Put 'Em to Work: Tap into the Rich Resource of Your Alumni Base

I was shocked when I walked in my front door one recent evening, sorting through my pile of mail, and out dropped an alumni newsletter from my alma mater.  Actually it was really more of a catalogue—complete with glossy photos, lists of the impressive accomplishments of my fellow classmates and of course all of the necessary forms, envelopes and URLs to make any type of donation imaginable to the university.  I’m all for staying up to date on the goings-on around campus and surely would like to give back to the school in some capacity, but, how did they find me?  I’ve only moved to Boston a few months ago and really only my close friends, family and the Bank of America have my new address. I’ve bounced from state to state, even between continents, since my graduation, and somehow the school always knows my whereabouts.  I swear, the CIA should really consider recruiting from Colgate University’s Office of Alumni Affairs—they are good—very good.

But, I have to admit, the school appears to be doing something right when it comes to engaging its supporters.  And, this is precisely what myself and the CoreWeb Team of Community Researchers have been emphasizing over the past few months in our conversations with non-profits—use your alumni!

In speaking with non-profit staffers, interestingly—but perhaps to be expected—the same concerns come up time and again in discussion.  One of these concerns is how to best utilize resources—specifically staff time—to initiate successful online and offline activities to better engage supporters.

A handful of organizations have a designated staff member specifically tasked with the responsibility to work on community building initiatives and methods for engaging supporters.  But, in more cases than not, this responsibility falls to various people with many other tasks already on their plates.

While there is no easy solution to this question of tight staff time (If you do have one, please leave me a comment!), the alumni resource can be a valuable group with versatile skills, who are already knowledgeable about the workings of the organization.  This group is a natural group of “boosters” who are generally enthusiastic to contribute time to participate in answering questions, blogging, organizing events or regularly contributing content on social networking sites.  If they have had a positive experience (and most likely they have if they’re willing to help out), the alums will naturally recruit new members, participants and advocates along the way, as they use their creative energy and skills to help out staff members.

This model works best for those education-focused organizations or those non-profits that have corps members, but it can certainly be applied to other organizations that have a solid group of veteran interns or even seasoned volunteers, who still feel passionate about the organization’s social mission.  And yes, this may require a bit of additional training or direction for a staff member initially, but it appears that the dividends down the road will be worth the investment.

Alumni are valuable supporters who, aside from contributing monetarily, can act as “boosters” while proving to alleviate some pressure on staff in the long run.  It’s a resource that many non-profits realize is valuable, but have yet to tap into the group’s full potential.  So perhaps it’s time I stop stressing about how I was found and log on to Colgate’s alumni site.  I am in fact curious to see what’s going on in Boston…