the Alumni Association Board of Directors and other senior-level alum councils as the first step for an alum that’s never participated before. In my opinion, this isn't the best approach. No matter who the alum is, what she does for a living, or how much money she makes, I believe that board-based opportunities should be culminating engagement experience for our most active alums. This ensures that board members will be active and champions for the school.

Ensuring the best possible alum board is in place requires setting up these other components of the volunteer pipeline.

What are your thoughts on building a volunteer pipeline?

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