Barriers to setting up an Alumni Association
List at least 3 objections you will face (or are facing) when initiating an Alumni Association. How will you overcome each?
Shannon,
These barriers are very valid. I would agree that probably the biggest issue is time. Our graduates have MANY options of how to fill their already full schedules. As worthy as they may feel an Alumni Association is, they still may not be able to make the time to be involved.
June Gudeman
Some possible objections I may face when initiating an Alumni Association could be TIME, DISTANCE, and COST. Obviously, Alumni students may be working in their chosen field and could be juggling multiple scheduling priorities. Additionally, they could live far from campus and the commute could be to far. Lastly, they may not be able to afford to assist the organization currently due to either Financial or Even personal obligations.
Gina,
You are not alone. For most of us,those are the two items that present the biggest challenge.
There may be some creative solutions that I would challenge you to consider for both of these items.
June Gudeman
Money and most definitely time from other personnel.
Linnet,
It sounds like you have done an accurate job of considering your barriers.
June Gudeman
First you may need to hire a person to take care of the association which implies more money, which could be the second difficulty, a budget. And third reason could be trying to stay in touch with the graduates.
Leticia,
Those sound like some tough barriers - I like your ideas/solutions.
June Gudeman
budget. Solution: utilize volunteer alumni for part time director position.
no graduates/student involvement Solution: generate buy-in from all decision makers as well as staff, faculty and students.
Milagros,
You've clearly articulated some tough barriers that are not easy to overcome. But, naming them is the start and now your challenge is to think creatively and, possibly, out of the box to make your way around the roadblocks. I like your idea of finding grads via other grads. Facebook is certainly a free option to finding your alumni. I know that some organizations who can't afford a designated alumni website create a Facebook Alumni page. You may be surprised how many of your grads "find you" rather than you looking for them.
June Gudeman
1. Lack of funds: We are a not for profit school, so allotting a budget for an Alumni Association might be difficult. We would definitely have to depend on donations, fund raisers, etc.
2. No information on alumni: A good number of alumni do not update their personal information - email, home / work address. I think a way to try and reach some of them would be thru other alumni.
3. Someone to head the Association: We have a great outreach director, who would do well in this position, but he is stretched beyond his limits. The only alternative would be to hire someone to fill this position.
Shawn,
It sounds like you have clearly identified the barriers. The next difficulty is determining the best way to get around those things that seem to be in the way. I like the idea of an alumni drive. Know also, that if you're able to put together some type of alumni site or alumni Facebook page, it will solve some of the distance issues and they will actually come to you and update their contact information.
June Gudeman
1. Distance of Alumni - a lot of alumni move out of state after graduating, making in person alumni events more difficult. There may have to be more of a focus on online or distance events.
2. Time- being a College with a relatively small staff size, all of our time is spent doing many important tasks - carving out the time necessary from someone's schedule in order to properly initialize and run an alumni association will be a challenge, and may have to be more of a "team" effort.
3. Contact with alumni. Over the past few years, there has been a more identified charge to keep in contact with graduates of the school, however, before that, there are many alumni whom we don't have contact information for. To overcome this, we could do an alumni drive to ask those we have contact with to share our alumni association information with any other alumni they may be in contact with.
Susan,
I appreciate your thoughts on moving forward despite a lack of resources/funding. You are correct - there are so many free tools that can help us 'connect' to our graduates. I believe as a your institutions sees the advantages through your 'free' methods of connection, they'll be encourage to invest in their alumni program.
Great ideas!
June Gudeman
There are several barriers when attempting to start an Alumni Association.
1) Lack of resources - sometimes people will say, we do not have enough resources, but this is where you can start out by working with the resources you do have. Get the buy-in from several staff and faculty and break up the tasks so they are manageable. If someone has community outreach background, use them to reach out to graduates and the community.
2) Money - money can always be used as an excuse to not do something, especially within education; however, with the advancement of technology there are plenty of free tools that can be used. Blogs, e-newsletters, and Facebook pages can cost little to nothing. It's ok if they are not fancy right away, the most important thing is that you are doing something.
3) Marketing - budget constraints can place limits on marketing, but again some of the free technology tools can help to provide avenues for marketing at little to no cost. It's ok for an alumni association to grow along the way as long as alumni see that the school is doing something and that they care.
Jody,
It sounds like you've thought through the issues you're going to face and already have some great solutions.
June Gudeman
1. How will we ever maintain adequate communication through the website, fb, etc.?
Solution: Assign interested and capable front desk personnel 1 or 2 shift(s) each week to monitor & respond to FB; website inquiries to be directed to Director.
2. Everyone's so busy; who will commit to be accountable as Director?
Solution: Initiate partial redistribution of assignments to allow most interested current staff member to make and maintain that commitment.
3. We want to do it, we just need to get to that place where the priorities currently above it are successfully completed.
Solution: Clarify assigned Director and focus on making it a priority now.
Matt,
You've done a great job of summarizing the challenges. I would agree that participation on all fronts is certainly the biggest challenge. People are so busy and our events need to merit attendance. I really like your idea of asking grads what would make an event worth attending. Sometimes we 'think' we have a great idea, but it doesn't hold the same appeal for the actual alumni.
Good thoughts!
June Gudeman
Barriers I see to setting up an AA are:
1. Participation. This includes members of faculty and staff, graduates and community members. A clear reason for people to get involved needs to be established early and often to combat this.
2. Financial. Events can cost money depending on the size and scope. To elimiante this issue, we will need to identify events that will not be costly but still give a good ROI.
3. Worthwile content. It may be difficult to keep people engaged in the AA unless regular, worthwile content and contact is delivered. To eliminate this issue, grads should be asked what content they would like to see.
Linnet,
I believe you have touched on several of the toughest barriers. Do you have some suggestions to overcoming any of those particular barriers for your institution?
June Gudeman
