As planned, I recently presented at two London workshops hosted by CASE Europe. Then I continued on to Budapest, Hungary to present in a three-day training program offered by EAIE (the European Association for International Education), a European counterpart to NAFSA.
The London "Masterclass" and the EAIE program laid out in broad strokes the fundamentals of alumni relations, including the connections between alumni relations and development (fundraising) as well as marketing, communications and public relations (PR).
Evaluations of my presentations from the UK workshops mentioned not only that North American institutions seem to be "far ahead" of European institutions in these fields, but also (in one case) that the information I presented was "very American." The implication of course is that I did not account for differences in culture, governance, resources or mission when discussing alumni relations in Europe.
I don't deny having an "American perspective" (whatever that means), but I always try to be clear in presentations that I am not going to tell participants "what they should do." I present many program ideas that have results (good or bad) as a way of showing what has happened. But the purpose is not to have others slavishly copy what American schools do. Quite the contrary.
The purpose in sharing case studies is to provide a jumping off point for creating new alumni futures, appropriate to each institution. I created this blog partly in response to listserv discussions and conference sessions that look only backwards: "What programs have worked for you in the past?" "Do you have samples of brochures you have mailed in the past?"
There's nothing wrong with knowing how you got where you are. But not enough people in advancement talk about innovating, or propose changes to the marketing, the communications, the programs and the events of the past. We should think deeply about where we are headed and whether that's where we need to go. For this reason, I also present "what if?" ideas and challenge participants to try these out in thoughtful but experimental ways.
So I am glad that a few of the participants in London and Budapest shared ideas about the future of their programs. If they and others follow through with entrepreneurial spirit, the future of alumni relations in Europe may be very bright. Of course, short-term frustrations are many, due to student and alumni attitudes toward newly-imposed tuition and fees, and due to scant resources for alumni programs. However, European professionals have a chance to work from a clean slate. The American model seems unattainable because we have more staff and budget, plus a history of alumni connections. Yet we are saddled with programs from the past, and long for the chance to build a program from the ground up, based on what we want to do in the future.
Somewhere, these models converge, and by encouraging overseas (not just European) partners to create a relevant and innovative future, North Americans in higher ed can help newly-built programs avoid the rut that many of us have fallen into.
Soon, international visitors will be presenting North American "experts" with their version of the ideal alumni program, and we'll be scrambling to "copy and steal everything" they've done.
Have I overstated my case? Am I flat out wrong? Leave a comment and let me know how it looks from your vantage point.
Buckingham Palace at night. Photo by Andy Shaindlin (some rights reserved)
